Chichester musical theatre society CAOS take festive fun online

When the second lockdown was confirmed, CAOS opted to go online with their festive offering, appropriately calling it A Different Kind Of Christmas (Sunday, December 20, 7.30-10pm).

It will be the perfect way to end the year on a high – a year in which CAOS had planned so much, but a year which hasn’t been a disaster for the company, says Laura Pickford: “I think 2020 has been great digitally for us. We were on our social media a lot more, and we were putting out casts’ self-videos, putting out musical theatre songs and launching them weekly. We just wanted to keep up members’ involvement and we have been really trying.

“And I would say that our creative team have just been so brilliant and so resilient. They are young and their attitude is just ‘Let’s do it! They are so keen and they have so much ability and so much energy to bring people together. They don’t give up easily! They are just pushing and doing new things.

“So I would say it hasn’t been a bad year. I think it has been a learning year, and we have learnt how to keep our cast together still. We didn’t want to lose our great cast. We have tried to keep them all motivated online. We did a few Zoom quizzes and so on. I think if you lose people for a year, then they might start finding other things to do and it might be difficult to get them back again, so it has been really important for us to find ways to keep everyone interested and involved.”

It all leads to high hopes for 2021, a year when Laura and the team are hoping they can really raise CAOS’ profile in Chichester. Partly their problem in recent years has been not really having a fixed base. They enjoy performing at the Regis Centre – which obviously takes them away from the city. And they have performed at Westbourne House – which “is a bit on the outskirts.” But nowhere is really home.

CAOS used to be regulars in the Minerva: “But really the problem there is affordability at the moment. I would love to get back into the Minerva, but they have so many shows themselves in there that to get a slot in the Minerva is quite difficult, and the fees are high for a four-night run. But we would love to maybe do a one-night variety show there.”

This year, CAOS had been intending to do Calamity Jane in the Regis Centre in June. They would love to try again with the show next year: “But we don’t even have a slot at the Regis Centre at the moment. They are booking their 2020 shows as a priority for 2021 there next year, and we might lose our 2021 slot. We don’t know.”

“Westbourne House is a possibility. They have got a great theatre set-up there, but the problem is that it is really out in the middle of nowhere. It is a great venue, but people don’t really know where it is and it is a hard sell.”

But Calamity Jane remains the hope for 2021, plus a show for the 2021 Festival of Chichester and also a show for October 2021, to be decided.

For the moment, though, the focus is on the Christmas show which will be delivered digitally as a pre-record.

“Glittering dance routines, stunning vocals and some of your most loved musical theatre and Christmas hits are in store for you throughout the evening.

“Once your ticket has been purchased, we will email you full details of how to access the streamed event. Please note that you will receive this information and the link between December 16 and 19.”

Tickets via https://www.facebook.com/CAOSMusicalProductions which will link you through to https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/

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