Doing, rather than waiting – An interview with acclaimed producer Katy Lipson (Part One)

KATY LIPSON is the director of Aria Entertainment, a company which has been at the forefront of reimagining how theatre can operate given our current world of lockdowns and social distancing. Her Park Theatre production of Rags (originally at Manchester’s Hope Mill Theatre) and Southwark Playhouse production of The Last Five Years have been nominated for six Off-West End Awards each, and her work has been recognised in this year’s The Stage 100. In the first half of this two-part interview Katy discusses adapting to lockdown and her recent projects with Musical Theatre Review contributor Ian Bowkett.

Thank you very much for switching our planned in-person interview to a Zoom interview. I know your life has involved a lot of rearranging things due to lockdown restrictions recently…

Yes! Every day thinking outside the box…

Your 2020 production of Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years was forced to close early twice at the Southwark Playhouse. How was that experience?

Well, it was great that we had the opportunity to reopen the show because we barely performed in March. I think we maybe did eight or nine shows. We had this wonderful press night, and then everything kicked off with the Covid lockdown. So, to have the opportunity to reopen was great, and to have the opportunity to put on a musical at that time and to help the venue reopen with the new social distancing too. It was just coincidence that I happened to have that show on during the Coronavirus beginning, and that it could actually reopen. It was difficult getting it open again, but I hope we made a lot of audiences happy.

The Last Five Years. Picture: Pamela Raith

The Last Five Years (which features only two actors who barely interact) is a peculiarly perfect show for staging during lockdown and social distancing. Are you keeping your eye out for similar shows in case this goes on much longer?

I’ve had to re-strategise, and I’ve had to reach out and find product that is innovative, out of the box, and can operate at a smaller capacity. I have a lot of experience at venues like Southwark Playhouse – smaller venues that are 100 seats, 200 seats – so I understand the economic model there quite well. So, of course I had to rethink about what shows I can support and what shows I can give opportunities. That is why we also did C-O-N-T-A-C-T, because obviously that is also a small show, and an outdoor show.

Yes, C-O-N-T-A-C-T is an unusual one. How would you describe the show for people who haven’t experienced it?

It’s a 45-minute outdoor promenade play with immersive 3D sound design. You walk and follow the actors with headphones in your ear listening to their inner thoughts. You use an app that you download at home, and the app knows that you’ve bought a ticket for that day. So, you turn up, put the number in, and suddenly the app starts playing music and you start following the actors and having the experience.

It’s Covid safe because it’s outdoors, it’s in small groups of 15, and it’s actually a silent experience for those who are looking from the outside because the actors don’t really speak. It is different for Aria, but at times like this you have to think outside the box and you have to look at products that you might not immediately gravitate to – not necessarily as an audience, but as a producer. It’s expanded my mind into other ideas for the future.

It is such a unique concept, another that seems to be one perfectly suited to lockdown. Was it written for Covid?

It was totally written for Covid. It was written by some French music producers, led by Samuel Sené, who is a fantastic composer, director, writer, producer. He’s really very highly skilled and I’ve known him for many years. We’ve kept in touch, and it highlights the reason why you should always stay in touch with people you have met, even if there’s not a perfect project, because you never know when there might be. He reached out and said: “I’ve been doing this in France, I would like to do it London, I’ve got a producer who I’ve worked with before, would you like to join?”

Outdoor promenade production C-O-N-T-A-C-T

They were going to do it once a day in one location, and I came in and said: “This is awesome, let’s go a bit bigger, maybe we should do multiple locations.” In the end we ran three times a day in three locations for six weeks: in Greenwich, at the Monument, and in St Paul’s near the cathedral. Now we have built a profile for the show and it’s getting a lot of international interest, because Covid continues and this show is a possibility for arts organisations to mount.

Even without the context of Covid it’s such an interesting, forward-thinking take on what theatre could be. I believe you’re now taking it outside of London, is that right?

We’ve been partnering with the Lowry to open with them in Salford and Manchester [the hope is that performances will run from 2 March to 11 April 2021]. That’s my hometown, so its lovely to take this home. And you’re right, it is innovative, and I think if it wasn’t for Covid there could be slightly more actors, or maybe actors would speak out loud as well as use the app. The themes and the execution of it is all with Covid in mind, which makes it a cathartic experience.

Sure, absolutely, and with different stories. There’s lots of ways to use outdoor theatre with technology in this way. This is just the beginning.

This is just one way of making theatre work during lockdown, and there have been a few different approaches. We are starting to see more streamed shows now, including your Southwark Playhouse production of The Last Five Years.

Yes, we filmed it as live – we filmed a show without an audience, so we could do some bits again if we wanted to. It was filmed with four cameras, and they did a beautiful job of capturing the show. It enables us to sell it to more people as we lost so many seats during the run. We also can contact international audiences with this stream. [The Last Five Years will stream again for nine performances via Stream.Theatre from 29 January to 14 February 2021.]

How do you feel about streamed shows in general, do you watch a lot of theatre at home?

I’ve watched a mix. Every day I’m reading a new script or I’m listening to a new demo in my day job, and sometimes at night-time if something is broadcast at a set time I don’t necessarily want to watch it. I did watch Flowers for Mrs Harris (Chichester Festival Theatre). I’m quite drawn to full productions that are filmed, because I think that it’s important for the show’s quality to be preserved.

The second instalment of Musical Theatre Review’s interview with KATY LIPSON is available HERE.