Like all theatre companies Iris Theatre had their plans wrecked by the Corona Virus.
They’re based in the gardens of St Paul’s Church in Covent Garden and had planned a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream which they decided to pull, during lock down.
I spoke to the vicar there a few weeks ago and he said the place was feeling rather forlorn without the theatre crowd so I'm glad to hear the new Artistic Director Paul-Ryan Carberry has been able to pull together a modest but rather sweet selection of alfresco performances based around the benches in the garden.
Designed to cater for for a socially distanced audience, all reservations are for what they’re calling “Bubble Benches” which will be placed "2m apart rather than individual tickets and each bench can accommodate up to two adults".
The festival runs from 14 – 29 August 2020 and you can see:
- A solo show inspired by Peter Pan DEAR PETER written and performed by Evangeline Dickson.
- WORDS I’VE SAID (work-in-progress) written by Asa Haynes and Jesse Bateson which is a new play about family and those we’ve lost.
- A storytelling hour with Fiona & The Fox by children’s company Wild Geese Theatre.
- PLATFORM a day of live music with composer Dylan Wynford.
- Spoken word artist Reuben Johnson and folk musician Nick Hart.
- A brand new musical St Anne Comes Home written and composed by Jack Miles.
Carberry says “I look forward to welcoming our audience back to the gardens of The Actors Church, and although we may be apart in distance, we will be together in celebration.”
PLATFORM is free but for the other events you’ll pay between £25 & £36 for a bench which can seat two.
As far as I can see there’s no opportunity to book a single ticket. This follows on from the news that very few single seats will be available for JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR at the Open Air Theatre in Regent Park.
I hope this won’t become a trend.
I like to keep things cheerful here at LBO in the face of relentless bad news for the theatre industry but I know that as enthusiastic theatre goers you care about our struggles to reopen, so here’s what’s been going on.