Where is the love?

Last night I was lucky enough to have a ticket to accompany a friend to press night of Cosi at the King’s Head Theatre. For some of you Arts Professional readers, being arts professionals, such an event is probably nothing out of the ordinary and constitutes an average night out. For me, however, it was a first peek into the world of professional theatre – and I loved it.

The Kings Head Theatre was one of the first of London’s Fringe venues, and to this day it retains a very Fringeian vibe. To define this vibe one might call on the venue itself, a small theatre in the back of an antiquarian pub still boasting an old cash register. But it is my belief that to define a Fringeian vibe it is necessary to look no further than the people around you, the atmosphere created and the love and passion exuding from everyone involved; people who love nothing more than a good night out at the theatre.

Cosi did not disappoint here, it was one of the most enjoyable theatrical nights I’ve had in a long time (an experience perhaps heightened by the fact I have spent the past few weeks in the audience of particularly studenty student productions). There were some brilliant comedic performances, and the energy and pacing of the show were directed as to ensure not a single moment of its – rather lengthy- running time dragged. I enjoyed many things about Cosi, but what got me the most was the energy and vitality of both performance and audience.

I’m sure the venue has something to do with the consistent level of audience engagement; it is much harder to be distant from a performance going on a few feet away than in, say, the NT’s Oliver auditorium. But I think it also has something to do with the fact that this is Fringe.

The Fringe is, generally, where theatre careers start. Where people work their way up from the gutters to the stars of the professional – subsidised –theatre. But to me, the cast and crew of Cosi and the people of the King’s Head Theatre glittered both during the performance and during drinks in the theatre afterwards. From my experience last night it would appear that if you want to see raw love and passion for theatre then you need to go to the Fringes. This is where the real work is done – by people who barely get paid to do it – and who keep on doing it to the very best of their ability out of sheer passion and determination.

I don’t want to say that all those working in the subsidised theatres immediately get complacent, and that it is the financial worry that aids the creation of excellent theatre. But I do think that the bigger theatres could learn from their smaller relatives; the love doesn’t die when that step up is taken, but it often seems to fade – and that goes for the audiences too. The vast space of the subsidised stages can, and should, be filled by the vitality of the Fringe.