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Voices.

picture of the pool, still and empty

picture of the pool, still and empty

“I’ve lots of flaws these days”

“my mum threw me in the pool. She swam the channel”

“you see what we’ve got going here”

“the first time you get a kid out of armbands – I get a big buzz”

“spare a thought for the poor parent”

“floating feels quite scary”

“when I’m in the water I look normal”

“a different world completely”

“I imagined that I was in Greece”

“I count lengths – you don’t want to cheat”

“I find it unbeliveably boring”

“I felt like it’s been with me all my life – from that moment. I want to make it big”

“before you dive you feel your heart pumping – and in the middle of your dive everything goes, really, all of your senses.”

“It’s like being a kid again”

“It’s sheer therapy for me”

“I count in Spanish, up to Cinquento, which is 50. But after that I count backwards, which is harder”

“I wish I were 28, I were 28 once”

“where else can a lady whose 71 go and be on her own? Well, there is nowhere, but there is here.”

“on the pool- it’s for the young, good looking ones. I’m too old to work on poolside, I’m not wearing shorts!”

“my mind is thinking about all sorts of things – positive – thinking negative has never been my style.”

“fish and chips afterwards”

“I can’t stand swimming – I like sailing though, the rougher the better”

“I like the idea of mastering the fear.”

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Performance in the Pub 5 – audience feedback

Event 5 came and went, one of the more technically demanding shows that I’ve do sound and projection and lights for, so was on my toes most of the night, but pretty much went to plan. Turn out was down on previously increasing numbers (by about 10 people) which made me a little sad, but I think having had so little time to flyer because of the PhD, and it being just after the summer break that was slightly to be expected. And I was still really happy to see the people who did come. Average donations were still over the 5ver that helps me approach break-even, the highest donation was £15! And another complete first timer who hadn’t seen theatre since he was at school, and lots of returners who started from that same position. But from here on in I really want to work at getting more people in. Trying to think through how to do that, I really do think it has to be physical word of mouth stuff. Wondering about playing with the music-world idea of a ‘street team’, possibly. If you’re reading this, Leicester-based (or nearby), and would be up for helping me spread the word, comment or drop me an email! Thanks, as always, go to the Crumblin’ Cookie for being so brilliant, supportive, feeding me and the artists, and waiving their venue costs. And additional thanks, this time, to Everybody’s Reading Festival for the substantial £200 grant for community-led work that they were able to offer. Reduced my loss over 5 shows from ~£700 to ~£500, only £100 a show, 20 more break-even donating audience members and it’ll be sound!

But yes. The art. A brilliant night, Sylvia Rimat and Sam Halmarack and his ace band the Miserablites were so good. Sylvia’s series of performance snippets that made up her work in progress If you Decide to Stay were a gentle and fascinating evocation of the beginning to phrase a question that is the beginning of theatre-making processes, and of the journey of getting to where we are, of deciding whether or not we want to be sat in this chair, here. And Sam Halmarack and the Miserablites were joyous and desperate and brilliantly funny and genuinely uplifting. But don’t just take my word for it, here’s some of the things I spotted people tweeting, facebooking (including a mini review!) and photos people took during The Miserablites. I love showing people theatre that they both want to and feel welcome to take pictures of on their phones. Like the best gigs, you know?

Self-congratulatory screen shots commence:

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