Three of Red Ladder’s stage productions – Smile Club, The Damned United and Glory – are now available to a much wider audience, having been filmed whilst theatres were still closed under pandemic restrictions.
However, plans for filming were thrown into disarray when one key member tested positive for COVID.
Rod Dixon, Artistic Director: “Throughout the various lockdowns we, like many theatre companies, turned to film. We saw it as an opportunity to keep creating, to keep working, to keep giving to our audiences, and to keep supporting our freelancers – the latter of which was really important to us, and we are proud to have continued to do so.
The Red Ladder team were great. They pulled together, pivoted, rescheduled, and worked hard to make things happen. This process naturally threw up a lot of questions – were we doing the right thing? Was it worth it? Would we be back on tour before the films were released? And that’s when we realised the power of putting our work on film – we could reach even more people, people who might feel theatre is not for them, which is something we shout very loudly about!”
Red Ladder uses non-traditional spaces for performances, in Working Men’s Clubs, sports clubs, deserted warehouses, and community centres with the aim of reaching people who might not go to the theatre. In 2017 it formed Red Ladder Local, an initiative that works with a host of non-traditional venues in Yorkshire to present its own work and to support other theatre companies to perform in areas of often low cultural offers and low audience engagement.
Rod: “Red Ladder Local is a success story. We have data to prove that we’ve reached new audiences, and we have anecdotal feedback that tells us it’s worth it. Adding film to our output means we have the potential to reach even more people; people with access needs, financial challenges, people who care for others and might not be able to get out, and people who live away from hubs that might have a venue of sorts. It is our belief that everyone deserves access to theatre.”
It also allows Red Ladder to spread the work geographically without additional environmental damage – a challenge the company is striving to address.
Red Ladder supports other companies, and in 2021 has supported five different touring productions in at least eight non-traditional venues in Yorkshire.
“We don’t know what the future holds for them – we are very much open to conversations,” Rod concludes. “But for now, we hope they find new audiences and that people enjoy our work from wherever they want to watch it!”
Tickets are £5 per person. Once purchased they can be viewed over 48 hours.
Booking https://leedsplayhouse.org.uk/whats-on/
Set in a dystopian world Smile Club is a darkly comic and searingly satirical one woman show. Available until Wednesday 22nd December.
The Damned United goes back to 1974 where Brian Clough, the enfant terrible of British football, tries to redeem his managerial career and reputation by winning the European Cup with his new team Leeds United. The play charts his disastrous 44-day reign at the Club. Available until Wednesday 22nd December.
Glory Jim ‘Glorious’ Glory used to be somebody. In the heyday of British wrestling, he was a colossus. Now his empire has crumbled. Through Dan, Ben and Sami, Jim catches a glimpse of resurrection; a chance to re-establish his great name and his decaying gym. But do they want to wrestle and restore Jim’s glory? Or do they have a different fight in mind? Available until Wednesday 22nd December.
Feature photograph: l – r Joshua Lyster, Jamie Smelt Josh Hart and Ali Azhar in Glory. Photograph by Andrew Billington.
