We're still collecting donations
On the 3rd May 2022 we'd raised £4,135 with 61 supporters in 42 days. But as every pound matters, we're continuing to collect donations from supporters.
Scoot Theatre is looking for amazing people to support our work in 2022 and secure our ability to grow. Become a 'Scooter!'
by Scoot Theatre in United Kingdom
On the 3rd May 2022 we'd raised £4,135 with 61 supporters in 42 days. But as every pound matters, we're continuing to collect donations from supporters.
WHY "SCOOT"?
Along with the rest of the theatre world I found myself on an enforced break in 2020. I had been performing in the West End production of 'The Woman in Black' and had no idea when (or if) I'd be going back to work. Inspired by the sense of community that was growing in my local area, I set up Scoot as my way of trying to get our local community back together again when restrictions eased after months of being locked indoors.
Cycling past our local cricket club with my little boy, it struck me that cricket clubs would be excellent locations for some outdoor theatre - being social environments and community-focused. They had also missed out on events because of the pandemic and so were looking for something family-friendly and safe to host. I remembered a six person, actor-musician version of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' I had performed in 4 years before and it seemed a perfect fit.
We toured 8 cricket clubs and 2 outdoor theatres in our first year, reaching 2500 people. We have since reached over 5000 people with our work, many of whom are experiencing Shakespeare or theatre for the first time.
I called the company Scoot because our son was learning to use his scooter at the time and I wanted the name to also express a feeling of energy and purpose. I also knew we were going to be a touring company and so 'Scoot' felt right.
WHAT HAVE PEOPLE SAID?
We have had excellent feedback from audience members over the past two years, as well as extremely positive local and national press, with the Telegraph giving us a very warm 4 star review - "I loved it."
A couple of audience comments that we're proud of:
"Just saw the performance and it was superb - excellent entertainment, great for adults and kids (as a great intro to Shakespeare) but can't recommend this enough."
"What an absolutely brilliant show! Such incredible talent with the actors being amazing singers and musicians too! Can’t believe you packed the whole story into an hour! We all loved it. Thank you so much for a great night"
"We came on Thursday and thoroughly enjoyed it. We’ve seen all three shows you’ve put on, they’ve all been fab and we applaud you for working so hard to put on some live theatre in such difficult times. You are all amazing. Thank you"
And they weren't even from our mums!
A SHIFT
As we move into a different phase of the pandemic and return to some sort of normality, we have shifted our focus as a company and are honing in on these "first-time experiences". We want to present exciting, bold work for young people to get them engaged with theatre because we believe in the value that art and culture can provide when it comes to nurturing confidence, improving communication skills and encouraging empathy.
Due to the uncertainty and unpredictable nature of producing theatre in the pandemic, we have been reliant on the kindness and understanding of our creative teams to work on a profit-share model.
Now we want to take a big step towards ensuring set fees that are above Equity minimum for all the creatives we work with.
We have big plans for the next few years and we are expanding our strategy for engaging young people in the South East.
SO WHAT'S NEXT?
Cricket Club Shakespeare expands...
This year we are adapting the way we produce our Cricket-Club Shakespeare shows so that we work with local theatres as well as cricket clubs. The theatres will 'book' the show and tickets will be sold through their box offices, but the performances will still take place at their local cricket club. We will be producing a two-week tour of our sixty-minute, family friendly version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" again and aiming to travel further afield across the South East. So far we have dates booked in Dorking, Walton, Headley, Farnham, Henley, on the Isle of Wight and more. This approach gives us the opportunity to develop relationships with regional theatres for future projects as well as helping those theatres engage new audiences from the cricketing world, while still providing a family-friendly community event for the club itself. It's win win win! We are lucky enough to be supported by the 'house' initiative which is run by the Farnham Maltings theatre with Arts Council funding to support young companies in the area. 'House' will be underwriting any potential loss to us during the two weeks of actual touring. It is up to us, however, to find the funding required for two weeks of rehearsal and remounting the show. We are aiming to start rehearsals in the first week of July and tour from 16 - 31 July. If this tour goes well and all venues commit to booking us again next year then we are a big step closer to being able to produce a new sixty-minute Shakespeare for next summer, and becoming more financially independent.
Scoot Youth...
This year we have also set up 'Scoot Youth' - our young company for anyone aged 11-19, regardless of experience, based at the Riverhouse Barn Arts Centre in Walton-on-Thames. Scoot Youth will meet once a week and we will devise work led by our members. Not only will we train excellent actors and communicators but we will be exploring 'soft skills', such as 'growth mindset' and the importance of resilience and grit, so that we help our members become confident, empathetic young people, equipped to make a positive impact on the world. We hope that our young people will stay with us up to age 19 and then beyond, when we can provide them with opportunities on and off stage with the 'adult' company.
Cycling Show R+D...
Our third exciting project in the pipeline is an actor-musician adaptation of a very well-known children's book (unfortunately we can't name the title or author!) that will be for very young audiences. The story is about cycling and so we are going to be partnering with local bike cafes and bike shops to present the show outdoors at these venues, again in collaboration with regional theatres. It will be a sustainable production, with all set and props designed from bike parts and the aim of the show is to encourage young people to get out on their bikes with their families as often as possible! We are planning two Research and Development weeks for this project and are working with Farnham Maltings to actively engage children in the creation of the show by workshopping ideas at local primary schools.
Further down the line we plan to expand Scoot Youth for younger age groups, as well as adding adult acting classes.
WHERE DO YOU COME IN?
So we have plans afoot!
However, we don't currently receive any funding and that is where you come in!
For our Cricket Club Shakespeare tour of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' this year, in order to pay all our creatives and cast a fair touring fee, we need to raise £15,000. This will also cover all set, props, costumes and rehearsal space, as well as van hire.
For Scoot Youth, to fund to our 'end-of-term' production we need to raise £600. Scoot Youth members do have to pay a membership fee and currently that is covering space rental and fair pay for a workshop leader for the sessions. It is our aim to be able to offer 4 bursary places for the Winter term this year and your payment could be highlighted as going towards this by becoming a 'Scoot Youth Scooter'. For these 4 bursaries we need £600.
For the first two stages of our Research and Development of the Bicycle Play, to pay our 4 creatives for their time and to go into local primary schools and workshop the project we need £3800.
WHY SCOOT RIGHT NOW?
I know there are incredibly important causes to be supporting at the moment and of course all of our focus is on the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Ukraine.
If you do feel able to support Scoot, I promise that you will be making an enormous difference to our ability to engage and inspire young people in the South East as we grow over the next few years. We are going to tour shows to exciting, unexpected spaces and give young people positive, inspiring experiences of theatre because we believe that engagement with culture can contribute towards cohesive, empathetic, happier and safer communities. And they are places we all want to live in.
Thanks so much for your time.
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