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May 5th 2008 When the Mixed Blessings Theatre Group came into being it was decided that we needed to have Patrons, I have to admit we were very ambitious in those early days and we decided we wanted three patrons, to represent how diverse we are, i.e. our makeup is LGBT, BME, disabled, youth, marginalised etc in fact our makeup is pretty much, all are welcome but I have to admit the areas close to my heart are BME, disabled and LGBT. So we discussed who we could approach, who did we think might be interested, our short list came up with the following people:
Lenny HENRY
Lolita CHAKRABARTI
John BARROWMAN
We also wrote to Malorie BLACKMAN who wrote the wonderful "Noughts and Crosses" saga to see if she would be willing to come along on the opening night and do a book signing as she had recently written/edited a book about the Bicententary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade. We also looked to see if anyone was interested in having free advertising in our play program for help with funding, we wrote to the Tin Drum, Maureen HICKS and I had written the play on a weekly basis at the Tin Drum in St James Street so we thought they might be interested in advertising in our program, payment would be helping with the cost of the program itself.We asked GScene for some publicity, and we also contacted the well knownw "Moving Sounds" to see if they would help with our need for musicians, in our bid to find young actors/actresses we went to a stage school in Hove Shana Goldman's, so as you can see we did a lot of work to get this play off the ground Below you can read what happened next, some of it was funny, some heartwarming, some annoying and some even downright offensive, but all in all it has been an interesting learning curve for me as a Producer and Trustee or as a dear friend once said to me, "never put your trust in someone who thinks their armpits smell of roses," I never knew what she meant until now.... |
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5th May 2008 Lenny HENRY came back to us fairly quickly, he sent us a very nice e-mail explaining that due to his commitments with Comic Relief and being a Patron for the Sickle Cell Anaemia Society he could not take on any more work, we were disappointed of course but his reply was so nice and he wished us well, and we were dead chuffed that he got back to us, all I can say is what a lovely man!
Rating 10/10 |
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6th May 2008 Okay gotta eat a LITTLE bit of humble pie here, came home from work this evening and found a letter on the door mat from Mr BARROWMAN'S PA, some chappie called Rhys I think, can't read his writing, think he might have been a Doctor in a previous life, anyway he has thanked (on behalf of Mr BARROWMAN) the the invitation to the opening night on Monday May 19th 2008 but as he is busy filming that evening he can't attend, however no mention of anyting else like him potentially being our second patron, so obviously I take that as an usaid "no"!
It was a sweet little note, no return address (now why am I not surprised) but nice enough, so am big enough to give Mr BARROWMAN another rating which will include the 1 that he already has!
Rating 6.5/10 (there is a limit even to my generosity okay! 5th May 2008 What can I say about Mr BARROWMAN that is as complimentary as the above? Well not a lot really and I am not even going to try, and before anyone says, come on, he’s a REALLY busy man and remember he IS a celebrity, well Mr HENRY is an extremely busy an and famous too you know, as is Ms CHAKRABARTI, so don’t even go there please. All I can say is that an e-mail was sent to Mr BARROWMAN’S official website quite a few months ago with a request for patronage, no response, and when he was in Brighton in April 2008 I dropped off a letter at the Dome Theatre to be given to him and wait for it....not a dickey bird! Of course the group were sorely disappointed, all are great fans of Mr BARROWMAN, and luckily for him they are still great fans, as for me, well let’s say when I watch Torchwood I blow loud raspberries when he comes on (much to my nephew’s chagrin) and as for “I’ll do anything” well me too but we still got no reply from Mr BARROWMAN.
Rating 1/10 - (he gets the 1 for being cute not for being nice) |
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5th May 2008 The wonderful Lolita CHAKRABARTI got back to us and said “YES” to being one of our patrons, in fact she is now our only patron and we are happy with that through and through. She couldn’t come to the opening night of the play because of other pre-planned commitments but she sent the group a wonderful email that we put up for all to see, what a fantastic lady, considering how busy she is, I have to admit I was amazed that she got back to us in the first place after the disappointment of Mr BARROWMAN and Mr HENRY but she did get back to us, and we are more than pleased as you can imagine.
Rating 10/10 naturally! |
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5th May 2007 I sent two messages to Ms BLACKMAN (writer of the amazing Noughts and Crosses saga) via her My Space Website, she has got back to me before in July 2007 when I wrote to her about one of her out of print books that my nephew and I really liked so as you can imagine I expected her to get back to me with either a “yes” or “no” to my request for her to do a book signing for the Play’s opening night on Monday May 19th 2008. So far I have heard absolutely nothing, not only that I e-mailed her publishers politely requesting they pass on my email to her with reference to the book signing. Now I have no problems with Ms BLACKMAN saying she is too busy to do the signing, after all she is a working author with LOTS of commitments but I have to admit I did EXPECT her to get back to me with even with a polite short refusal. I am glad to say that I did not mention my idea of a book signing by Ms BLACKMAN to anyone involved in the play, the sad thing is, is that Ms BLACKMAN has LOADS of fans down here in Brighton and Hove, and though I still love her books, I certainly won’t be writing to her anymore, after all, my time is as precious as hers, I hold down a full time job working with victims of race crimes, I am physically disabled, in a wheelchair, am running this youth theatre group, and have other commitments too so time to move on as one would say.
5/10 - Well Ms BLACKMAN'S books are so good I couldn't find it in my heart to give her 1 out of 10. |
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5th May 2007 I wrote to Scone Palace inviting the present Earl of Mansfield to the opening night of the play. Now to be totally honest I did not expect an answer so imagine my surprise when I got an email back from Scone Palace saying that the Present Earl could not attend but thanking us for the invitation and wishing us well! I was so surprised I almost fell out of my wheelchair. I wrote back and thanked the Palace for getting back to us and offering to send them a copy of our play program once it was published, once again I got an email of thanks and a response to say that they were looking forward to getting a copy of the program. Now how surprising is that? I don't get a reply from Mr BARROWMAN or Ms BLACKMAN but I do get a reply from Scone Palace, it makes you think, doesn't it?
Rating 10/10 |
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5th May 2007 I can't fault GScene, when I asked for some publicity for our play the editor wrote back and said, "send a nice photo, do a write up and we will publish it." In the May 2008 edition he did just that. Who says the editors of big, and well known magazines don't give the little fishes the time of day? GScene did us proud and I have no complaints that is for sure!
Rating 10/10 |
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5th May 2007 My fellow Trustee and I pretty much wrote "Let Justice Be Done" in the Tin Drum St James Street. We went there nearly every Thursday, had a meal and then got down to the brass tacks of putting the play together. It was a labour of love along with our love of the food at the Tin Drum so we decided to see if they (The Tin Drum) would like to help us. We sent an e-mail to the Tin Drum asking them if they were interesed in having a free page in our Play Program, cost, some help with paying for the printing of the printing of the program. Now I have no problem with the Tin Drum saying "no" that is their right and I respect that but what I find offensive is that they did not get back to us with their refusal, would it be that difficult to send an e-mail saying "thank you, but no thank you?" No it wouldn't, I still like the Tin Drum, their food is delicious and I will still patronise their establishment, well their roast belly pork is to die for but I have to admit I am not overly impressed with them per se but then like I said before, all of this has been a learning curve for the group.
Rating 2/10 - They get a 2 because their food is so good. |
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5th May 2007 I really expected this group to get back to me. Mainly because of some of their blurb on their website, "We are particularly excited to work with themes of environmental and social justice, for example climate change, healthy eating and fair trade." So imagine my surprise when NO ONE got back to me after I sent my email some months ago. What a disappointment is all I can say, even a "sorry we can't help" would have been nice.
Rating 1/10 |
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5th May 2007 Shana GOLDMAN was excellent, she did try and find us some actors/actresses for the two parts we needed to fill, sadly it didn't work out but she did her best and she kept in touch with me which is all I could ask for so thumbs up to Shana GOLDMAN.
Rating 9/10 |
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