Theatre Out of Town

Function Factory Theatre will be touring their production of "Cold Light Singing" - The Pendle Witches Story this coming Autumn, for the fifth year running.
This year's tour will be a mini one. The company hadn't intended to tour this year but we were approached, out of the blue, by some venues and . . well . . . . we just couldn't resist!

Trying to bulk out the tour to make it financially viable has been an interesting task this year. Either dates offered by venues have been so spread out that we would be calling the cast together for a performance every two to three weeks. This is not an easy demand to satisfy, given that the cast's home locations are so far spread - from Scotland to the West Midlands.

We have also been offered some of the strangest deals that we have ever come across. More often than not venues pay the company to perform. Occasionally, a small venue, who themselves are struggling financially, will offer a 70:30 box office split. Given that "Cold Light Singing" usually sells out, both ourselves and the venue are happy with this arrangement.

Imagine our delight then when a newly opened, high profile, arts centre in Lancashire approached us saying that they wanted to make a booking. This is the company's nearest venue and would draw a home crowd. We were excited to say the least, given the amount of media coverage that the venue has received, to be invited to be part of the opening season's programme.
Our delight soon turned to . . . no, not disappointment . . . disgust, when they offered us a 50:50 box office split after they had taken out the first £400 to cover their costs. The bulk of this amount was for their publicity and marketing. When pushed for a breakdown of this figure £200 of it was to send some emails and write a press release for the local paper and NO! . . . . They weren't producing a season brochure. It was up to us to produce any literature.

If it wasn't so insulting it would be funny. We have a company of 6 for this tour - if we sold out this venue with all tickets at full price, the venue would make £900 while the company would earn just under £400 - and don't forget, we'd have to pay for our own leaflets / posters out of that.

We turned their offer down. I am not naming the venue to spare their blushes.

Still, the tour booking goes on - all venues completely new to the company, so far, this time - very exciting. The cast will come together in September to begin rehearsals - we haven't all been together since last Autumn and rehearsals are always great fun - we've become like a little family now, rather than just workmates.

"Cold Light Singing" - possibly coming to a venue near you soon. WATCH THIS SPACE!