The Isle of Man – The Gaiety Theatre. Well what can I say? You don’t often get the opportunity to perform in such a fantastic theatre and amdram groups should be clambering over each other, gouging each other’s eyes out to play there. The MADF Easter Festival of Full Length Plays is a jewel in the calendar. It’s also a huge learning exercise for any budding performer.

My memories of it start back in 2009. I directed a show called Girl’s Night which was a lot of fun and I remember thinking during the show that I should most definitely like to stand on the stage and look outwards.

The deal is that they give you £1000 to perform and that money needs to get all the actors, backstage crew, production and set to the Isle of Man. The Romiley Little Theatre (RLT) routine over the last 7 years or so is to arrive on the day before, catch the previous night’s show and move into the theatre after the show. Try and get a good night’s sleep despite tingling butterflies and then rehearse all day and then maximum energy at 7.30pm showtime. A small-ish cast and a simple set is preferred from a financial point of view. Also, “something good”. This is a festival after all and the audiences are discerning, so you cannot get away with producing rubbish. Also what sometimes works in your home venue with a following wind, does not always cut the mustard here. Volume should not be an issue, some actors will need reminding that they need to project. The intention should be to put on the best writing you can find with your best players and crew, to achieve your very best performance – it really is that simple.

RLT have performed 7 times at the Gaiety, good years include Girl’s Night, Blackbird, One Big Blow, The 39 Steps and Frozen. Average years include Hound of the Baskervilles and a poor year saw Love and Understanding (hugely criticised, perhaps a little harshly… but I would say that wouldn’t I!).

I was lucky enough to be the lead in perhaps the two most successful plays (excepting the two-hander Blackbird which was also excellent but sadly due to sudden illness to a cast member required a professional actor to stand in with script in hand so wasn’t eligible for awards) and also in the worst two received plays! The order of this was an important part of my journey if you like as insights gained ref your personal performance are from all sorts of places and not necessarily the most obvious places. Specifically, at the Gaiety Theatre, there are three ways that you can get feedback on your performance. Firstly, from the GoDA Adjudicator who within minutes of your show stands on the stage and delivers a measured, professional assessment. Secondly from audience members whom one bumps into and thirdly and perhaps the most interesting are participants and supporters from the different societies aka ‘faces’ who come back to the festival year after year and that you gradually get to know in the Bar post show. This is by some distance the most interesting way to pick up things and learn. Being a full week of plays, it can be expensive and hard to find the time to spend the entire week there, but to get to watch at least 1-2 other plays is advised to assess the standard and meet some people which is always a good idea.

Love and Understanding was panned by the Adjudicator and although I agreed with it in parts, thankfully some of the ‘faces’ disagreed with his comments. We subsequently had a return to form with The 39 steps, a well written farce which was highly technical and has been running in the West End for years. We picked up a lot of awards for this one, including the coveted Best Play and we were invited to the All Winners Festival but due to a cast member moving away and us having sold the set to another amateur group, we could not attend. It was a big step up from Love and Understanding, so we then tried to repeat the formula with The Hound of the Baskervilles; this was a romp in the same vein as The 39 steps and had gone down well at our home theatre. However… it did not really hit the mark and personally I was well aware both on-stage and after that it was not quite right. A couple of memories really highlight this. I was watching the show the night before ‘Hound,’ casually sitting in the Gaiety Theatre and I by chance got talking to a lady who said that she was really looking forward to watching the RLT production as they had so enjoyed The 39 steps the year before. Confusion and modesty instantly conflicted within me and oddly I remained quiet, when I could have informed her that I had played the lead in that show. Perhaps based upon the average response we received afterwards, I made the correct decision.

Later that evening I was chatting to one of the faces in the bar, he  said that RLT generally did good things at the festival but had got into a rut. He felt Hound was a poorer play than The 39 steps and he had noticed from my performance that I had felt much less comfortable. He suggested that RLT should choose a different genre and come on a different night of the week. He had noted that we tended to prefer the last Friday. Though I left feeling a little chastised, I also found myself agreeing with him about some of the feedback and constructive criticism that he gave me that night. Again a benefit of having to opportunity to hear from one’s peers and grow as a performer. It took two years but we finally managed to pull together a good show, that was very different to The 39 Steps/Hound and we even changed night.

Frozen won Best Play and we walked off with Best Actor and Actress that night too… myself receiving Best Actor. We then took this show to the British All Winners Festival in July and came runners up by 1%. The All Winners was a lot of fun but sadly a small audience – an issue all theatre groups are all too aware of these days.

Playing the Isle of Man Gaiety Theatre is, by a large distance, the biggest thrill I have had on stage. I’m now Chairman of RLT and maybe we’ll get to win the British All UK Winners at some point… but regardless we hope to keep on playing the Gaiety as it is a crown jewel which one always wants to touch, even if only for one night a year!

Simon Cove
Chair – Romiley Little Theatre