Shakespeare By The Lakes's executive producer, Taimus Werner-Gibbings, says the company's inaugural production of Much Ado About Nothing was "very successful for a first go".
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The free presentation of William Shakespeare's comedy, directed by and starring Duncan Driver and Lexi Sekuless, attracted 4230 people over its four-night run from February 14 to 17. There were 780 at the first night in Tuggeranong Town Park and 670 at the second; 1850 at Glebe Park in Civic; and 930 at Queen Elizabeth Park in Queanbeyan.
The mild weather each night helped encourage audience attendance although Werner-Gibbings says a pre-performance gust of wind caused a bit of unwanted drama at the Queanbeyan site.
"The cast tent almost got blown into the river."
As it happened, they lost some papers but nothing else.
Werner-Gibbings - who also played the role of Friar Francis - says more than 300 members of the public donated a total of $14,000 to help finance the production, including a crowd-funding campaign, donations via an eventbrite site and cash donations at the performances.
He thinks once all the finances have been worked out they will end up in the black with some money left over to put into next year's production.
"While we didn't get a lot of people voting in the poll for next year's play, 45 per cent of those who did voted for Twelfth Night, or What You Will, in front of The Tempest then As You Like It.
He's not sure what they will end up producing but they have a while to think about that - and in the meantime they have to finalise this year's figures, look at all the survey results, prepare grant applications and work out the lessons learned - one of which is: start planning early. They were turned down for funding by artsACT last year as it didn't think they would be able to get the event up, Werner-Gibbings says.
That was, in part, because he came up with the idea - inspired by New York's Shakespeare in the Park - last June. and they had to have the application in by the end of July and had only a few months to prepare it for a summer season.
"We had to act quickly."
Next time, with experience, a well-received production behind them and plenty of documentation - including a film of one performance - he thinks they will have more chance of a successful grant application. Some members of the Legislative Assembly attended performances and were impressed, he says.
Quotes from the audience survey included: "I didn't know anything about the play at all. However, the non-stop action, humour and interaction was fantastic. I soon worked out what it was all about. Can't wait until next year" and ""The acting was phenomenal, the atmosphere was relaxing, casual and family friendly. I truly think this is how Shakespeare was meant to be performed - accessible and entertaining!"
And one other tidbit was noteworthy.
"According to our survey, 18 per cent of attendees first heard about the event via The Canberra Times," Werner-Gibbings says.
