What do you enjoy most about touring?
Welcome to our weekly discussion forum for key issues facing those working in theatre and the performing arts.
Jon The negatives of touring are under the microscope a lot at the moment: dodgy digs, travel, time away... so it might be nice to focus on the joy a bit.
Jenny The best thing about it can be the company feel. It’s a real family on tour – or it can be. Hopefully.
Ros Meeting new venue teams every week. Going to coffee shops.
John When I was younger, touring was fun to go and see a load of places I’d never been to before.
Beryl Agreed. I would not have seen porpoises of the coast of Tynemouth if it wasn’t for a tour.
Peter I love touring. Maybe it’s because I live alone. I love the social side, bonding with people, adapting to new theatres, exploring new towns.
John I love going into different theatres.
Ros Different towns and cities, lovely.
Jenny I enjoy visiting the venues and finding things to do. It’s a nightmare with a family though; it’s just not possible without job-sharing, to be honest. I’ve heard of job-shares being strongly considered but they rarely come to anything.
John There’s too much that I despise about touring, which makes me never want to do it.
Ros I have to admit I enjoy it less the older I get. I used to love it.
Peter Obviously digs are the big problem.
John I used to enjoy it. It was like being on a bit of an adventure.
Beryl I’m too old to do it now. I mean, never say never and all that, but working away from home takes a big consideration these days.
John I don’t like spending that much time away from home, with expensive, crap transport and bloody digs.
Peter I’m in my late 70s and I still like it.
Ros I love the camaraderie of touring.
Jon Camaraderie is a good word for it. Arriving in a town and taking over corners of pubs is something to be treasured.
Ros I enjoy dinners on the first night, when you have no idea where you are or where you’re going.
Beryl Your little troupe finding where the best Guinness pub is…
Ros I was lucky – I had great digs in each town last time I toured. That helped massively.
Beryl As always, if you have good people, you can go anywhere.
John I’ll only do it again if I’m paid enough and I’m in a serviced apartment. That’s unlikely to happen.
Jon I spent most of last year away from home and it was increasingly apparent to me that it’s lucky I enjoy train journeys. With a podcast or some music, looking out of the window at the scenery – lovely.
Albert I think you have to give yourself up to the displacement.
Ros There’s lots to love about touring.
John I will admit that, if you have a good company, touring can be brilliant. Creeping back into your digs at 3am, trying not to knock anything over and completely failing.
Ros Hiding pizza boxes…
Jon Not to mention the weeks when you come down at 10am and there’s a train back home at 10:12 – flinging on to a train, opening a gin in a tin, sitting there being taken to your own bed. Bliss. Though I’m aware that’s more a ‘coming home’ story than a touring one.
Beryl But coming home is part of touring.
John Haha, yes, I have done the sprint to the station after a show – underdressing your own clothes or laying them out like a fireman.
Jon ‘Can I change in the wig room tonight?’
Continues...
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Ros I miss touring now.
Jon One matinee at Storyhouse, in a hot Chester summer, I had a really tight window of time to get my train, so I did the whole of Alice in Wonderland with dungaree shorts on under my Victorian three-piece suit.
Albert I spent eight months last year filming and each trip away gives you that lurch of leaving home – but then there’s the joy of getting back. Though I have to say, at least when I got there I didn’t have to deal with digs. I was being put up in very nice hotels.
Jon Filming away can be even lonelier, because you may only be working with one or two people at a time, and everyone finishes at a different time too.
John Weekly touring can be a ball-ache, though. I swear I’ve toured to some places and basically not seen them at all.
Peter On one tour I was on, a large proportion of the cast didn’t drink. So only a little group went to the pub. It sounds shallow, but the bonding didn’t really happen.
John Yeah, I’ve been in that situation as well.
Jon That, or shows with very erratic rehearsal schedules so there is never a critical mass going for a drink at 6pm.
Beryl Me too, John. Although, since people didn’t do the pub we did a few day trips instead, and picnics – we hired a car and went to nearby beauty spots.
Albert I used to love that, Beryl.
Peter It’s thanks to going on tour that I get to use my National Trust membership.
Beryl Sounds idyllic now.
Albert And free passes to the cinema in the afternoon.
Beryl That’s all changed since Covid.
Jon I remember cinema passes.
Peter I worked with a great company manager who used to organise things like trips to Alton Towers. It was great.
Ros Clifford is in her 30s. Currently a deputy stage manager, she has worked extensively in London and regional theatre for nine years
Albert Parker is in his 60s and has appeared as a regular in soaps, two BAFTA-winning sitcoms, theatre and TV
John Pepper is in his 30s and has worked as an actor in regional theatres, the National and in radio, television and film
Beryl Phoenix is in her 40s. She has played leading roles at the Royal Shakespeare Company, worked on new plays, and toured both nationally and internationally
Peter Quince is a 72-year-old actor working in theatre and television
Jenny Talbot, 39, has nearly 20 years of experience in West End and touring musical theatre with forays into TV, film and plays
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