The idea
How did we p*** off Henry VIII, King of England & one of Britian's most famous figures?
When I found out, I finally felt proud to be from here. So I've created a performance that I hope will help you do the same.
The project:
- Will offer heavily discounted tickets (£7pp) to experience the show. It's interactive & uses local food, music & stories that young people may not have experienced before.
- Free additional activities for ages 14-18.
- Aimed at ages 12-25 in Spalding, Holbeach & Boston.
Picture this:
I'm ten, bored on a school trip at Pinchbeck pumping station.
I'm at uni. Everyone is sharing stories, songs & sayings from home. Me? I have nothing to share about Lincolnshire. I say I'm from Peterborough.
I’m 23, armed with my Grandad’s “History of Lincolnshire” book. Surely something exciting happened here?
7 years on I’m still going!That’s how great our history is. Why don't we all know how unique we are?Why don't we all know why Henry VIII used hate to us?
What we'll deliver
- 4 discounted shows of “Henry VIII Used To Hate Us” in Spalding, Holbeach, Boston & Coningsby
- 3 free sessions for ages 14-18 in Spalding. Free food, music, photography & textiles workshops and a place to hang.
Why it's a great idea
- The show offers a fun, unique experience to re-unite local people with their heritage & help them feel more connected to the community/the area.
- Over time this increased sense of pride & identity can reduce the amount of people who choose to leave the area. Research shows that people who are proud to be from somewhere are much more likely to help & get more involved in their community.
- The free events are inspired by research from a survey we ran in March. Over 330 people aged 12-18 responded, a huge amount said they wanted a communal space to create & simply belong with other people their age. Music, Visual Art & Textiles were the top activities selected.
- To ensure great engagement the shows will happen in places audiences already associate with food: a chip shop, farm shop etc. This is great for local business & removes the barriers some audiences face visiting traditional arts venues.
Steps to get it done
- July: Pre-production (organising, planning and promoting)
- August: Rehearsals
- Mid-Late Sept: (first peformance)
- Mid Nov: (project complete)
- Early Dec : Impact reports sent to funders
Why is the show discounted and not free?
2 reasons:
1) Research has shown that offering shows completely for free leads to a lot of no-shows on the day as people haven't put any money down and having nothing to lose if they don't turn up.
2) We believe that offering shows completely for free (especially when it's for intimate capacities like 40-60 people) devalues the quality of the work. Audiences are getting free food & incredible live music from a duo who have performed on the likes of The Hobbit & worked for the BBC & Netflix.
If it was a huge public event for 2000 people, absolutely, I agree it should be free.
I want to continue making work locally and make it sustainable. If audiences are used to going to my work for free and then suddenly it's say £14 a ticket then that's a huge jump. Whereas this show has been priced to be accessible (cheaper than a cinema ticket) and allows me to build a strong, loyal following for future work.
