A message from Lee, 26 November

26.11.14

Astronomical-Lee

On November 12 the Philae Lander touched down on a comet. A comet! Now I know everything didn’t go to plan, but it is still an extraordinary achievement in the history of this planet. I was watching the live feed from the ESA the night of the landing (full disclosure: the love of my life is a space geek… he made me watch), and watching that room of people who have poured so much of their minds and hearts in to the creation of the mission I was strangely reminded of the teams of people who create new plays. The many minds and many years of work, the pooled knowledge, the bottomless well of passion, the hope – just saying, there was a lot about the European Space Agency that reminded me of Griffin that night.

Making new plays is the rocket science of the theatre world. It is that hard, and it is that exciting. The mission doesn’t often go exactly to plan, but every piece of knowledge gained builds towards the next one. Thinking of the plays we are launching next year as our very own imaginative Philae Landers maybe stretching the analogy, but as we head into December and look back on this year, there is no denying the journeys our playwrights have taken us on have been incredible. As the last few tickets of Emerald City are snatched up, I think back to where we started with The Serpent’s Table, to Jump For Jordan, to Eight Gigabytes of Hardcore Pornography, to Ugly Mugs and to The Witches. What a wild ride! Where will our playwrights take us next year? A Griffin subscription…cheapest form of space tourism? That’s why I’m not in marketing.

Love Lee