Disclaimer: Filskit would like to apologise in advance if we appear jubilant, smug or overly excitable in this week’s blog (but we have started 2012 with a bang!).

Not so long ago you may have read how we’d finally plucked up the courage to apply to big old Arts Council England for some funding. For countless months we’ve dawdled, wondering whether or not to apply. Looking at the dog-eared, tea-stained pages of our forms, we eventually reached the point of “Oh sod it! At least if we get turned down we can get some feedback”, and other such optimistic mantras of encouragement.

Happily (OK, ecstatically!) we can now report that we have just been awarded Grants for the Arts funding for a Research and Development period for our version of Snow White  – a beautifully timed boost for our small collective. While our theatre shenanigans would carry on regardless of whether or not we get paid – such is this labour of love – it is a blessing to know that we will be able to pay a small amount to our fantastic helpers who we could not do without. We have learnt that sometimes it does pay off if you do decide to take the plunge. We were incredibly lucky given the current gloomy financial climate, but it has been a real beam of light for us in these testing times.

So this week we thought we ought to tell you what we did with this pot of gold! We told you last week of our intention to play with lights, and that is exactly what we did. We started our week at Rose Bruford College armed with parasols, drop box, flowers, sweeties (as a prop of course), apples, screen, costume and a large provision of tea and snacks, ready to settle in. We were welcomed into Studio 1 with the space already laid out and rigging set up – a brilliant start. Our wonderful technicians for the week, Chrissy and Matt, were straight up the ladder, focusing lights and realising our ever changing demands, before showing us how to use the lighting desk.

Then it was play time…

We had prepared in advance, by considering the sorts of lighting states we required, the atmospheres and situations we wanted to create, whether it was a dark and scary forest or a magical poisoned apple. Once we had a clearer idea what we wanted to achieve, it was a matter of trying to create it. Controlling the lighting desk was like being a painter mixing the different colours on your palette, and working this way was very instinctive for us. We had started to devise a lighting design, just as we devise a show, starting from images or states and building them into worlds.

An integral part of this week, was not only investigating the lighting design artistically, but functionally as well. As you probably know we love all things micro-projection. These fabulous little devices enable us to use projected images and videos in an exciting and flexible way. One moment we can have a still image on a performer’s body, next it is shooting across the back screen and impossible to catch. It is the possibility to puppeteer the images we love, but this comes with its very own lighting difficulties. For a start, the best of our little projectors has an optimum of 40 lumens. Now for those who have no idea what this means (we didn’t to begin with), well, to put it in perspective, your average projector has a whopping 3000-5000 lumens! As a result, we have often ended up working in the pitch black. This is perfect when working on installations in atmospheric locations such as the Shunt Vaults or the Old Vic Tunnels, but when it comes to telling a story, the audience do actually need to see the actors on stage. So this has been our difficulty for the past few years, and one that would inevitably lead to stressful get ins and technical rehearsals as we desperately tried to find resolutions to this difficult problem.

There were many high points to our R&D week, such as solving these long term problems, and seeing the show come together and the performers transported to other worlds through the use of light and projection. We learnt the basics of how to programme a lighting board and finally plucked up the courage to destroy a hideous home-made projection screen (that was rather a dramatic Thursday evening).

But by far the best part of this research and development week was that it was completely undisturbed. It was 100% Filskit focused from dawn ’til dusk every day for almost a whole week. Bliss. Any young theatre maker or artist can tell you how frustrating it can be juggling day jobs with rehearsals while trying to carve out time for creativity. But last week we had a tiny taste of what life would be like if Filskit was full time… and needless to say we loved it. We’ve finally realised that we are much more creative when we have time to settle in to a space and make it ours ,and when we’re not confined by schedules or get out times. Creativity of any kind doesn’t necessarily work from nine ’til five, and it’s tricky to turn it on and off like a tap. But when you have time and space you don’t feel under pressure to come up with ideas, things happen more organically and if you’re struggling you can pop off for a restorative cuppa without feeling like you’re wasting precious time.

This said, it will take a couple of years hard work to fulfil the dream of making Filskit Theatre our full-time occupation, although it is easy to get carried away when you see a letter come through the door from Arts Council England. In the meantime we’ll continue to work hard, cling on to our dream and do the National Lottery every week – plus the Euromillions for good measure!