The Festival at Hampstead Theatre

Just across a small pedestrian square from Central is the fabulous Hampstead Theatre. Hampstead is two stage producing theatre that focuses on contemporary work and new writing for the stage. They also boast a very comfortable coffee bar where we Central students often congregate to work.

A few weeks ago I was given the opportunity to temporarily join their marketing team to help advertise their Festival at Hampstead Theatre which was presented this past weekend. The program for the Festival was an eclectic mix of sessions with various creative arts professionals. This was the second year Hampstead produced the Festival and the inspiration for the event came from Issy Van Randwyck, the Festival's lead producer. Her vision was to bring a series of talks and seminars to the public to reveal the different ways and processes of creative writing and how ideas go from page to stage or film. Many of the sessions included talks with writers from multiple mediums including script writers, poets, novelists and biographers. There were also sessions that explored filmmaking, dance, design and of course, various aspects of theatre.

For my part, I joined the marketing team in the office a couple days of each week for the past month and helped research potential target markets and communicated with various groups and organizations to spread the word about the Festival and its offerings.

I attended some of the sessions this past weekend. Highlights for me were Mig Kimpton and Sir David Hare. Mr. Kimpton was the feature of a session called Theatrical Florals with Mig Kimpton. I have never seen an offering like that on any line up so I had to go and see what it was all about. It did indeed involve flowers. Mr. Kimpton was a theatre manager for decades in London. He worked with a variety of celebrities and ran some of London's most popular venues. He is also an award winning floral designer. A few years ago he retired from the theatre to take on floral design full time and now he produces some of the UK's most famous flower shows and competitions. He spent an hour telling us about his life in the theatre while simultaneously creating some of the most magnificent flower arrangements I have ever seen. Prior to this, I had never attended a flower arranging demonstration so, that was interesting but the bonus was to hear the amazing stories of Mr. Kimpton's adventures in the biz.

On Saturday I saw an interview with the great Sir David Hare at The Festival. David Hare is one of the most revered playwrights of our time. I have been a fan of his work since I saw Skylight in London in 1996. During the hour long chat, he spoke about his life and career and then answered questions from the audience. He is an absolute inspiration and his passion for new work and the future of theatre is contagious. Afterwards, he was available to sign copies of his autobiography in the lobby. Of course I had to take advantage of the chance to meet him. Mr. Hare's session sparked me to think more about some other topics that have come up on my course this past term and I will continue to ponder how I may want to incorporate some of these ideas into my practice as a producer.

Friday brought the last day of term and we are off from school for a few weeks. I plan to take some time to relax but there is much to do in London and I want to take advantage of what I can. Tomorrow, I am off to a workshop in copyright and intellectual property for producers. This will help inform my work with new writing for the stage.

I'll let you know how it goes next week. In the meantime, have a look and see if there are seminars or talks happening in your region that might give you a glimpse into the life and work of performing arts professionals.

Take care!
-m

The Festival at Hampstead Theatre : https://thefestivalathampsteadtheatre.co.uk

Mig Kimpton

Sir David Hare