INTERVIEW - THE GHOST PARTY

If you go down to the woods today you’re sure of a big surprise!! Outdoor theatre is coming to Southend!! THE GHOST PARTY is a brand new family theatre show performed in an actual forest at Belchamps Activity Centre. Three Essex-based, female lead theatre companies have teamed up to bring families of all ages this spooky Halloween tale. Show Up! Southend had exclusive access to chat to them…Well, it helps that our founder is co-producing this production…

 

So who are you, where are you from and what do you do?!

 

Jade: I’ll start. I’m Jade and Actor-Producer from Chelmsford and I started running MIM Theatre full-time during the first lockdown. 

 

Katie: I’m Katie and I started Play.Make.Theatre last year. I grew up in Hockley but am living in Southchurch now and I’ve been a stage manager for many years now.

 

Rachel: And I’m Rachel, I founded Show Up Productions (and Show Up! Southend)

 

So where did this idea come from?!

 

K: Well I produced a show at Belchamps in the summer. A twist on the classic story of Hansel and Gretel. I emailed several different spaces looking for a venue and Belchamps got back to me and were keen! It’s nice to collaborate with another company who also struggled through the pandemic. They understand!

 

Yes, the lockdown must have affected you all

 

R: Yeh, I was mid tour when the show got cancelled. We were in the tour bus on the way to another venue, and we just stopped, got our luggage and got on a train home.

 

K: Yeh all my work was cancelled too. Was ready to start new work then all stopped before it could begin.

 

 J: Same as Rachel, I was working residentially and one night they woke us up at 3am to get us all packed and on the train home by 6am. It felt so surreal, similar to something you’d see in a horror film! 

 

R: But I met Jade because of lockdown, we did some online readings and things together.

 

So why Halloween?

 

K: Me and Rachel got chatting. We are on the same mentorship scheme at the Mercury Theatre in Colchester, we decided to team up to produce another show at Belchamps

 

R: I love outdoor theatre and I came to see Gretel and Hansel too, and then I got Jade involved

 

J: That was a fun conversation, and of course I said yes, Halloween is my favourite holiday!

 

K: And we decided to do something for Halloween

 

Tell us a bit about the show!

 

K: It’s about a little ghost from the past called Georgie, who wants to celebrate his birthday but he’s all alone. That’s until two children who are lost in the woods stumble across him.

 

J: They then accidentally let loose a mean grumpy ghost and have to work together to catch him.

 

Sounds fun! What sort of age is the show aimed at?

 

R: We’d say kids at primary school, so between 4 – 10. But younger kids will enjoy it too.

 

K: And adults and parents

 

J: As well as grandparents!

 

R: Yes! There are lots of bits in the script for the grown ups,

 

K: And it’s not super scary so if you’re looking to jump out of your skin then this isn’t for you, there’s a few little spooks but it’s all child friendly!

 

“A perfect treat for Halloween” as your website says

 

R: Yes and affordable too! Tickets start from £10

 

K: And we have an early bird ticket deal where you can get a family ticket for £20 – half price but hurry as it’s ending soon!

 

J: Our half-price tickets end on 25^th Sept – and there’s only a limited number of them too.

 

Bargain!

 

K: We think so!

 

For people that have never been to an outdoor theatre show before what can they expect?

 

R: Ah it’s so great, I’d bring a chair or a cushion, something to sit on. And blankets in case it’s cold.

 

K: If it rains a little bit the performance will just carry on so bring a waterproof jacket

 

R: I love it when your watching a show and it starts spitting and the audience collectively puts up their hoods – it’s like, “yep we got this. Carry on”

 

The show must go on! Is there any time it will get cancelled?

 

K: We might pause the performance if it rains heavily, give it 5 or 10 minutes for it to clear and then carry on

 

J: If we think it’s really unsafe to continue we’ll stop or cancel. But that’s in very extreme circumstances

 

R: And if we have to cancel then we’ll rearrange to another date and all tickets can be transferred over. But I think people are used to having shows rearranged now!

 

Yes, in this new covid landscape! What precautions are you taking with that in mind?

 

J: I’ll take the serious bits. As it’s an outdoor venue, it’s safer of course than being in an enclosed building which is always lovely. We’ll be encouraging masks to be worn by our lovely volunteers, production team and audiences if you wish to. Hand sanitizer will be available at multiple stations throughout the venue and of course all staff and helpers will be performing lateral flow tests and only working the event with a solid negative result. We’re doing all this so you can relax and not have to worry so much about the world at ‘The Ghost Party.’ However feel free to drop us an email if you’re worried about anything at all.

 

R: Yeh any questions feel free to message us! We’re all friendly!

 

Sounds great! Anything else you’d like to add?

 

R: ‘The Ghost Party is on for one show only so this might be the only chance you get to see it!

 

 K: And we are also planning to do some mini pop ups leading up to the event, we’re in talks with doing some arts and crafts at some local shopping centre, and possibly some activities at the libraries too – you might even get to meet Georgie the Ghost! If you follow us on social media or check out our website we’ll put the details on there

 

J: Our facebook event, ‘The Ghost Party’ has all our competitions for chances to win a lot of treats and definitely no tricks!  

 

Ah how lovely we’ll definitely check that out! Thanks for chatting to us!!

 

 

“The Ghost Party”

Belchamps Activity Centre | 30th October | 4.30pm
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