My wife Julia, (@RedJoules ) is a director of the theatre production company Tigz Productions Ltd. Every year they have put on a show in which a young "amateur" cast of singers, dancers and actors gets the opportunity to present a "West End" show. They use professional coaches to train them and use all their professional technical resources to present the show. The term "Amateur" in this context does not do justice to the level of professionalism that is reached. They have to pay 15% of ticket sales to Josef Weinberger for the rights to perform it but this allows them to use material from an established show. The cast are all intending to make this their profession and this is their first foot on the ladder, it gives them a showcase to help them get paid employment and develop their talent.
Unfortunately grants are not forthcoming for this sort of activity and the only source of income is the personal investment of the directors of the company and revenue from ticket sales. It is true that the company would hope to get some marketing benefit as a demonstration of their skills to potential clients but they are really just hoping to break-even.
In the current economic climate, marketing a show of this kind is very difficult. The traditional methods using local news advertising and flyers are extremely expensive and have a very low hit-rate. However the ticket price is very reasonable at £12 (£10 if you mention Twitter!) so it is all about getting as many people in to see the show as possible.
It seems to me that this is the ideal type of activity that Twitter should be able to help with. They just need as many people who can get to Cheltenham on the 3rd, 4th or 5th June as possible know about the show. £10 for a night at the theatre is not a lot to pay individually but the combined effort will mean that the company can continue to provide a showcase for local talent.
As for the show itself – come along and see for yourself. Follow the cast's @TigzOurHouse acount for updates and preshow snippets and have a look at the Website There are loads of photos of previous shows and some Youtube clips too.
Please help by Tweeting about it (use the #TigzOurHouse hashtag) and tell your friends.
