No. 72 Opens It’s Doors
On Saturday 2nd April 2022, B arts opened the doors of No. 72, 72 Hartshill Road, for a day of music, cabaret, theatre and workshops. Dan Thompson reflects on the day.
Author - Dan Thompson - 7 April 2022
Cabaret at No. 72 Open Day, provided by Circus in a Box
A teenager who's never been into No.72 before is lying on the stage while a clown juggles knives over her. Her mum films the moment.
An actor performs a new piece he's making to 25 people and, after someone puts a pint in his hand, the post-show discussion lasts as long as the show.
A young man on a tour of the B arts costume store takes a selfie wearing a mask made 30 years ago for a B arts show.
A girl dresses in a suit of robot armour, helped by the artist who made it for a show a few years ago.
Potteries Heritage Society walks guests at the No.72 Open day to explore the surrounding streets
A lady who lives across the road gets to hold a tile made 150 years ago in a pottery that stood on the exact spot she's standing on.
A woman who has just left No.72 on a heritage tour high-fives a pair of stilt walkers outside.
A non-binary person performs a fan dance with a pair of giant, red ostriche-feather fans to a crowd that includes parents and children.
Three musicians wander around the building, playing an acoustic set that bounces of the brick walls and concrete floors of the old factory buildings.
Actor Clive Holland as the hero of The Showman's Odyssey, performed at B arts Open Day, Saturday 2nd April 2022.
While a cabaret artist uses a chainsaw to cut an apple in her mouth, an artist with a torch patiently fills the cracks in the concrete floor with gold.
Young volunteers work with an experienced chef to prepare meals cooked from food that would otherwise go to waste.
An artist starts to build the withy frame for a lantern in the shape of a baby polar bear, ready for B arts Christmas show in seven month's time.
The cabaret compere holds the mic for a child to say a funny rhyme.
On Saturday, we held our first Open Day at No.72, the connected series of old warehouses, workshops, and an Art Deco car showroom that B arts have occupied, used, and brought back to life since 2014.
Doors to the street that the public don't usually use were open, and all the accessible ground-floor spaces were open to visitors - cafe and kitchen, performance space, stores and workshops. People were free to wander, explore, engage, or just hang out.
There was a planned programme of music, cabaret, and craft demonstrations. Local heritage groups held displays and walks headed out from the building as stilt walkers and bubble-blowers entertained the queues at the bus stop outside. The cafe was open, serving fresh bread and cakes made in the Bread In Common bakery. After the open day, a new show by an established actor was given a scratch performance.
Lots of people new to B arts took the chance to come in - some just curious, some to watch, some to perform or play - while the company's artists, collaborators, and old friends took the chance to try new things or make new work.
And while the numbers are good by themselves - over a hundred visitors in a few hours, 15 people on heritage walks, 25 people for a scratch show, a dozen artists employed - the real impact was harder to measure.
It was in the dozens of tiny moments of magical interaction. The impact of trying on a costume, seeing someone like you walk on stage, of being shown how to make good food, of the grown-up holding the mic for you to perform, of having history in your hands, of being given permission to see what is behind the theatre-making curtain, can resonate and reverberate through weeks and in and out of months and over years.
And that's why we did it, and why we'll do it again.
Roaming musicians performing throughout No. 72 at the Open Day event.