BUILDING TEAM SPIRIT 👻 WITH A DRAMATIC TWIST 🧛🏻‍♂️

It’s Halloween, so what better time to talk about building team spirit (yes, pun absolutely intended!)

This blog isn’t just thrown together through a seasonal pun, though; it’s inspired by a recent experience with my local amateur dramatic group (of which I am co-chair) and watching their topical production of Dracula come together over the past weeks, overcoming the usual barriers we face to culminate in performances to be truly proud of.

Mainly, it reminded me that the team building we talk about in corporate land about raising profitability and cohesiveness isn’t just something that happens in office workshops. It’s everywhere, often with uplifting and unexpected results.

Amateur theatre can be met with some raised eyebrows. Let’s be honest: not every performance is a masterpiece, and we’ve all sat through productions that were perhaps more ‘earnest’ than enjoyable.   But here’s the flip side: I’ve also had the pleasure of seeing amateur productions that would rival some professional shows.

But the thing is, all these shows, no matter what the quality of the end result, are organised by people with full-time jobs, families, and many other commitments. They give up evenings for rehearsals, spend weekends memorizing lines, and turn kitchen tables into costume workshops. I wouldn’t say they work ‘as hard’ as professionals—those worlds are hard to compare—but trust me, they work really bloody hard!

But more than that is that they work as a tight team with each member playing to their strengths; the lighting guy would rather avoid the stage, and the actors are thrilled to leave backstage logistics to the crew. It’s a collaboration of retirees, students, freelancers, corporate managers, retail workers, and everyone in between.  As you would hope from an excellent manager in the workplace, the director is not a dictator, but oversees the whole thing and pulls everyone together, taking on board each individual thought with the end result of a production they are all truly proud of.

And they often have to rise to and overcome a different set of challenges than an office team; coming up with incredible special effects on a *very* low budget, filling in for each other when a member can’t make it to rehearsal without any animosity (they all get it – they have commitments elsewhere too which sometimes have to take priority) and they build each other up rather than tear each other down.  They are in the sidelines ready to give a prompt, they don’t dwell on mistakes but celebrate the successes.

I grew up with our local theatre group; my parents are lifelong members, so it’s always been a part of my life. In fact, my trip to the Edinburgh Festival in 2022 wouldn’t have happened without this group’s support so I am genuinely talking from experience that this is one of the best and supportive teams to be involved with.

So, if you are watching an amateur production and tempted to criticise for not being perfect, take a moment to think about what’s going on behind the scenes.  And if you happen to be local… tickets are still available for tonight, tomorrow, and Saturday!

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