I am very excited to get started on a brand new branch of Chilled Shakespeare. After we moved to North Wales, I’ve been keen to get moving quickly on setting up a new play reading club.

I did some research online and found out that the Red Lion in Old Colwyn was a traditional pub which already hosts similar events throughout the week. We went over there, it ticked all the boxes so I pitched the idea to the management. They were really enthusiastic and we put two dates in the diary straight away. I think two dates is important because it might take a couple of goes to build up a good number of folks.

What I look for in a play reading venue

1. An area of the pub with a bar that is separate but not apart from everyone else
2. Traditional vibe – no trendy wine bars or cocktails
3. Good range of drinks including real ales
4. Not much background noise or music
5. Carpet

Having a part of the pub which is apart, but not totally separate is really important because we want people to come and listen in. The ideal situation that I’d like to achieve is where people come to the pub for a drink, without knowing about Chilled Shakespeare, they see what we’re doing and get involved. If you’re tucked away in a completely different room, that’s never going to happen.

A good range of drinks is important, especially real ales. To attract the widest range of people, we need a good selection of drinks. Real ales specifically need a bit of looking after to keep them in good condition, so I consider their presence an indicator of a good pub, and especially of good management.

Carpet – not an obvious criteria, but a few years ago a friend pointed it out to me. Carpet keeps the noise down. It cuts down on echoes and the sounds of people walking around which make difficult to hear what people are saying.

The promotion

Setting up a brand new play reading club requires a lot more promotion than just maintaining an group that’s already up and running, so the first thing I did was set up a new social media page and create a poster to advertise the event.

One of the really great things about organising a local event is that you get to meet people. Before I began this project the only people we’d met were our next-door neighbours. Just by creating the social media page, printing and putting up these posters on local community message boards we’ve met loads of new people, and engaged with even more on social media.

In the past, we’ve had a lot of success getting town councillors on board. They have lots of contacts and if they share the flyer with their networks, attendance numbers can grow quickly so I called the town council. They were interested, they took a poster and put in on their events calendar and on 4 digital bill boards around town. We’ve never had that kind of coverage before!

I can’t wait for the first night, September 18th, to see how many people turn up and if our hard work in marketing and promotion has paid off.