Celebrating World Theatre Day
To mark World Theatre Day, the Novo Theatre team wanted to share why theatre was important to them.
Joe Hufton, Artistic Director and CEO
I think, like most, it starts with the first show I remember seeing. I must have been no more than 5, and Mum and Dad took me to see Peter Pan at the Sheffield Crucible. I remember being mesmerised by the storytelling, the scale and the interactivity with the audience. They had a role in the show. It felt different to TV; we were all there together, and it was happening just in that room. A whole world had opened up in front of me for two hours.
My experience making theatre stretches back to drama classes with an exceptional teacher and chances to perform in school halls, arts centres, gardens and old churches as a teenager.
Despite this, I parked the aspirations I had as an actor and went to university to pursue a ‘proper job’, only to find myself spending all my time in a dark corner of campus known as the ‘Drama Barn’. It was here that I tried my hand at directing and running a venue. In my final year, I remember sitting at the feet of a famous playwright who had been bribed to come and talk to us on the promise of a free pint and a healthy boost to the ego. I remember him speaking about the decision to be a theatre-maker being an active one, and about it meaning something. He spoke about art changing people and people changing the world. I thought, ‘Sod the proper job. This is what I want to do.’
33 years on from Sheffield and 16 years on from the Drama Barn, I’m still here. My journey has taken in drama school, fringe theatre, established theatre, a dodgy Shakespeare in a posh garden, international touring and endless buildings transformed into other worlds. It’s taken me as far away as Australia and as close to home as the show I rehearsed in my living room. I’ve been questioned by the police more than once and learned how to put up scaffolding, balance a complex budget and make a dancer appear from thin air, 50 feet in the sky.
But it’s still those two moments that best answer the question, ‘Why do you work in theatre?’
I do it because there is nothing comparable to the shared experience on the night. There is no other form where the audience have such an active role. Without them it is just a rehearsal, a preparation. After the curtain falls, a production exists only in the minds of that night’s audience. It is the sum of the shared experience of those people in that place, on that night. In a rapid world, where we consume ‘content’ in our own digital silos, this increasingly feels countercultural.
And I do it because I’m still 20 years old, sitting in the Drama Barn. Theatre means something. I agree with that (now very) famous playwright. I still think that theatre changes people, and people change the world.
Andrea Perrett, Business and Operations Director
From the moment I played the Innkeeper in a school play — and, less gloriously, a piece of seaweed in a dance project — I was hooked. I studied theatre all the way to degree level, until reality intervened. I wasn’t good enough to perform professionally, and a theatre wage felt impossible to live on. At twenty-one, I took the sensible coward’s way out and went into industry instead. It’s only now, approaching the end of my working life, that I’ve found my way back.
But theatre never really left me. The skills I gained — how to collaborate, present, lead, and bring something from nothing — shaped my entire career. When I see arts education being stripped from schools today, I genuinely despair at what young people are losing without even knowing it.
There’s also the magic of live performance itself. Pantomimes with my grandmother. School trips to Stratford and London. A baffling, brilliant piece of experimental theatre at the ICA. The sheer joy of catching Daisy Pulls It Off on its first try-out in 1983.
Theatre has given me friends, wonder, confidence, heartache and more delight than I can account for. I want others — especially young people — to discover that for themselves.
Louise Taylor-Asheg, Participation Producer
Despite growing up dancing, playing in orchestras, and performing in youth theatre pit bands, I never imagined I’d end up working in theatre - careers advice for creative teenagers in the 90s wasn’t great!
After nearly 15 years in community music and events, plus five years as a freelance producer, I’ve now been at Novo Theatre for six years. I found my way eventually!
I particularly enjoy the collaboration and teamwork involved in making theatre; no single person can manage all aspects of a production alone. Our core team at Novo is small, each of us with complementary responsibilities, skills and abilities. During productions we triple or quadruple in size with freelancers bringing expertise and experience that enable us to create work bigger than the sum of our parts.
Every production, I find myself admiring those I work with, and appreciating how we synchronise all the creative, technical and logistical elements to open a show on time.
At the heart of this is a collective endeavour that creates a sense of community. This radiates out from our professional team to our co-creators, volunteers, participants and audiences. While theatre may be momentary, the feelings of excitement, belonging, wonder and validation it creates stay with individuals long after the final curtain.
Becky Madeley, Freelance Marketing
My first memory of going to the theatre was seeing Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dream Coat when we lived in Leicester. I must have been 7 or 8 at the time. I remember the excitement of waiting for the show to start and then being completely transfixed throughout the performance.
I still get that same feeling today. The anticipation as the audience settles, waiting for the house lights to go down, not quite knowing what to expect. Within minutes, you’re hooked, immersed in the performance on stage.
I never aspired to be the one on stage - I can’t sing, definitely can’t dance, and other than a school nativity I don’t think I can claim any theatrical appearances (and if I did, I’ve blocked them from memory!). I’ve always been more comfortable behind the scenes, working in marketing - and that’s the beauty of theatre: there are as many roles off stage as there are on it.
I’ve been working in marketing in the arts and cultural sector for nearly 20 years, and I absolutely love working alongside the creative teams to understand a new production. Promoting new can be challenging, as you’re building a marketing plan at the same time the work itself is still being created. You have to trust the process and the people you are working with, knowing that the end result will be amazing.
I still feel a flicker of nerves when tickets go on sale and hoping people will book. I find myself checking the ticketing platform, time and time again, to see how tickets are selling. And then comes the thrill (and relief!) when you can mark an event as sold out.
Seeing audiences arrive on opening night, and hearing or reading their reactions, is a joy that never fades.