A Midlands theatre company has started its usual summer tour of three productions, although bosses admit this year they have had to take a more commercial stance when it comes to choosing venues.
Leamington Spa-based Heartbreak Productions is taking on the road Shakespeare’s Macbeth, David Kerby Kendall’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and a contemporary version of J M Barrie’s Peter Pan and the Lost Boys.
Heartbreak will undertake a total of 134 performances of the three shows all over the UK before the end of August—down on 2013’s figure of 155 performances.
“We’ve had to be really commercial and go to venues at which we think there’s a possibility of breaking even,” says Heartbreak’s executive director Maddy Kerr.
“In the past, our hearts have generally ruled our heads. This year we’re having to make a commercial decision as opposed to an emotional decision.”
This is evident in the choice of plays Heartbreak will take to outdoor venues: it is ten years since the company last performed Macbeth while several venues asked Heartbreak to stage Pride and Prejudice and Peter Pan and the Lost Boys is an Arts Council-funded project which will involve community groups around the country.
“The theme in Peter Pan is that the Lost Boys today are lost boys in society. Children have come from a care home and are staging an overnight protest against a council who want to close a skate park and build homes and offices on the site. The whole Edwardian slant has gone,” says Kerr.
Phillipa Flynn, who plays Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, will be performing her fourth back-to-back show with Heartbreak.
Kerr adds, “The trick is to create a bonded team. It’s not just about acting—it’s coming together to create an experience every single night for the audience. We cast people who have that in mind.
“We play hard and work hard. Hopefully the sun will shine and everyone will have an entertaining and thought-provoking evening.”
Peter Pan and the Lost Boys has just had its opening night. Macbeth opens at Jephson Gardens, Leamington Spa on Tuesday 24 June and Pride and Prejudice starts its tour on Wednesday 16 July.