Rebecca is a freelance theatre producer. She runs RJG Productions and is co-director of Old Sole Theatre Company. Current work includes: A Hundred Words for Snow (Trafalgar Studios, UK Tour & VAULT Festival), Anna X (VAULT Festival) and Research & Development of Scum (Park Theatre). Previous work includes: Misfire (Cardiff Fringe & Ventnor Fringe), Precisionism (Sligo, Ireland & The Hope Theatre), What Goes on in Front of Closed Doors (Pleasance Courtyard & UK Tour), Finders Keepers for Hot Coals Theatre Ensemble (ZOO), Headways Festival (The Albany, Deptford) and Glockenspiel (Tristan Bates Theatre).

How did A Hundred Words For Snow land on your desk and how did it get to where it is today?

A few years ago, the director of ‘A Hundred Words for Snow’, Lucy Jane Atkinson, and I met on a friend’s rooftop. We kept in contact and in August 2017, when I was working at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, she called me up saying she had an incredible project and was looking for a female producer. I read ten pages in a lunch break and decided to do it instantly. From there we had a reading of the show at The Old Red Lion in September 2017, and not too long afterwards we had our VAULT run confirmed. VAULT Festival was really the big stepping stone for us – we booked in Trafalgar Studios, as well as Warwick Arts Centre, which initiated our UK tour.

What challenges, if any have you faced producing this production and how were they addressed?

Producing ‘A Hundred Words for Snow’ has been quite a learning curve for me. Lots of the things that the show entails are on a much larger scale than I have previously dealt with, so I think the biggest challenge has just been the step up across the board.

Have you taken away anything from the workshop that has specifically helped with the transfer of this show?

The workshop particularly helped me in relation to royalties and the many ways to go about them. It came at the perfect time for me to implement that knowledge directly into a show.

Is there anything in particular that you look for in a new show to produce?

I look for shows that engross me in both subject matter and story. In particular, I want to produce shows that have a social and/or political focus which are driven by great stories.

Where do you see RJG Productions in the next few years?

RJG Productions has a few incredibly exciting projects in the pipeline, which I cannot wait to share – we’re not quite done with ‘A Hundred Words for Snow’ yet and I’ve been working on a few new projects (including one with Tatty Hennessy, the writer of ‘A Hundred Words for Snow’). I hope to keep the company growing and produce some increasingly ambitious productions.

What’s one show you saw and loved that will always stay with you?

One of the first shows I saw that made a real impression on me was ‘Billy Elliot’. I remember it incredibly vividly, it sparked my love for musical theatre and seeing a young performer onstage influenced me to do try out more activities.

What will you be doing on opening night? 

On opening night, I will probably be watching the show, sat next to Tatty and Lucy (writer and director), with a bottle of wine between us. I’m less likely to worry about the show if I can see what is going on!

“it’s a bit weird to be sitting in the Arctic Circle chatting to a fit boy with your Dad’s ashes in your backpack”

Rory’s Dad was an explorer.

Well, not literally. Literally he was a Geography teacher. But inside, she knows, he was Bear Grylls.

And when he dies suddenly in an accident, Rory knows he needs her help to make one last expedition.

With a plastic compass and Dad’s ashes at her side, Rory sets off in the footsteps of all the dead beardy explorers before her, to get Dad to the North Pole. Before Mum finds out they’ve gone.

A Hundred Words for Snow is about being an explorer in a melting world. It’s a coming of age story. With polar bears.

Following a critically acclaimed run at VAULT Festival and a UK Tour, Tatty Hennessy’s ‘warm, witty and wonderful’ (The Stage) A Hundred Words for Snow transfers to Trafalgar Studios for a limited run, directed by Lucy Jane Atkinson (The Stage’s ‘Top talent to watch’) and performed by Gemma Barnett (Goggles, Roosting).

The show has been developed with the support of the Peggy Ramsey Foundation and Arts Council England.

BOOKING INFO:

Trafalgar Studios 2 (5 MAR – 30 MAR)

MON – SAT 7.45PM
THU & SAT 3PM

Tickets here

★★★★ The Stage

★★★★★ London City Nights

★★★★★ Breaking the Fourth Wall