The Islington Ninja Gig

Last month arrived with a dilemma. Various sorts of important people needed to see the show, at short notice, in a good venue and fast! Do we risk asking them to come out of their way to see the show, knowing that if they turned us down we’d lose the opportunity to work with them or do we go balls out and try and turn around a London gig at zero notice in a decent venue, and probably make a loss.

Answer: Bite the bullet and do the balls out uber fast London date.

Enter ‘THE ISLINGTON NINGA GIG’

We’d heard that the Hen and Chickens Islington was renowned as a great place for previews so we booked it – on the only date they had – which was only 8 days later… agghh! Not much time to promote really is it? So we resigned ourselves to losing money and probably performing to the important people in question with a half empty theatre .. but still better than nothing at all and its an investment right?

However, to our surprise the risk paid off. Not only did everyone come as required, but we got the added bonus of having the lovely people we’ll be working with from Mick Perrin’s team in attendance.

And …. we sold out!!! We were turning people away….

So, we learned several things that night:

Invest in your future – Don’t take important risks with people who are going to help you. Bite the bullet and make it easy for them to see you even if it means investing time, money and a lot of effort – they are important if you want to make a step change in what you do.

Team is important – help them help you, getting them to see your show is really important, for them and for you. Their enthusiasm and feedback was wonderful. So thank you to Rowan and Sarah for coming from Brighton at short notice on a Tuesday night and for being so supportive.

A decent venue is worth the risk – The Hen and Chickens is a great theatre for previews… the staff in the pub downstairs are helpful, Mark who runs the theatre is a delight, and they have a loyal clientele who come and see preview shows …even at short notice.

WIN!

It made the 2 hour drive home and the 4 hours sleep I got before getting up for work the next day so much more worth the sacrifice.