Expansion

19 May 2010

I'm a member of two theatre companies now. I've recently joined the Tower Theatre, currently based around the Bridewell Theatre off Fleet Street but with designs on a new build home on Curtain Road in Shoreditch. The other is Incognito, of which I've been a member for 8 years. They're based in the rather less impressive sounding suburbs of Friern Barnet at the far north of the 43 bus route.

Incognito also have their eyes on a bit of building activity, but in their case the expansion of their current home. Converted in the post-war years from an old biscuit factory, the cute little 65-seater needs a bit of work to keep it up to date with pesky modern requirements like running drinking water and disabled access.

(I originally mistyped that it required " a bit of ork", bringing figures of fanged, grey skinned cockneys dancing around on stage and eating live squirrels whilst singing "My Old Man's a Dustman")

The key difference between the two groups so far is that Incognito seem determined not to scrimp on their productions whilst they raise funds for their building work. I've just seen a production of Barefoot in the Park that had the most elaborate set imaginable, complete with a running tap, a stage build up by a foot so that it would look more like people coming on stage had just climbed up stairs and a brilliant skylight.

The Tower, meanwhile, have set a costume budget for our current show of about £80. This means that a character described as "Satan in a suit from Saville Row" will appear in the final act in a pair of Primark chinos.

Hmm.