Written by Catherine Rice and Stephen Fletcher- with additional material by Andrew Schofield.
20th-30th April 2022
Director's note, by Stephen Fletcher:
Welcome to Making It.
One night, after performing in The Royal Court Christmas show, the whole cast sat at a table in the bar next door. Full of the usual post-show buzz, we pieced together the performance, replaying the highs and lows, who forgot what line and when, and enjoyed a well-earned drink.
This was after a two-show day. Both performances were sold out. The place was packed and the atmosphere was amazing.
A woman came over to the table and congratulated us, having had a great time watching the show. She couldn’t have been happier. She finished with the niceties and, with with her arms draped over the shoulders of two of the cast members, said, “Oh, isn’t it a shame, hey. You lot could’ve made it.”
There was a compliment in there somewhere, but as she wandered off, we looked at each other with some of our stuffing knocked out and got another drink.
There we were, in a sold-out venue, entertaining tens of thousands of people, and yet, to this woman, in her home city, having told us what a great night she’d had, believed we could’ve (or should’ve) been somewhere else- or assumed that we’d want to.
The next night we were five minutes into the show and a wall of laughter hit the stage. I was listening to it from the wings, and turned to my brother who was also in the show.
Quoting the woman in the bar and referring to how much the audience were enjoying themselves, I said, “Mikey, listen to that. Who hasn’t made it, hey?”, and with that, he bent double with laughter, pointing at me.
I realised I was trying to make my point while stood on tiptoes, dressed in a red sequin-covered boiler suit, wearing a wig, and with my hand stuffed up the backside of a puppet hamster.
We all fell about laughing. Maybe the woman in the bar had a point after all.
To ‘make it’ in any aspect of life is subjective.
To make peace with your achievements or what you do with them is totally in your own hands and those who look on.
MAKING IT is a tribute to those people who choose to entertain the people they live amongst; the pitfalls of reaching for ‘fame’ and notoriety before happiness and joy, and how to find peace and acceptance in doing what makes you happy and not what others expect of you- wherever and whatever that may be.
Having created the show with Cath, and with the addition of Andrew Schofield to the team, we’re proud of our little show and we hope you, our sell-out audience, will enjoy seeing what life is like for ‘wannabe’ Bev as she tries to ‘make it’- whatever that means!
Thank for you coming to see us.
Feel free to make noise on social media using:
#MAKINGIT #THISISOURBEV
Stephen Fletcher
Director
WITH SPECIAL THANKS TO:
Steph Carter, Helena Harvey, Rebecca Maguire, Marie Jones, Jess Bolger, Mark Da Vanzo, Frank Peschier.