The journey to this point has been a bumpy one – as I’m sure it is for most emerging companies fighting against the pressures of working full time jobs and juggling any spare time with rehearsals, production meetings, admin and set/prop making. Without gaining significant funding, artists are also faced with the challenge of finding, begging and bribing venues for free space of any variety – yes corridors included! We have been very fortunate in receiving huge amounts of support from venues including The Pleasance and Shoreditch Town Hall; however it does make us wonder about the resources available to new companies who may not have the funds or networks of other established artists. Yes there are plenty of schemes open to support ‘new work’ but in a lot of cases evidence of a previous showing of your work within the company you are applying for must be provided – does this not contradict the whole point?! It has been highly encouraging to learn that others in the industry have spent years making work in their kitchen before transferring to a public stage and gives us hope that we too will eventually get there.
Speaking of which we are now beginning to look towards the future, with our hopes/ambitions being a driving force for the forthcoming months: Depending on funding and time, a small autumn tour of Geometric City is on the cards in both schools and venues and we are currently working with a number of other artists making work for children in London on a secret project which we hope to launch sometime next year. We are also looking at the possibility of festival bookings so watch this space! Thanks to the fantastic workshop opportunities ITC (Independent Theatre Council) provide; MouldEd are continuously gaining more and more useful information every day and we would recommend all new artists to seek advice from this incredible fountain of knowledge.
Please check back with us soon or tweet us @mouldedtheatre for more exciting updates on what’s coming up for us during the rest of 2014!