I’m tracking the test of opening our play RETROSPECTIVE — Tix here — in London after it’s fine short run at Broadway Bound Theatre Festival August 2025. Here’s the series up to opening night, May 14th. Here’s a reel to consider its charms:
London Test #1: Taking RETROSPECTIVE to the Pub
Finally in Barons Court Theatre with our magnificent cast and director. Why is this a test? Well, as previously noted, everything can be thought of as a test; “That by which the existence, quality, or genuineness of anything is or may be determined” as a definition certainly works for a UK premiere of an existential comedy Dr. Johnson may get closer to the reality of production when his dictionary set a test as a ‘means of trial’.
But I like tests, always did, and I love what Noah Huntley, Sarah Pearcy, Jasmine Dorothy Haefner, and Benjamin Parsons superbly directed by Liviu Monsted.
Surmounting the usual challenges of theatre, bringing a text to life in a way that engages audiences in a world with endless omnipresent entertainment, would be a worthy trial, but we’re taking a play from Off- Broadway to the vibrant insanely talented London theatre scene. How to effectively attract those audiences? We’ll share what we’re learning in Part 2 of this series tomorrow. Opening night is Thursday May 14. In London? Message me for a discount code to use at the ticket link
London Test # 2: Getting Technical
Two days before opening, theatremakers will take any feather or star falling their way from the sky as a good omen, serendipity, and/or consolation from the divine. Why consolation? Because any affirmation from the universe soothes the mind considering needed ticket sales, a planned transit strike during RETROSPECTIVE’s second week at Barons Court Theatre. What was today’s welcome encounter? An essay by aeon.co/users/felix-fli…ia theoretical physicist and senior lecturer in physics at Bristol University in the UK. He is the author of profilebooks.com/work/t… (2023).
What does physics have to do with our existential comedy? Or with theatre in general? Consider Dr. Flicker’s definition and explanation of EMERGENT:
“A phenomenon is emergent if it is built from parts but cannot be reduced to them without losing some key aspect of the description. One of the pioneers of quantum matter, Philip Anderson, conceived of the subject with an update to Aristotle’s adage: the whole is not only more than the sum of its parts – it can also be fundamentally different from it. Take ice, for example. Ice has emergent properties not present in any of its constituent water molecules. It is cold, say. Cold is not a property an individual molecule can possess. Ice is also rigid: push one edge of an ice cube and the other edge moves. This is neither a property of individual molecules nor of their sum, since those same molecules can also form liquid water, which does not possess such rigidity. Ice is purely emergent.”
Theater is emergent and as slippery as ice. It is built from parts– text, actors, director, lighting, sound, set, costumes, place — but it cannot be reduced to them without losing some key aspect of the description. Today is tech for RETROSPECTIVE. Adding the elements of sound and light — going cue to cue — demonstrates that a play is a collection of parts that evoke a sum greater than those exquisite parts, a totality taking an audience somewhere significant. Ariadne Mnouchkine got at this emergence in the avowal that when she considers theatre she hates the word production “It’s a ceremony, a ritual… You should go out of the theatre stronger and more human than when you went in.” That’s the London test: make theatre live; make theatre emergent, a ceremony that will make the audience go out of the theatre stronger and yet also lighter for their laughter, renewed for their contemplation. Now if we could only get Felix Flicker to one of our performances starting May 14th. Tix at link in bio
#Londontheatre
Post #3: This IS a Dress Rehearsal
A colleague in the 90s sported a pillow in his office that stated boldly, “THIS IS NOT A DRESS REHEARSAL”. The notion seemed to be that we should embrace the moment rather than think of our present circumstances as mere preparation for some more consequential defining ‘light-bulb’ moment. Very Ram Dass, Be here now’ sentiment. Production of a play makes that concentration both necessary and difficult; the focus needs to be on what is before you whether setting a sound cue or re-blocking an actor’s cross, but the mind also tilts toward figuring out where to pass out flyers for the show this evening and whether to launch ANOTHER Facebook ad. (Yes, in theatre, the self-promotion is always with you: tjelliott.substack.com/… ) And then there’s the real dress rehearsal happening today. The test is to follow the Beatles take on Ram Dass: We need to Be Here, There, and Everywhere. That’s part of the London Test
Post #4: What happens on Opening Day?
The first use of the phrase ‘Opening Night’ dates to 1814, but the citation that appeals to me just six hours before RETROSPECTIVE opens at the Barons Court Theatre in London is from J.B. Priestley: “I don’t care if a man’s been fifty years in the business, there’s the same old thrill comes back. Opening night—all of a doodah!” All of a doodah indeed. That’s the way for the start or launch of any of the projects that matter most to us, isn’t it? Viewing this process as a test inspired a series of ponderings (which I hope aren’t ponderous) on what it takes to make something that didn’t exist previously AND get people to experience it.
The links to the first four of these observations are listed
