It’s a new year and Wise Children is beginning to bud like an impatient crocus. We are poking our heads through the winter soil and looking at the future with bright and colourful minds and eyes!
We have a new team – the brilliant Judith Dimant and Poppy Keeling have joined as Executive Director and Executive Producer and we are all working away on our plans for Wise Children’s first season. It is a thrilling moment as we not only get down to delicious theatry business, but also get to know each other. Theatre is a deeply personal endeavour and, if you are to do it with surprise and intimacy, you need to know and trust your team with joy and respect. This is not proving difficult as Judith, Poppy and I discover we share tastes in theatre, food, clothes and travel! I love this moment of plotting and dreaming. I feel a heady sense of invincibility, like a young footballer who can’t imagine not getting the ball in the back of the net. I feel excited and certain – there will be plenty of time to fear the worst in the future. Now, we are teetering on a cliff top in the faithful and foolish knowledge that if we were to fall we would most definitely fly. And fly we intend to do!
But for all this excitement and exhilaration, change also brings some sadness. I have said goodbye to my Associate Producer Allegra Galvin who has been with me on the Wise Children journey from the start. Without her tenacity, talent, belief, and friendship, I would not be on this glorious cliff top. She helped me find the story and meaning behind Wise Children and her steadfast support and razor sharp mind have made this dream a reality. I wave a hanky to her as she sails off to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport as Senior Policy Advisor – they are lucky to have her. To quote Tina Turner, she is simply the best!
This farewell is only survivable as Allegra has agreed to join the Wise Children Board of Trustees so I will not only retain her deep understanding and vision, but her friendship also.
So here’s to new years, new beginnings, friendships old and new – and cliff tops promising flight and freedom. I am lucky beyond words.
– Emma Rice
