“It’s not you, it’s me”, “we need to talk”, “I’ve met someone else”, “we can still be friends” – these and other such cringe-worthy lines are generally associated with cheesy rom coms or episodes of Friends. But what happens when you find yourself pulling out your best break-up line on a colleague? In any company or group, over time the original line up is bound to change and people will come and go for various reasons. It’s inevitable, just take a look at Take That, the Spice Girls and, probably the most extreme example, the Sugababes.

When we first set out on our grand Filskit adventure, many people warned us of a change in the original line up, and you can understand why. As any young company out there will know, juggling your bill-paying day job, social life, relationships, family and a fledgling theatre company is damn hard work. For some people a life of living on coffee whilst rehearsing till midnight in someone’s freezing living room just isn’t for them.

Then there are the artists who are offered too-good-to-be-true opportunities and fly the nest of the company to go it alone – the Robbie Williams types who are not necessarily ruling out a reunion in the future, but must embark on their own adventure for now.

Yet this does not detract from the hard reality that sometimes things just don’t work out. And what do you do then? Having watched other companies go through difficult break-ups, changes and augmentations from afar, we know that they are not always amicable. In fact, it can be like a divorce and the nature of it can really dictate if it is going to be a great opportunity for all parties or the beginning of the end.

There are also occasions of wrong time, wrong place. Upon the inception of the company you may discount the skills or temperament of a potential colleague as they don’t ‘match’ your initial vision. However, things may well change as you and they grow up, and people’s ideas and personal commitments alter. I suppose the lesson there is to never burn your bridges – you never know when or where new collaborations will be born.

Of course company changes aren’t always born out of a departure – new arrivals also signal change. As we have grown as a company, we have become much more open to collaborations, seeking out like-minded (slightly crazy!) people with valuable skills appropriate to different projects.

So over the last two years we have, like so many others, fulfilled the prophecy that the original group would morph and change. We’ve seen a few arrivals and departures. Whilst these comings and goings aren’t quite to the scale of some more high profile groups we have learnt embrace them. So changes happen, but how do we deal with these developments both privately and publicly? In our own experience, when people have joined and moved on from Filskit Theatre we have needed time to regroup, reassess and make decisions about where we are going.

This is a very personal time for theatre companies and can often result in things appearing all quiet on the Western Front. However, when break-ups happen under a cloak of secrecy rumours generally start to spread. Audiences are now so used to being part of the company experience through Twitter, Facebook, blogs and newsletters, that to hear nothing from their favourite company can start to raise a few eyebrows. So perhaps it is unfair to expect an audience to only listen when we have something that we are happy to share, and not expect them to ask questions when things appear to change.

So, is now the time for honesty and openness? To say goodbye and good luck to those who starting on pastures new, and hello and welcome to those new on board? Take pride in what you have built together to that point – as it probably won’t be the only big change on the journey of your theatre company, and look to the future with your new team.