'Party Skills for the End of The World: Lockdown Special' Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The other week, I managed to get a ticket for a reimagined version of Manchester International Theatre's immersive show. Tickets were free but numbers were limited due to the limitations of Zoom video call software. I was intrigued by how an immersive/participatory concept would translate to streaming from home.

There were two performances each with an audience of 150 people. The hosts (performers and theatre-makers Nigel Barrett and Louise Mari) welcomed us with drinks and party hats, trying to create an informal and celebratory atmosphere. 

The show, which was performed in a warehouse venue for MIF in 2017, strikes a strange balance between a convivial gathering (virtually due to social distancing restrictions), and undercurrents of apocalyptic nihilism. These opposing elements could have been more interweaved, to make a less disjointed viewing experience - drinking shots together one minute, then listening to the cast talk about basic survival facts like which will plants will poison you. This being said, of the live virtual theatre I have watched since our British version of 'lockdown' began, it is by far the most visually interesting and cleverly crafted experience. 

Through the Looking Glass

My main comparison is to Secret Cinema's movie nights Secret Sofa, where actors and audience interact on Zoom in characters and dress inspired by the chosen cinematic world. I tuned in to Moulin Rouge and was left on mute and slightly bemused watching audience members dance (enthusiasm level seemingly related to their alcohol intake) whilst actors dressed as Bohemians and the Green Fairy encouraged us to love and be free. 

The revolutionary and social mood was slightly hampered by everyone being stuck at home and separate, and there was not much substance to the performance beyond short monologues and a few participants given the spotlight for a remote talent show, although the theme is obviously anarchic by nature and it was nevertheless enjoyable. The guest performers were hours into proceedings, and I'm afraid to say I did not last long enough to see many of the variety acts which sounded promising.

I previously reviewed a two-hander play performed on Zoom, using virtual backgrounds and speaker view.

Theatre meets webinar

What were the party skills we learned to prepare for the end times? Like many immersive shows, the audience had differing experiences. Obviously, if you have 150 people unmuted, actual interaction is impossible. We were randomly chosen and sent to breakout rooms with about 8 participants, the same group experiencing the different skill rooms each time which allowed for some familiarity to develop.

The host encouraged us to unmute ourselves on entering the rooms, then instructed us in their activity. Annoyingly, until you switch to gallery view from speaker view which is Zoom's default, this resulted in trying to watch the host show us how to make paper flowers whilst the screen kept switching to whichever audience member laughed or commented loudly.

I particularly enjoyed the fight instructor coaching us through some basic punches and stances. This seemed genuinely useful for a survival scenario. The other skill was an actress showing us how to trim our own hair, which certainly is helpful for many in lockdown, but was irrelevant to me as I have already been doing DIY haircuts and it was geared towards long hair. 

Coming together - virtually

Once I tried to contribute to the chat and was overridden by a louder participant. Zoom software favours the loudest and as someone with naturally shy tendencies, I preferred the main room to the breakout rooms, not enjoying the unnatural experience of observing yourself in a virtual social situation!

However, in the main space the visual potential of Zoom was taken beyond the inbuilt limitations of the software by Mesmer who managed the broadcast.  As you will see from my snapshots, they played with a hybrid of speaker and gallery view, so the performers were prominent but many audience feeds were always visible.

After a dark nihilist monologue about fear and chaos, followed by a segment that seemed to consist of some tipsy women in their kitchen, the performance culminated in a musical performance from an electronic dance duo AK/DK. As the screen scrolled through the people watching and dancing in their houses, and the music thrummed intensely, I finally had the sense of a communal experience and forgot my misgivings.

I felt a connection to the others experiencing this strange assembly in a digital space. There was a sense of revelry and loss of inhibition as I saw the audience enjoying themselves and reacting to the music, forgetting to be self-conscious in our patchwork of windows. In the brave new world of live-streamed theatre, this was a transcendent moment.

Going Vegan: A Plant-Powered Life

2020 is an exciting time to be vegan!

If you've been considering becoming plant-based, you're not alone. According to the Vegan Society, the number of vegans here in Britain has quadrupled in the last five years, and by 2025 they expect vegans and vegetarians to make up a quarter of the population (not to mention all the flexitarians). 

In the last few years, there has been a revolution in the variety of products and vegan options on the menu. As a millennial with many herbivores in my life and as a veggie eater myself, I noticed vegan options appearing in shops and eateries across the country; no longer hidden away in dedicated meat-free restaurants and retailers.

As someone with a hectic working life and who has never been much of a cook, I found my options for food on the go and eating out were enriched with both healthy choices and quick comfort food - Beyond burgers, avo smash and Greggs sausage rolls were all the rage. Recent trends include pink beetroot buns and ingenious seitan versions of popular meaty dishes such as Buffalo wings and popcorn 'chicken'.

Going against the grain

Living compassionately and with a smaller carbon footprint is now easier than ever, and it makes sense if you care about our plant or animal welfare. As a slightly picky eater, I had fears about going fully vegan. Was I enough of a cook and foodie? Would I find things to eat when out and about? Would I get all the vitamins and fuel my body needed? How would I cope when challenged on my choice?

The main nutrient you might be missing is B12, and possibly iron or calcium, but there are loads of vegan-friendly options for these - both dietary and in supplements. You will have to spend a little time checking labels for sneaky meat and dairy ingredients in food, but once you find your favourites and accidentally vegan items it becomes second nature.

It can be frustrating to deal with ignorant questions and haters but remember you are making a bold choice that is better for the planet and your health, and you can use knowledge or humour to deflect the critics. There are loads of like-minded people out there who can support and advise you; when I was transitioning I went to local vegan markets to meet people and discover products from small businesses.

Give your life a green makeover

I take the view that absolutism is not a helpful approach to changing your lifestyle. You can make changes slowly, one aspect at a time, and if you have to make compromises or fall off the wagon occasionally it doesn't negate all the times you made a green and cruelty-free choice. 

My own journey was that as a veggie I gradually phased out most animal products over recent years, preferring plant milk anyway, and last summer I decided to go all in. Thankfully there are delicious substitutes for all your old cravings like bacon, cheese and chocolate!

First stop essentials: the Happy Cow food finder, TheVeganKind supermarket, Veganuary tips, the Vegan Filter, and get yourself a Holland and Barrett loyalty card. Now get out there and enjoy the plant-based world. 💚

Survival Guide for Long Car Trips

The Open Road. 

We all have epic road trips to make occasionally. Perhaps you're moving house, visiting relatives or friends, collecting an eBay bargain or sight-seeing somewhere miles from home. 

In my freelance theatre career, I have often had to do long drives: either on touring shows, transporting props and furniture, and to reach a new city where the contract is. When you have the option, as relaxing and green as train travel can be, when staying away from home or moving large oddly-shaped items sometimes it seems wise to jump in a car or van and motor.

"Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me, as is ever so on the road." - Jack Kerouac

Having more luggage space, snack storage, your own space and pace can be liberating, but sometimes the idea of hours crawling on the motorway is the last thing you feel like. These tips are aimed at the solo driver, as opposed to family and group road trips, which have their own challenges but at least mean you can share the driving duties.

Some of my more epic journeys include Cheshire to Brighton for the festival (9 hours due to traffic!),  Oxford to Cheshire during the 2018 heatwave with no aircon, Birmingham to Edinburgh after travelling to Brum and loading the van, and a 250-mile round trip collecting antique candlesticks and a taxidermied crow. That last one was in my old faithful Yaris which was a teenager at that point! I know that truckers and couriers drive for a living, but how can the occasional day-tripper prepare?

1. Is your vehicle running well?

This is common sense, but if you have been putting off topping up your oil or tyre pressure, changing the dodgy wiper, or getting repairs or a service done, make sure you fit this in before your long journey. I recently ignored this advice and had to drive for hours in heavy rain with my broken wiper gaffer-taped into place...lesson learned.

If your car has cruise control features, learn how to use them before your big excursion. When used properly they really save a tired accelerator leg.

Make sure you have your insurance contact details and breakdown cover or at least the number of a garage you trust.

2. Stock your car with essential supplies

There are a million variations on what you might like to keep stashed in your car, particularly in case of breakdown. Make sure everything you need often is within easy reach. My recommendations would be:

• Bottled water
• Sunglasses
• Tissues
• Cleaning wipes/hand gel
• Snacks such as nuts, mints, biscuits
• Audio and charging cables
• Phone holder if used for navigation
• A blanket
• Spare warm/waterproof clothes
• Energy drink(s)
• A torch
• Gaffer tape (honestly invaluable!)
• Road map in case of technological failure
• Insurance/breakdown details
• Spare cash for tolls etc
• Washer fluid/oil

3. Pace yourself

These days I use Google Maps for navigating, and while it is super helpful I find it always takes longer than expected to reach a destination. You need to factor in time for breaks every 2 hours or so, taking wrong turns, traffic jams and bad weather. Google Maps has led me on 'shortcuts' down flooded country lanes before! 

Leave yourself plenty of time, try to travel earlier in the day, and don't skip meals or staying hydrated to save time. Your body needs proper fuel to maintain your focus whilst driving. Over-caffeinating will make you jittery and soon wear off; try sipping on tea (especially green) and eating high protein snacks for better stamina.

Know your own limits, and if you have to pull over and rest somewhere that is better than pushing on when you feel too tired to concentrate.

4. Boredom busters

In terms of audio, there is plenty to keep your brain engaged as the miles go by. Some people like music best, especially as it can positively affect your mood if you choose upbeat or calming tunes. 

There is always the radio, with so many stations to choose from with music, chat and comedy. Listening to the news and currents events can help you feel in touch with the world inside your metal bubble, and can also alert you to weather/traffic warnings. Recently I have been listening more to podcasts and audiobooks, which are ideal for long journeys, there are so many to choose from. It can stop the time from feeling 'wasted'.

Making phone calls is a bad idea even with a hands-free set up, as research shows this distracts our brains' visual processing from assessing the route and hazards ahead, so save any calls for your pit stops. Don't forget to download some of your chosen entertainment to save on phone data usage.

5. Enjoy the ride

After a decade of driving, I sometimes look forward to these road trips of a few hundred miles believe it or not. A lot of my other duties in theatre production tend to be pressured, fast-paced and socially demanding. At the end of a contract, or during a busy rehearsal period, having an undisturbed day of driving can be like a refuge. Driving alone like travelling solo in general (if not on a tight schedule) means you can decide when to leave, which way to go, where to stop and eat, what to listen to and so on. 

There are times when you feel stiff and drained with hours left to go, when the monotony gets to you. But I find more of the time is spent listening to media, admiring the scenery ahead, and letting my mind wander when the road conditions are steady. 

Why are you making this journey in the first place? You might be excited to get home, to experience a new place, to see distant loved ones, for a long-awaited event. We might as well make the best of what life throws our way.

Scheduling Your Day: A Stage Manager's Perspective

So you're looking to makeover your daily schedule? Good time management applies to work, whether in a traditional office environment or in creative/self-employed professions, but it also helps you make the most of your own time when it comes to fitting in everything our busy modern lives require. What lessons can we learn from the perspective of the theatre industry about optimal schedules? Rehearsals and performance rely on effective timetables to fit in the preparation required and for the show to happen on time.

Thinking about the structure of your day is especially important if you are working from home, running your own business or working in an unsupervised way. While teamwork is crucial for many industries with theatre included, for stage managers there are many parts of our job which end up being self-driven: finding props, seeking contracts, daily paperwork, cues during shows (these are tasks like moving scenery or props). Sometimes our to-do list feels daunting, so how can we fit in everything that needs our attention? Here are my key suggestions.

Stick to a regular routine

Although creative and free-spirited people may feel stifled by the idea of applying a rigid structure to their days, establishing good habits and regular times to meals, work, sleep and other activities saves our energy for more important decisions. Once you have streamlined the variables of what type of activity to do when you will have more time to achieve work tasks and healthy habits. This also sets healthy boundaries for your working hours so you don't end up burning yourself out.

Pay particular attention to when you first wake up, regular meal breaks and a consistent sleep schedule. Whilst in the theatre industry we are often at the mercy of the show and rehearsal timetables, there are aspects within our day which are in within our control. Don't forget to schedule in exercise and hobbies or social events to make sure these aren't forgotten about.

More on the benefits of routines here.

Break the day into blocks

Sometimes in theatre rehearsals, there are multiple activities to accomplish which can happen simultaneously, such as acting scenes with the director, learning songs with the musical director, choreography, dialect coaching, fight direction etc. There is more that goes on behind the scenes than just reciting lines! In this situation and equally for a solo professional, it helps to break down the working hours into consistent chunks.

In an average rehearsal day of 10am to 6pm with an hour's lunch at 1pm and 2 short tea breaks (as per union regulations), this might look like working 10-11:30am, tea, 11:45am-1pm, lunch break, 2pm-3:45pm, tea, 4pm-6pm. This often results in working sessions of different durations which can be useful for tasks which require more or less time, but you could make these regular if it was overcomplicated. It's amazing how much you can actually fit into a normal working day by planning it in advance.

Taking sufficient breaks actually helps us to focus better whilst we are working, and allows us to rehydrate and add some movement into our day; particularly important when our work is computer-based. A popular method for work and breaks is the Pomodoro Technique, more on that here.

Personalise your schedule

It's worth remembering that what works for one person might be disastrous for someone else - some people spring out of bed at 6am and are ready for action, some of us really hit our stride in the afternoon or evening. The empowering thing about having control of your schedule is that you can make it work for you, prioritising the most important tasks and wasting less time on unproductive meetings and other corporate bureaucracy.

If you're stuck for inspiration or don't know how to start building your daily routine, use others to spark ideas, and start with a master list of what needs to be accomplished. This can include personal errands and exercise, we are not defined by our work, but it might help to categorise tasks by important level or how soon they need to be done. There are lots of apps for this, I personally used Microsoft To Do (which used to be Wunderlist), which has plenty of useful features like reminders, due dates, shareability and the like. I have used this on productions in stage management teams to keep track of our outstanding jobs.

Whatever shape your routine takes, you will see the benefit when you take control and plan how to make the most of your time.

Live Performance versus Live Streaming

Does the stage translate to a screen?

There are many types of drama and performing arts we are happy to enjoy on the small screen, as beyond the staple TV series, comedies and soaps/sitcoms consider how the nation loves to watch music and dance - especially in the form of talent shows like Strictly, The Greatest Dancer, The X Factor or Britain's Got Talent. For years there have been attempts to sell consumers their favourite plays and musicals on demand when they are adapted into movies or filmed on stage.

The National Theatre has been live-streaming their productions to a wider audience for over 10 years, in an initiative that brought the publicly funded shows to your local cinema. I have always considered this a democratising move, as many cannot overcome the barriers of expense and distance to experience London theatre. Now during the coronavirus lockdown period, NT are streaming their recorded shows into our living rooms, in fact, virtual theatre is suddenly available from many organisations. For the latest available shows visit these sites:

Online Theatre Streaming - Culture Whisper

Free Online Shows - What's On Stage

Naturally, after venues were abruptly closed following the government action on the COVID-19 outbreak in the UK, artists and creatives started looking for digital ways to work and share their performances with their audiences. I admire their persistence and ingenuity. The question of when theatres will be permitted to reopen, and when audience confidence will return, is at present nothing but conjecture and uncertainty. In the meantime, the industry is faced with a collective question of how best to serve their community and distribute art when gatherings are a health risk.

I have watched a couple of these conventionally filmed offerings, and enjoyed the chance to catch popular shows I had missed whilst snacking on the sofa. The drinks are cheaper, there is no queue for the bathroom, and if watching with a housemate you are free to trade reactions and snarky comments without judgement. 

Yet I miss hearing the reactions of others, discussing the show in the bar afterwards, and having to leave behind all the distractions of the outside world. Despite knowing many of the tricks of the trade, I am still capable of being moved to tears or joy by a standout production.

A night at the virtual theatre

Recently I was part of an audience of 150+ watching a two-hander play, performed live and entirely on Zoom, the ubiquitous video call software. I did this on my sofa whilst eating sausage and mash for dinner! It was an existing fringe show, 'Ken' by Terry Johnson who performs the work as a monologue, along with many interjections by actor Jeremy Stockwell who plays the titular director Ken Campbell and himself. 

Screenshot of the Zoom call from Terry's Facebook page.

The set up was interesting; obviously some performers use Facebook Live or Youtube for their digital shows, but this was viewed through Zoom switching to whoever was making noise (so larger casts or overlapping dialogue would be difficult). Terry had changing virtual backgrounds to fit the setting, such as an empty pub or neglected old theatre, though these were static and unpeopled it was a nice touch.

In general it worked well, while the audience watched but was required to turn off their audio and camera feeds so as not to disrupt the play. At one point Terry lost his feed of Jeremy and the unseen virtual Stage Manager had to take over and reboot, whilst Jeremy riffed in character as Ken for at least 10 minutes. Because of professional curiosity, I find show stops interesting despite sympathising with their stressful nature, and they did well to recover from this technological failure; similar to technical faults that derail IRL performances. 

Jeremy paced throughout and performed actions as directed such as talking on a banana to signify a phone. The design, props and lighting were absent, but the dialogue could still be spoken. It felt informal, intimate and slightly haphazard. We unmuted ourselves to applaud at the end, the only moment when it particularly felt like a communal experience. Watching from our separate dwellings but bound together in our attention, choosing to 'be' here.

We are social creatures, and I don't truly believe virtual interactions can replace in-person contact and shared experiences beyond these exceptional circumstances. But they can bring us together briefly at a time when we are forced to remain isolated.