A Professional Theatre Company in Winchester?

Hannah Timms, 23 September 2012

I perhaps didn't phrase this question right, and should have written “who is interested in creating a …” before the title, but still it was food for thought. Having looked into starting a local company, I'd come to the conclusion that starting something locally, with other professionals was impossible, and the only way to get like minded creatives together without being able to offer financial reward was to head back to London to source actors etc.

We spent a little time discussing the exsiting companies, and how they had been created, and a little time talking about the merits and downfalls of a Winchester Rep company.

This then lead us onto the discussion of how we could all connect better, and we thought making a weekly or monthly networkig event for theatre professionals in the area might be an idea. There was even talk of using contacts from an exsisting event called “Cafe Culture”, but making in more informal, and just a chance to meet one another rather than to have talks. Venues suggested for this were The Railway, The Discovery Centre or even The Theatre Royal.

The question was raised as to wether companies should be employing local artists rather than those travelling from further afield, which again came down to problem of finding the local artists. So we thought it would be good to create a noticeboard in one of the creative spaces in Winchester on which professionals could find one another, and/or a Facebook group (which can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/groups/140222576124528)

So the conclusion was really that it is possible but we all need to be more connected so if you're in Hampshire please join the facebook group, and get chatting!

http://www.facebook.com/groups/140222576124528

Tags:

directors, Theatre, actors, winchester, professional, facebook, Winchester, Facebook, Actors, companies, theatre