G R I F F E N 2 0 2 3 | 6 Actor Max Hutchinson (2007) felt the pain of the theatrical shutdown as keenly as any performer. When the curtain came down, he was barely six weeks into a year-long run as star of The Woman in Black. At the after party on his opening night at the Fortune Theatre, he discovered another Abingdon connection to this show; its director throughout its thirty year run has been none other than Robin Herford, uncle of the celebrated OA baritone Johnny Herford (2003). Like all involved in theatre, Max found lockdown challenging, but he responded by creating Scoot Theatre Company, a group of actors with a mission to bring people together in whatever ways they could, and offer family-friendly shows to audiences in unexpected spaces. In summer 2020, this meant taking an abbreviated version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream to the only spaces in which audiences could gather – the great outdoors. Max spotted an opportunity at his local cricket club, and before long, he’d arranged a tour of other cricket grounds that saw Shakespeare’s famous play being re-fashioned as the work of dim-witted amateur cricketers (aka the Mechanicals). The enthusiastic response from audiences encouraged Scoot to undertake further outdoor productions of A Christmas Carol and The Comedy of Errors. Max then set up Scoot Youth Theatre to give “teenagers the space to tell stories that are important to them.” Making the switch from actor to theatrical impresario was challenging and rewarding for Max, who experienced both the additional responsibility of being an entrepreneur, and the pleasure of holding the reins in a way actors rarely can. Nonetheless, Max has been happy to set aside his CEO cap for a while to take up another year-long acting contract in the cast of the hugely popular production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the Palace Theatre in London’s West End. Will Abell (2012) approached the theatrical interregnum in a different, but no less bold fashion. Having built a successful career as a theatre technician via a variety of freelance work and a full-time post as technical manager at London’s The Other Palace theatre, Will responded to lockdown by re-training as an emergency care assistant with the NHS South Central Ambulance Service. Now, after serving on the medical front line for 18 months, Will recently announced he is “hanging up my ambulance uniform for a bit to get back to theatre tech.” He described his new-found medical colleagues as a “bunch of legends” and announced he’d “loved (almost) every minute” of working with them to help save lives. Can art flourish in turbulent times? There are those who think it can, and cite some of the ingenious ways artists found to flex their creative muscles during the pandemic to support that view. Whilst the perpetual challenge of a career in the arts is now more daunting than ever, it seems many Old Abingdonians have found ways to thrive in the creative industries despite hard times. What follows is by no means a full picture, but rather a digest of news received from OAs or gleaned from the airwaves. If you’re reading this and wondering why you’re not included, do get in touch! OAs in the Arts Will Abell (pictured in centre) with his NHS colleagues Max Hutchinson
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTUxNTM1