Once everyone had settled down and everyone was in the conference room, Gail introduced herself. She is the Associate Director at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. She has resposibility for everything that happens in her projects.  She said something along the lines of; 'If something goes wrong, it's my fault. But everyone takes the credit once it goes right'. If anyone has a problem, they come to Gail for how to fix it. Gail gestured to some leaflets she had brought in, one of which had been into our school but it was for the year 8s.
Gail has worked at the West Yorkshire Playhouse for a while now, and has been involved in five of the christmas plays!

Gail said she loved TIE work, and she loved bringing it into schools. Their youngest age range for schools is 3 - 5 year olds. Gail explained that even though they start with a certain age range, the teachers in schools sometimes decide that they'd like it to be for an older group or a younger group. This means a piece has to be tweaked slightly.

What styles of theatre do you use in your productions?

“It’s not always up to us. I really want to do a TIE piece on Child Carers but I have been told I would not be funded for this. A piece about knife crime is wanted so I have to do this otherwise I will not get paid. I also really want to work with different cultures; Especially the Asian/ Indian cultures of theatre.”
I think this is fair enough because I believe knife crime does need to be made more aware and I'm sure Gail will get a chance to do a piece she's more passionate about one day.

How are your projects funded?

“The touring in schools work with our TIE pieces are funded by Education Leeds, but this funding stops at the end of this year (2011). The work done at the Playhouse is funded by the Arts Council but other specific productions i.e. - knife crime – are funded by The Home Office, or The Royal Armouries ect... We are also paid for commissioning monologues.”

I think it's good that they're paid by these companies to do specific projects and they're not just allowed a room to perform in.

Is there a hierarchy for the roles/ responsibilities within the company?

“Whatever happens, I am responsible for everything! I make nearly every decision about what is happening concerning TIE. The hierarchies are led by different artists. For example the actors, playwrights, singers, poets ect... Make their own decisions about their own pieces. You have to decide who is the most skilled at individual things with their abilities. Within the theatre you have to be collaborative.”

How long does it take you to produce a TIE piece of high quality?

“If we commission a piece in 2008, we tell the writers and they have a year to produce a script, (they may have multiple scripts to write at once!). We usually play for two years ahead. We then rehearse 9-5 Monday- Saturday for 3-4 weeks. Then the designers and set and props crew ect... need time to work out what’s going on in the piece. You have to work out how you want it to look, how you want people to see it and what they will see.  As well as the rehearsal schedule to think about we have to book the tour and work on the workshop to follow the performance.”
The rehearsal time there is long. That's probably why ours arnt finished, because we don't have a block time to do it and by the time it rolls onto the next week, we've forgotten bits of it!

Are some age groups more difficult than others?

“No they are all just different. I have to find the things that will encourage and inspire people and decide which age range it will have the biggest impact on. To do my job your really have to be in touch with any age group to connect to them properly.”

Do you use songs and music in you performances?

“Yes in different ways. The music in the show First Cut portrays the life and emotional journeys of the character. In the Worm Collector we use sound effects to create an atmosphere and explain where you are without actually being there. This sets the scene whilst being versatile.

Music and sounds makes the journey unfold and tells the story. We try stuff in rehearsals to see what works and what doesn’t.  Music for younger ages like Visiting Grandpa, for 3-5 year olds is more appropriate as it engages there minds in a more fun way.”  

The music we'd written for our piece showed a story, so it's pretty similar to the 'First Cut' idea for the music.

How do you connect with the different audiences?

“Forum theatre is a good way to get the audience involved, depending on the audience. In The Snow Queen, the actors who play the robbers rob the audience (without harassing them). This is a fun way to connect the audience with the performance and make them feel part of the story.”

I think forum theatre is a difficult technique, or it is for me. I'd never have thought about the robbing idea though!

How do you get different audience types into the theatre?

“There are different ways to do this. Advertising helps a lot. The Playhouse is a very lucky company and has a very clever and very big marketing team.  

Encouraging schools and engaging with creativity is the other way to get audiences.  We just have to work out what different audiences want.”

Have you ever acted and directed yourself at the same time?

“No, I really don’t think anybody should ever act and direct themselves at the same time. You can tell who does this because of their expressions in the performance. They are never fully connected to the character and it’s very hard to do so when you are acting.”

I've never noticed this in anything I've seen, but I can imagine it would be hard to know how everyone elses characters need to ask, but keep your own too.

Do you gather inspiration by seeing other peoples work?

“Yes you have to otherwise it is very hard to think of something original without seeing a starting point. There are no new ideas; they are what you make them.”

Have you ever had any projects where you feel you have just had enough or couldn't wait for it to be over?

No, Never. Things I have worked on have become slightly tedious or challenging because of the combination of colleagues I worked with but I never ever have had enough of a project.

This is shows she really does enjoy the job and probably knows that most projects will get tedious!

Do you enjoy your job?

Yes! Very much. It’s a very challenging job. It’s very challenging to find what it is that will make a great piece. What will inspire people? You know a piece is good if the actors feel part of it.

It was great to meet Gail. She seemed to like answering all our questions and even said she's interested in coming to see our TIE pieces when they're finished!! I didn't find it scary at all, just quite exciting. I think it would be great for someone like Gail who's done TIE for years to see our pieces. I think it has definately made the groups want to make their pieces something special, it has in ours. She would give us great feedback if we asked for it because she makes pieces like this, but more important and they have to be perfect.