Expectations

This year is shaping up to be our most exciting yet - what with venturing beyond London with national tours of The Man With the Flower in His Mouth and Waiting (and hopefully Otieno too) as well as new London productions like Points of Light (in totally new genres - to us at least - of dance/circus theatre) and Sexing The Cherry, and possibly some other new shows outside of London - to be announced shortly...
But as well as being incredibly excited by all these prospects I'm also a little terrified - particularly by the prospect of making Sexing The Cherry happen. Not because of the technical requirements or the musical ambitions or indeed anything to do with the artistic scope of the piece (or having to raise the money for it...though I never worry about that) but on a more personal level I've been living and breathing this adaptation for the last five years and what if it doesn't live up to the magical world I've created in my head.

As artists - well as people - we set ourselves up for disappointment if we go in with high expectations - because if you expect the moon on a stick how can your hopes be anything but dashed. But equally if you don't aim high (artistically, ethically, and production-value-ly) how can you ever progress and evolve as an artist or as a company. Ay there's the rub. So this is the year of 'brilliant and amazing things', but also the year of 'things will be what they will be'. Yes we will have music, video and circus in Sexing The Cherry but we will also only have two weeks of rehearsals to achieve that - and the thing I just have to keep repeating is that we're still on the journey, and we won't reach the destination any time soon. But then hopefully with any show, with every show, you're still on the journey (and still evolving) until the night you close, otherwise why bother? Aim for the stars (or the moon on a stick) but don't be disappointed if you only get as far as the clouds (there's always a silver lining).