Keeping the Spark Alive

One of the great joys of starting something glorious like a Theatre Co. is realising how you are surrounded by the most talented, supportive and incredible people. Witnessing them in action helping you with your dream is amazing.

However, there are some dangers to starting a theatre company with those you love and adore most in the world.

Firstly: miscommunications feel like a nightmare.

In working with our group, I have discovered the desperate need to ensure that everyone is on the same page. In one team you may have people who think so vastly different from each other it is impossible to believe that a satisfactory conclusion could be reached. But it can be achieved. It is important to create a space of open communication. Where no one beats around the bush. As a team we’ve had to facilitate the proper brainstorm sessions, meetings, calls and briefs to make sure that nothing gets missed. Especially not under the assumption that, because we’re always around each other for other reasons, work goes on.

Secondly: finding out what everyone does best is a journey.

When you and your best friend jump into theatre, it won’t always be obvious from the get-go who is a champion of what. At first, the job of script editing might fall to the wayside because you yourself just can’t wrap your head around it, or the media management overwhelms your partner. These are simply examples; Ruth and I are of course Greek gods capable of conquering all these challenges with ease. But this journey can breed a lot of frustration if not handled with grace. Mistakes will be made. Assumptions will fall flat. And even learning what others can manage with their schedules takes a hot minute. As some of us learn to not bite of more than we can chew, and others find themselves a bit bored and would like more to do. It’s important to learn from each experience. Use that knowledge to better the team and keep moving forward.

Thirdly, and most importantly is: keeping the spark alive.

Having a theatre baby, as it were, can be very taxing on one’s friendship. There isn’t exactly time to watch the BBC six-hour version of Pride and Prejudice anymore. You and your brother hardly make stupid jokes for hours on end. You and your other companions only have tea to talk business, and you barely know what mother’s week was like because you just live, eat and breathe Stick and Stone Theatre Co.

This is the most dangerous of the slippery slopes to date. Losing your friendships in the chaos of business partnerships. But fear not, Ruth and I have devised our ways. Once again, it is important to communicate and learn how the other person functions, then to get invested in creating time. Ruth and I have started our date-night ritual where NO ONE mentions the baby and all we do is cackle about books, movies, philosophy and anything we used to love. This is the sacred space. My brother and I make a point of doing several other activities that we could argue about. The rest of us stretch ourselves to do all those things we used to do before. And not fall for the reverse effect of “we are always doing business, so we always see each’’ other lie.

These are the little secrets of the Stick and Stone Theatre Co. bonds. Between shows and sonnets, puppets and procrastination, media and marketing. Our small moments of carefree friendship we mine hard for. And to be fair, with all this God-blessed love between us, keeping the spark alive is easy.