The Watermill

Nestled on the banks of the River Lambourn just outside Newbury in West Berkshire, the Watermill Theatre is an exceptional jewel among the region’s arts venues.  The Arts Council made it one of only five high quality theatres that have been awarded a National Touring remit, which means that some of the plays and musicals that audiences might see at West End Theatres in London will also be staged here.

Thus it was that when a revival by director John Doyle of Stephen Sondheim’s musical about the cut-throat barber of Fleet Street, Sweeney Todd was planned in 2004, it began its tour at the Watermill.  The production went on to win two Sony Awards for Best Musical Direction, John Doyle and Best Orchestrations, Sarah Travis.

These successes have been celebrated in special entertainment features filmed by Helen James Productions for local TV news, and are set against a background of increased competition from new media.   It was a natural progression therefore, when the next major project surfaced, that Helen James Productions was involved.   We collaborated with the production of the Hot Mikado and the Watermill Theatre to produce a web video about the musical, including an extended interview with director Craig Revel Horwood of Strictly Come Dancing fame.  The touring venues for this production of the Hot Mikado include theatres in Kingston- upon-Thames, Guildford, Salford, Oxford, Eastbourne, Aberystwyth and Ipswich and they too have been able to tap into this video resource to promote pre-bookings and ticket sales. 

The promotional benefits of the web video have been summed up by Tei Williams, who’s responsible for Press Arts and Marketing at the Watermill who said “The end product is a joy and does the job of selling the musical brilliantly. The tour venues have been very pleased with the video and we all agree it will help enormously in selling tickets. ”

At Helen James Productions, we truly believe that in using digital media like web videos and podcasts as part of a venue’s marketing mix, theatres can engage their audiences in new and exciting ways to generate greater public interest and in turn ticket sales and much needed income.