“A man walks across this empty space whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theatre to be engaged” (Brook 1990, p. 11).

This simplistic concept of theatre is something I much prefer to a performance heavily adorned with elaborate costume, set and theatrical spectacle. I prefer theatre that focuses on the actors on stage, and not additions such as the use of multi-media, extravagant lights and props. This preference is what initially brought our group together, and is what STAMP Theatre aim for throughout our performance of Berkoff’s The Trial. As our mission statement declares, we aim to create an intelligent and thought-provoking performance simply and clearly through multiple theatrical styles.

“In the theatre, every form once born is mortal; every form must be reconceived, and it’s new conception will bear the marks of all the influences that surround it” (Brook 1990, p. 19). A second approach we all agreed on was infusing different styles and genres together throughout our performance, thus creating a new one. We plan to use the concept of Grotesque Theatre and extreme phsyicality throughout to create a distorted and absurd atmosphere for the audience, whilst taking great influence from the work of Peter Brook.

STAMP Theatre’s manifesto outlines our ideals of a pure theatre, and our mission statement an innovative way of creating our story for an audience. I believe each reflects our values well, and we will continue through the rehearsal and production process with these in mind.

“Marketing the arts involves not only the day-to-day work of attracting audiences to events and activities, but also the  need to understand and promote more widely the value of an organisation’s work” (Hill et al 2003, p. 1)

As well as acting in STAMP Theatre’s rendition of ‘The Trial’, I am also part of the advertising and marketing team, alongside Joe Pope, Tom Cliff and Becca Ward. One of our initial steps within creative arts marketing for STAMP Theatre was meeting and discussing our objectives surrounding how to spread the news of our performance. From the offset we desired to not only attract students from the LPAC but various other audience demographics outlined in the Arts Council England online documents. Our marketing and advertising work will be split into numerous groups…

• Online advertising via social media – we are going to create a company Facebook and Twitter profile to advertise our performance and document our rehearsal process, the benefits of social media will be outlined in another blog post.
• Advertising through promotional images and teaser trailers – we are planning to produce at least two teaser trailers and various promotional images leading up to our performance to spread awareness.
• Advertising to local press – Joe Pope is going to write a press release surrounding the LSPA final degree showcase and information on both us as a theatre company and our performance of ‘The Trial’, this will be sent out to numerous local organisations such as the Lincolnshire Echo and Lincolnshire Radio nearer the date of our performance.
• Flyers/Performance Programme – we want to create an extremely powerful flyer which will give audiences an impression of what to expect from our performance, we will also create a programme including a showcopy, directors notes and information about our company.

Joe, Tom, Becca and I are very keen to start advertising our work early on in the rehearsal process to maximise ticket sales to its full potential. Our first plan of action is to create and utilise social media to our advantage, as this cost free form of advertising can potentially reach the largest audience demographic before the public know anything about our theatre company.

Caitlin Clark.

Works cited.

Brook, P. (1990) The Empty Space, London: Penguin Books

Hill, L. O’Sullivan, C. and O’Sullivan T. (2003) Creative Arts Marketing, The Evolution and Context of Arts Marketing, Oxford: Butterworth Ltd