This rarely happens. I’ve filed my official, pen-named review (actually I forgot to put a pen name on it so it’s probably out there under my real one…oops). Usually at this point I let it go and get on with the million other things I’m supposed to be doing, but there was something about Georgia Stitt’s concert at the Garrick on Sunday that reminded me why I love ‘event theatre’ (inverted commas because I hate that phrase but it works so I’m using it), and made me want to keep talking.

I got in to theatre because I fell head over heels with the idea of exclusive events. I loved the idea that these shows would not last forever; if you missed it, it was gone, at least for now. The thrill of creating something that was such a celebration it would only happen once formed a huge part of my early career, and the very nature of the ‘one night only’ meant that the projects were always things worth seeing. To go to that effort for something sub-par would not only be a complete waste of time and money, but also kind of soul destroying. It comes back to one of my favourite ‘production sayings’: We do it because we can’t not. That applies hugely with the one-nighters, I think. Up to ten months of work for one night? You must either be crazy or convinced. Read more…