Filed under: Marketing Desk
Hello everyone,
It’s been a few months since the last marketing blog so there’s loads of news to catch up with.
We’re currently deep into our Christmas programme with The Voyages Of Sinbad The Sailor in Unity 1 and Terry Titter’s Cosy Chrimbo! in Unity 2. Sinbad has been a new and exciting evolution of of Christmas show. Unlike 2010/11′s show Sinbad has been scripted (usually the show is devised) by Jeff Young and directed by unity’s Artistic Director Graeme Phillips. The show they have created is probably the best I’ve seen at Unity, it’s clever, funny, perfect for kids but with enough for adults to enjoy as well. During the first night (when traditionally everyone who’s worked on the show goes along with family and friends) I was thrilled to hear kids laughing, pointing and smiling, but also adults genuinely appreciating the wit of the play. It embodies everything the Unity stands for, it’s original, clever, witty, uses a range of theatrical techniques, shadow puppetry, puppets, song, dance, sword fights, but it has a message, it has direction, focus and a soul. Check out the brilliant video to see more!
We’ve had a great Autumn season at Unity with more sell-out shows than ever before, but we never focus on the past and are looking to the Spring Season to make sure it’s a sterling success. There are loads of great shows in the season but there are two stand out events for me, the return of Gold Mountain and our exciting fuelfest. Gold Mountain, returning after a successful run in 2010, is a co-production with Canadian company Les Deux Mondes and features Liverpool’s own David Yip. The show is with us for a week before embarking on tour to London, Sweden and then Canada! Fuelfest sees innovative producers Fuel curate part of the season with four exciting shows: they’ll be exciting, quirky and something completely different to our usual programme. Expect shows in the dark, participative interaction and moving storytelling!
Hope to see you there!
Filed under: Marketing Desk
Hello and welcome back!
There’s been a long summer since our last blog post so, as our Autumn season bursts into life we thought it’d be a good thing to tell you about what’s been going on!
We’ve kicked off the season with the hugely successful Down Our Street which saw the Active Drama company bring tales of the Cammell Laird workers and life in Birkenhead brought to our stage. This was closely followed by the Gary Millar led Happy Daze The Musical with a range of stars raising money for Zoe’s Place Baby Hospice. And tonight we open our Making Art Showcase which features five of the best upcoming new companies in the region bringing new work to our stage supported by our experienced technicians and staff!
In marketing news (always the highlight of this blog) we’ve been incredibly busy this summer doing, well, loads of things!
- Booking Tickets: Our new box office system is in and working and is a pleasure to use! It’s faster and more efficient for us working in Box Office, and means that we no longer have the slightly hideous £2.50 charge when booking online (although we do have a 50p card charge per transaction), you can now have your tickets posted out, we can have online offers and tickets deals available online AND (as if all that wasn’t enough), you can select your seat when booking for LIPA productions!
- We’re looking into getting a new Wi-Fi system for the building to make it a better place to hang out and use!
- We’ve put loads and loads of information online about lots of our shows as well as collected all the reviewers stars from Edinburgh! Check our Translunar Paradise for the vast amount of critical accalim (and stars) they received!
- We’ll be selling tickets for a few other venues: LIPA, The Kazimier and Croxteth Hall!
- I’m looking at bits of comedy for Spring 2012 including Robin Ince, Daniel Bye and Joanna Neary – Waiting and see who we manage to get!
Filed under: Staff
Sue Williams, Executive Director
Meet Sue Williams, Executive Director at Unity!
Who are you and what do you do?
I’m Sue Williams, Executive Director.
I do a bit of everything – look after people, write business plans, apply for funding, set budgets, attend meetings (lots of meetings!), help to make programmes and projects happen, encourage people to have a go and drive everyone in the office mad with my inability to master anything relating to computers and new technology!
How did you come to be at Unity?
I took the long way round! I set out to be an actor, but found more work doing stage management, tour booking and house management, and one day I realised I was working more backstage than fore. I’ve worked at the Everyman, Bluecoat and Hope Street Ltd. Eventually I landed up at the Arts Council, stayed put for a while and then a job at the Unity came up. I thought it would be great to focus on the development of just one company, applied, crossed my fingers and here I am……lovin’ it!
What’s the best thing about Unity?
People and programme. Everybody involved with unity gives 110%. Our staff team are great;
dedicated and real pro’s. The programme is so unique and surprising, I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been blown away by something and amazed by how creative artists can be. We do take a measured level of risk though and so sometimes you think “what was that?” – but it’s always worth it, as risks are when the moments of wonder appear.
Best show you’ve seen at Unity?
I’ve been here 16 years, so there’s no way I can name a best show! I’m really proud of our productions of Angels in America and Gold Mountain and I’ve loved all the Tmesis shows we’ve had here. Despite being an Evertonian, I thought Beating Berlusconi was great and really enjoyed Ovid’s Metamorphoses by Pants on Fire. Some of my favourite shows have been from our Children’s programme –productions by Fevered Sleep, Lyngo and TPO create such magic that you become completely engulfed by them.
Best show you’ve seen elsewhere?
Best show? Sorry, it has to be shows and I’d still be leaving loads out! My first Robert Lepage show Needles & Opium and Complicite’s Street of Crocodiles both left me stunned. I’m a complete sucker for musicals – all and any, and if pushed, I’d say West Side Story is my favourite, and anything by Sondheim. More recently War Horse made me cry and It Felt Like A Kiss, a site specific piece for the Manchester Festival last year, had me screaming and running down darkened corridors. Exhilarating!
What advice would you give to someone wanting a career in theatre?
Well it ain’t easy, that much I do know, but if it’s what you want, you’ll make it happen.
Take every opportunity you can to get a foot in the door, learn your craft, whatever you’re doing.
It doesn’t always have to be formal study, but learn from everyone you work with. Do it with gusto, commitment and a sense of humour. Enjoy it, soak it up, keep trying. It’s a pretty insecure world, but also such a good place to be.
Keep checking back to our wonderful blog to meet and greet more of the Unity staff!
