Former rural promoter and former New Perspectives trustee Susan Rowe reflects on her journey with the company.

An Audience Member

My first encounter with New Perspectives was as an audience member. The company was touring to Aslockton, the village where I lived, and at that time the Parish Clerk used to organise the touring theatre – we only used to have two events a year – and they were always New Perspectives. So you could say that I didn’t have much choice!

I remember they were excellent for villages, productions with a rural slant. For us it was a nice night out with people you knew or maybe didn’t, seeing good plays, a good social event on our doorstep.

A Volunteer Promoter

It was quite by chance that I became a promoter.

How I moved from being an audience member to becoming a promoter was linked to the decision to build a new community hall onto the church. Because of my involvement with the church, I was the fundraiser. I realised that it was no good running fundraising events if you were going to clash with other events in the village, so the Parish Clerk said cunningly, “Well, if you took over promoting them, then you’d know when they were on”. And that’s how I became a promoter. I was doing the social events to raise money for the new hall and by combining efforts that’s how I became a promoter. Probably the most unusual way that anyone has done it.

Seeing new plays readily available on city stages, on your doorstep at a very affordable price makes live theatre accessible. It made a real difference to people’s lives – I know because when I moved away from Aslockton people would often ask me when I was coming back because as they missed seeing live events.

Looking through 50^th Anniversary Postcard Collection, I remember seeing In The Bleak Midwinter as an audience member and I was a promoter by the time of The Ghost Downstairs.

We actually had the writer of In Search of Pontiflunk to stay for two nights. The first time I picked him up in Lowdham and drove him back as he walked the route of the show. He came back, ate with us and stayed overnight before I delivered him back to Lowdham to continue the route. I did the same again picking him up in Shelford, again staying with us before heading on his way again – before he ended up in Stamford. I felt part of the show. All the productions from then onwards I have either seen or promoted – a lot of really fantastic plays. What a lovely fundraising idea – can you put me down for a pack.

Seeing this selection also brings back memories of other productions like On Saturday This Bed is Poland and an early production Thank God For Cod which was amazing. It was in our old church hall, it had a very low ceiling and they were cooking cod, frying it in a pan and by the end of the performance you couldn’t actually see from one end of the hall to the other!

One of my favourite productions was How Steeple Sinderby Wanderers Won the F.A. Cup – with actor Mark Jardine and Stage Manager Jeremy Rowe on tour. An incredibly funny story, a one-man show were the actor played so many characters, it took some sustaining and it was excellent.

Sometimes you remember them for the wrong reasons like Wasteland by Laura Lomas. The production featured a lot of oil cans which were moved on and off onto our church parquet floor and I could see certain people going ‘Urrgh’. And it had so much swearing in it – every other word was an effing word. I was really worried. I was sitting with our Church Treasurer and his wife and we go to half time and I said to him “What do you think of the play David?" - forgetting that he ran a pharmacy in St Anns - and he said “It’s very true to life, especially the language”.

When the village became centre stage

The Falling Sky was a promenade audio play, recorded in advance which presented a challenge for promoters to find key landmarks that could be reached on foot in the right order, at the right time in the drama. Each village was different and had to create a map that audiences followed, and with Walkmans listened to the drama through a headset.

Aslockton is flat which meant that I had to send audiences up a slight hill so that they could see a church at the right time – it was the one in the next village but at least it was a church.

I was the first promoter to present it and unbeknown to me it was featured in The Guardian the weekend before. I had no idea that it would be so busy, I was inundated – people came from far and wide People could book tickets for either the morning, afternoon or evening and it was such good fun.

The very first person set off at 10am and at lunchtime there was no sign of her, it turned out that she had nipped home for a coffee, then bumped into someone and had a chat and eventually arrived back.

We lost some people who didn’t follow the map, took a wrong turn ending up in the school playing field. Some people arrived knowing that it was in a rural area wearing white linen trousers and white open toed sandals before trekking across a field.

Not everyone liked it. One audience member knowing that Stephanie Cole was in the cast was disappointed as she had expected to see her. I said: “You mean you’ve paid £7.50 and thought you would see Stephanie Cole and the entire cast walking through the village with you acting out the story?” Then there were the people who pressed the rewind button when you said quite clearly press play – remember do not press rewind. One group got the end of the lane and one of their party on pressing rewind suddenly asked why they had the UEFA football commentary on? A young couple took 4 hours when it should have taken 2. I wondered if they had got lost, but they said no - there was a cricket match going on the cricket field so we just stopped and watched it. It engendered a great deal of interest.

Some people arrived back in great debate and I enjoyed many fantastic conversations with people I didn’t know because they had travelled into the village. But it did need someone who could give up their time as it became a full-time job, plus the use of my kitchen as, when they got back, I offered them a coffee and cakes. It was really good fun.

A Trustee

I have seen the programme change over the years with the appointment of new artistic directors, bringing fresh ideas – moving from plays with a rural theme to bringing a wider perspective.

When Daniel Buckroyd approached me to see if the Step Up company could use our venue and if I could find the audience for the talent development programme at that time, it was easy to say yes. This gave participants hands on experience of creating a performance for rural audiences, and people in the village the chance to see and support people early in their careers. Because the company had a following, it was easy to get an audience.

Then when Tilly Branson did a PhD in collaboration with New Perspectives, the University of Nottingham and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), I provided the venue for a play testing audience engagement. The audience was the invited guests at a fictional wedding – my table were the brides work colleagues, we were estate agents, we invented a complete backstory and became really involved. At the end we all voted on if the bride would stay or leave her new husband and the village hall curtains opened to car lights shining through – not knowing if the bride would stay or go. It was brilliant! The one thing I remember was being asked if the church hall had ever been used for a wedding reception – to which I said oh yes! Actually we had new full length table cloths, never been used. Afterwards I washed them one at a time due to the size and then had to iron them all. That was when I realised why people everybody else sends them to the laundry. So that is my overriding takeaway from that show!

In all seriousness, I enjoyed being a sounding board, it was interesting to look at it from a different angle and being a board member it helped me to understand the issues involved and I was able to share my insight as a volunteer promoter.

On being a New Perspectives Trustee and Volunteer Promoter

I got as much out of my time with New Perspectives as it as I put into it and I did put a lot into it. I can’t think of any one thing that I didn’t enjoy, especially working with two very different Artistic Directors and I miss it! If you’re thinking of becoming a trustee my advice is go for it. I had already worked in the third sector, I already understood charity law, fundraising etc, but for anyone that hasn’t, you will learn so much about a sector that you didn’t know.

For anyone who is thinking about becoming a volunteer promoter, I’d say again – go for it. You meet some fantastic people and gives you stories to tell forever. Rural areas need live entertainment and for anyone wanting to find out more about their community that’s the way to do it. It’s one of the best things I’ve ever done – and would still be doing it now had I not moved to Scotland!