Southern living Northerners

It turns out that if you do enjoy tea of an evening amongst a sea of supper and dinner consumers, whenever the opportunity arises you’ll sniff out another tea eater and gather together in a gaggle. A gaggle of northerners is something to behold! Your beliefs and your rituals become much more defined when they are inherently different than those of the people around you. In Oxford the southern living northerners delighted in tales that allowed them to reminisce about their roots. There were of course many audience members amongst them that came for different reasons. Those that were friends of northerners, lovers of tea, keen theatre goers and those intrigued by a show happening for just 13 people.

Oxford Playhouse booked Tea is an Evening Meal as part of their Playhouse Plays Out season, with events taking place throughout the year in an interesting mix of non-theatre venues. We were programmed into The Jam Factory- the old OxfordMarmalade Factory which is now a bar, restaurant and gallery. The warm, white, lofty space worked well and eight shows in four days allowed me a period of consolidation as the show became familiar and established in my memory. But the audience interplay was still surprising and at times challenging. Michelle and Stuart (in fact all the staff at The Playhouse) were so warm and welcoming, they even presented my technical manager Craig and I with a jar each of Frank Cooper’s Fine Cut Oxford Marmalade!

All in all it felt very positive to know southern strangers as well as familiar northerners connected with the show and enjoyed the work. Also Oxford in the sunshine is a delightful place to spend a few days! So now it’s back to the north for me, the table, the tea pots, the hobnobs and the rest! Back to home to Sheffield.

So this week’s challenge was performing stories about people, to those very same said people. How will it feel to retell tales that gently laugh at a situation with its main character right there looking me in the eye? In fact there was a lot more people gathered at the table that were unknown to me than I expected. The mix of family members, work colleagues and friends was more than equalled by those there to see a theatre performance, to witness a different type of theatre experience, rather than to just see me.

Originally there were six shows programmed to be performed at Sheffield Theatres and at one point it looked like it might not happen at all which would have left a hole in the tour- personally, financially and actually. In the end the six shows sold out with about 10 days to go, not only because of my personal connections but also due to Sheff being Third Angel’s base. So an extra show was added to make it 7 shows in 3 days. I was pleased to have the opportunity to connect with The Crucible professionally for the first time and for 90 people to endorse the show by turning up to see it! I performed in the Adelphi Room, a space with three glass sides, which sits on the front of The Crucible above Tudor Square. I really was in Sheffield, the sight of it bled into the room; the city ambassador chasing a youth, the crowds pouring out of The Lyceum, my daughter in her pram.

It has taken along time for Sheffield to truly become my home. Getting married and having a baby here helped but getting off the bus and stepping into the city’s theatre to work made me feel proud and gave me a real sense of being accepted by this place. A deep sense of home.