20 Years in 20 Weeks - Looking back to Bard in the Botanics 2020
/20 YEARS IN 20 WEEKS
2020 – our nineteenth consecutive year of producing Bard in the Botanics and the beginning of a build-up towards our 20th anniversary. The shows had been chosen, the actors had been cast, even the posters were being designed – and then we all know what happened!
We don’t want to dwell on the horrible events of the past year – it’s been tough enough for everyone! But, suffice to say, it was the most difficult moment in Bard in the Botanics’ history – making the decision to cancel the season and take away work from so many trusted artists and dear friends.
And then came the harder questions – how do we survive this? We receive no external funding – we earn the vast majority of our income through ticket sales – so with no shows on the horizon and with no end in sight to the pandemic, there was a very real possibility that we could be looking at the demise of Bard in the Botanics.
In the end, it was our incredibly loyal and supportive audiences who came to our rescue – we were stunned and truly overwhelmed with the generous support our Crowdfunder campaign received – you helped us raise more than £13,000 for the company. It is no exaggeration to say that, without those donations, we wouldn’t be here today writing these Throwback posts and looking to the future.
Opportunities to create work were few and far between in 2020 but we didn’t disappear completely. We launched the Bard in the Botanics podcast – “Lend Us Your Ears” – with a series of episodes looking at the whole process of creating a season, from choosing the plays to performing outdoors. So many of our brilliant friends and artists joined hosts Gordon Barr and Jennifer Dick for some illuminating and hilarious chat about what it’s like to be a part of the Bard family! And huge thanks to Jennifer Dick, who spent days editing each episode to ensure our podcast lived up to the quality that is expected of Bard in the Botanics – she did an amazing job.
“Lend Us Your Ears” is still available to download and listen to from wherever you normally get your podcasts!
It wasn’t just our summer season which was cancelled – our annual panto also fell by the wayside in 2020. But, with funding from the Performing Arts Venue Relief Fund, we were delighted to be commissioned by the Byre Theatre to create a short panto film – “Mammy Goose and the Missing Christmas” – which saw St Andrews panto favourites Alan Steele, Robert Elkin, Stephen Arden & Stephanie McGregor reunite for a short film, shot and edited beautifully by Tom Duncan, that reminded us of the true meaning of Christmas in a difficult year!
Robert Elkin (Bruce the Goose), Stephanie McGregor (Little Red) & Alan Steele (Mother Goose) in “Mammy Goose & the Missing Christmas” (Photo credit: Tom Duncan)
So – a difficult year but Bard in the Botanics is used to stormy weather (we are an outdoor theatre company on the West Coast of Scotland!) and we have emerged a little bruised, a little battered but more determined than ever.
This will be the last of our “20 Years in 20 Weeks” retrospectives because next week – and we can hardly believe it’s finally happening - we will be back on stage with “Twelfth Night” for the first performances of Bard in the Botanics 2021 – it’s going to be a very special moment!
Thank you to every single artist, board member, production staff, front of team and audience member who have created wonderful memories over the past two decades – we hope to see many of you in the coming weeks as live theatre returns to the Botanic Gardens and Bard in the Botanics embarks on the next stage of our journey – we can’t wait to see what’s coming!
Book tickets for “Twelfth Night” (7th-31st July) and “The Winter’s Tale” (4th-28th Aug) through our website at www.bardinthebotanics.co.uk
