No. 15 10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION June 2017

little over ten years ago Clair, Ryan and I sat down to dinner in the now A closed Neal Street Restaurant, the object of the meal was to discuss a name for a new . After working together on a couple of projects it had become clear to us all that not only did we enjoy each other’s company but there was a shared philosophy about how we liked to work. It was time to make it more formal. But coming up with a name that reflected this philosophy was proving extremely difficult. Somewhere into the second (or was it third) bottle of wine, we struck upon an idea. An idea of a place where people knew our names, and we knew theirs; we knew what their preferred tipple was, we knew that we counted them as friends as well as customers. A bit like the old fashioned corner shop where the shopkeeper kept your favourite newspaper aside, and asked after your family. It stuck. We became The Corner Shop. And for the last ten years we have held onto that notion of personal service and customer (not forgetting staff) care. As we celebrate reaching our tenth year, we want to say a big thank you to everyone that has worked for us and to all of our clients. We look forward to keeping a copy of your favourite paper aside for many years to come. BC EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY: Happy Tin-th birthday to us! ho needs diamond, gold or silver anniversaries? Tin is ten – a W milestone to be proud of, and that we are. Perhaps it’s not the most glamorous of chemical elements but I think it sums up The Corner Shop nicely. Tin is… full of energy (like a tin of baked beans), it opens doors to new exciting artistic adventures (like a tin opener), and is a vessel for development and growth (like a cake tin in the oven). Not to shy away from a simile too many, one could also say that it is also like the Tin Man: full of heart. FA Illustration by FA with colour added by JD with colour by FA Illustration

The Corner Shop PR, 36 Great Queen Street, London WC2B 5AA T 020 7831 765 @tcspr thecornershoppr.com Cut to now and the building harder to create internships of our final run at the Brooklyn In Conversation With of the Roundabout Theatre and opportunities in technical Academy. Taking a bow alongside for Paines Plough. So that’s training. Before I was in the us were some of our favourite one example. press office at the RSC I was a actors and the whole Donmar CARO NEWLING stage manager, so I’ve always team. It sounds a bit cheesy Press and Marketing is 50% of been very aware of how that but they were just the most producing, isn’t it?! If you don’t whole backstage army holds the wonderful people and it was a aro Newling is a founding director of , have an audience, you haven’t future of every show in their very sweet moment… Sam and I C leading the company’s theatre arm with current projects got a project. Once the show hands. It’s not always apparent knowing, just as we were walking including in the West End, the Broadway premiere is up and running Press and to someone who is studying onto the stage, that it was the end of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the UK tour of Shrek The to be an electrician on a City & of our era. Musical. Caro is also Chair of both Paines Plough and the Linbury Guilds course or somewhere Prize for Stage Design. We caught up with Caro as she comes to the ‘Working in miles away from London that What’s next for Neal Street? end of her three year tenure as President of the Society of London they can use those skills in the Theatre and the beginning of a new phase in her career. PG a press office creative industries. The holy grail is to create another television series like Call gives you an All my fellow producers the Midwife and we have three How did Neal Street Productions The challenge, of course, is What are the benefits of working have had to get pretty wise more coming down the lines of come about? finding great original material. alongside film and TV producers? insight that about this whole malarkey different colours and shapes. So of ticketing in the last three we’ll see. and I ran the Is there a Neal Street achievement The conversation is much bigger is probably years too. We’ve had to be a for 10 you are most proud of? and the landscape is much wider. little bit more collegiate in the On the theatre side we have years and I was very content So, an idea is being developed as 360 way we talk to our audiences. five plays and two musicals in there having spent several years We’ve had great times. One of for a TV series and you might We have to tell the audience development, some of which raising the money to get it built, the best and maddest times, I find that just randomly you can degrees as that they can go to the Official will be ready next year and some then working out how we could think this was in 2008, we had put an ingredient in the pot London Theatre website, and of which will roll out over a get it funded and stabilised, and Shrek about to open on Broadway, that might make a project turn a you can get.’ no matter which show they’re longer period. then running the programme The Bridge Project – a three- corner and develop in a different interested in seeing, they’ll of work. I was beginning to year, global project with the Old way: for example, Rupert Goold find it on there and they won’t feel quite comfortable by our Vic Theatre and the Brooklyn and Thea Sharrock directing The Marketing teams are probably be charged a booking fee: it’s a ‘I just love this 10th year! Academy of Music, who’d never Hollow Crown when, actually, the your closest allies. Working in a straightforward process. natural progress of a project like press office gives you an insight heightened Sam, quite rightly, said that the that would have probably been that is probably as 360 degrees as I’m going to be Vice President minute things start to feel a bit ‘…the minute to go to filmmakers with more you can get, unless you’re a stage for the next three years so I plan awareness that comfortable is the time to move obviously relevant experience. manager, I think. to continue to champion my on. He’d made a couple of films things start passions. There are so many great you’re putting by then and we’d also begun a If you look closely at Neal Street’s You are coming to the end of people at SOLT. They’re really conversation with Pippa Harris, to feel a bit slate you’ll see that a lot of our a three-year stint as President switched on. It’s a zingy place together a who, at the time, was Head of writers and actors are working of SOLT. How did you come to to be. Drama Commissioning at the comfortable across more than one medium. be President? community BBC. We all got together and What is it that you love about started the company in a couple is the time to You used to work in the RSC’s Well, you get phoned up and this industry? What keeps around a of empty rooms in 2003. In 2015, press office before running asked if you would be interested you going? we were joined by Nicolas Brown move on.’ the Donmar Warehouse. How in standing and I admit I was project…’ as an Executive Producer on our did the early years of your quite surprised to get the call. I just love this heightened TV slate. career prepare you for life as It makes you feel quite senior awareness that you’re putting met before – and, on this side of a producer? and older than you thought together a community around a If we could see all of the projects My job now is to bring on and the Atlantic, Three Days of Rain, you were! project and that each time it feels we have in development come develop our theatre projects. I am a play I have always loved, with With the RSC, there was absolutely bespoke. to fruition and be successful in always looking for something that James McAvoy, Nigel Harman Stratford and there was the Each president brings their own gaining the audience’s love and makes me tingle. A project that and Lindsey Marshal. It was just Barbican and also there was passion to the organisation. My One particularly fond memory capturing their imagination then means you don’t have to question brilliant because it was a complete touring. I was working on what passion has been to pick up on of that community feeling was I’ll be very happy indeed. why you’re doing all that work. clash of genres and schedules and was then known as the ‘Mobile something SOLT was already around the end of Sam and my Something you believe there’s an the worst planning in the world! Tour’, a 500 seat theatre that doing and give it an extra 10 years at the Donmar. We took nealstreetproductions.com appetite for. But it all came together. went off around the country. push. We now work a little bit a bow together on the final night solt.co.uk

2 3 A New Shop Front The Way We WERE/ARE/WILL BE

he Corner Shop flung its doors open and served its very first T customer ten years ago this month. The jokes about picking 2007 2017 2027 up a pint of milk on the way home or popping in when you run out of tea bags soon followed but we settled down to business LISTENING TO Mark Ronson Ft Amy S Town podcast; Ariana The voices in our heads; and grew out of Lexington Street, then Noel Street and now at Winehouse – Valerie; Grande; Frank Ocean; Pop songs written by Great Queen Street there is a real shop front with Stephen Jones Rhianna – Umbrella; The reunion of Steps; logarithms; Blue Ivy Millinery on street level. We couldn’t be happier about this! Radiohead – In Rainbows Stormzy Carter

TECH TO iPhone launched; VR goes mainstream; OS are now chips in So, ten years on and hundreds of projects later, we’re now giving our own MARVEL AT Facebook made available Robots on the rise; our heads and negate corner shop a shiny new frontage. to everyone around the Household appliances are the need for handheld world (hitting 20 million hackable; the beginning devices; Time travel A lot has changed since 2007 and now we publicists, who once couriered users); Motorola Razrs flip of driverless cars appears to be possible; photo negatives to national newspapers, are WeTransfer-ing b-roll to phones are popular 3D printed pizzas influencers so they can populate their Instagram stories. OK, maybe the ‘tranny on a bike’ is thinking back a little further than ten years (!) but the WATCHING Ugly Betty, Dexter, Bake Off; The Crown; Children growing up; media landscape in which we operate today looks vastly different than it Casino Royale, La La Land, no North and Saint West’s did back when social media was in its fledgling phase. High School Musical, 300 wait, Moonlight; reality TV show; The Handmaid’s Tale; Star Wars: Episode XIX Our original logo has become a symbol of pride for ‘Shoppers’ past and Question Time present. But now, in 2017, The Corner Shop needs a visual identity that works as well in print as it does online and on social media. BUYING Daniel Radcliffe’s West Holiday on the continent Get into Central London; TICKETS TO End stage debut in Equus; before Brexit; Angels in Trips to Mars; Game The Corner Shop’s evolved branding and new website, courtesy of the You can sneak a peek through our Maggie Smith’s return to America; Edward Albee’s of Thrones the Musical; Bristol based team at Fiasco Design, is fresh, clean and flexible, enabling shop window at thecornershoppr.com the stage in Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Agatha Christie’s The us to better represent ourselves and our clients across the full spectrum and tell us what you think at The Lady from Dubuque; Woolf; Glastonbury Mousetrap; Exciting new of editorial platforms that make up the media landscape of today. PG twitter.com/tcspr the European stage Festival; Hamilton; playwrights premiere of the musical of Harry Potter and The The Lord of the Rings Cursed Child

UK PRIME Tony Blair / Theresa May Sadiq Khan WITHIN MINISTER Gordon Brown 10 OF THE BEST THESE WALLS US PRESIDENT George Bush Jr Donald Trump Michelle Obama “What’s the time difference “I got chased by some he Corner Shop prides itself 1 between here and Wales?” 6 foxes last night.” EUROVISION Lordi (Finland) Salvador Sobral (Portugal) We enjoy Australia’s 6 year T in hiring intelligent and WINNERS winning streak although are articulate people – but we all have “I like your necklace.” / “I’d be sh*t in The Hunger still wondering why they are our off days. As Office Manager 2 “It’s a lanyard.” 7 Games. I’m always hungry.” classed as Europeans I keep a log of all the daft stuff that gets overheard in the office “Can you hyperlink “If I wear yellow, I look CULTURALLY Britney Spears shaves The beginning of the end Thankfully things are and, at the end of the year, we 3 your back end?” 8 like a dead canary.” NOTING her head; Pluto demoted of the European Union; much more pleasant than host a little awards ceremony to to a dwarf planet Vaping; Hull UK City Charlie Brooker’s Black commemorate categories such “When the sun’s out there’s “I don’t see human of Culture Mirror predicts as ‘Innuendo of the Year’, ‘Best 4 something inside me 9 beings, I see coverage.” Blooper’ and ‘Most PR Thing that’s desperate to rumba.” COST OF A 40p 79p We are all now vegans to Say’. What happens in the “Is there anything PINT OF MILK and drink almond milk office usually stays in the office “I give great word 10 on at the theatre at £4 pint so we haven’t named and shamed 5 of mouth.” at the moment?” the culprits. FA

4 5 THE RECEIVING END OF PR: PR turns Performer: The Directors’ Skits A Journalist’s Point of View t The Corner Shop’s annual summer away days and Christmas lunches, the directors like to give A something back to our hard working team in the form of a little performance. Far from showcasing anything remotely resembling talent, this usually provides an opportunity to laugh at ourselves and play ndrzej Lukowski looks back to the start order to get their job done: hence, everyone drank a the fool. These ‘turns’ have taken many forms over the years including: A of his career to understand how his lot more. It was great fun, a sense that we were all journalistic relationships with PRs, and the happy protuberances of a vastly profitable global movements of the arts press industry as a industry, junior as we all were. VERBATIM THEATRE STAND UP GREEK DRAMA whole, have changed. Metro’s 5 Minutes With… The Corner Christmas 2013 featured Old PRs At Christmas 2015 we Fifteen years on and I still keep my oar in with music Shop – a playlet commissioned for Telling Jokes, inspired by (and acknowledged the abundance of journalism a little as a freelancer, but for me at least the 2011 Summer Barbeque. totally ripped off from) the TV classic Greek dramas in the city I can’t actually remember my first contact with the landscape has entirely changed. Everything is series Old Jews Telling Jokes – with our own, Grease (set in 1958, a PR person, but it would have happened when conducted by email, and my music inbox is swamped MUSICAL NUMBER complete with PR punchlines. ‘This was the time that coined I was 20 and newly-appointed as music editor of by hundreds of press releases daily, sent from all In Summer 2012 we did our the term whacky Bakkai; and the my university’s newspaper, the cunningly-titled across the planet, many by self-employed, semi- version of the Duloc song from WORKSHOP Ill E Ad was definitely sexually Leeds Student. I suppose in a sense I’d never directly professional PRs who will be being paid next to Shrek The Musical: Things Are Summer 2014’s Overheard in PR: transmitted.’). thought about where the CDs we were sent to review nothing. Advance copies of albums will either be sent Looking Up Here, at The Corner A lesson in maximising your media came from, or who set up interviews, other than ‘the out en masse via email, or not at all (because of fear Shop (without the dance routine). potential and growing your reach SPOKEN WORD record label’, but I soon developed of leaks). Other journalists will included invaluable advice such Last summer we had an epic poem in a fairly cordial – if long-distance have a very different experience MOTIVATIONAL TALK as checking, ‘How many followers rhyming couplets which lamented – relationship with an array of ‘I’d never to me (I rarely review gigs, which Summer 2013 was a close-to-the- do they have? Not on twitter, but the state of the world and celebrated PRs, all passionate music fans, is where music hacks and PRs bone satirical career coaching in real life. Like Jesus.’ the power of art to address and many of whom – I was bemused directly traditionally hang out), but for presentation called, simply Be overcome our numerous issues. It’s to discover – were specifically me the intimacy is gone, though Better. REVUE a work in progress. employed to patiently and thought about I don’t miss the scanning. Christmas 2014 saw the director’s own professionally work with student TV BLOCKBUSTER version of La Soiree with each of us GAME SHOW publications (it actually makes where the Fortunately my main job has Our Down Town Agency (aka enacting our party piece for the team’s Christmas 2016 it was University total sense: Leeds Student had a long been writing about London Downton Abbey) Christmas episode, viewing (un)pleasure – there was a Challenge meets Cards Against weekly circulation of 10,000, so CDs we were theatre, which is both a much complete with Mr Carson’s shock hula act, a rap act and an alphabet act, Humanity : a game show where the national circulation of student more localised industry than conversion to Mormonism. you’d never guess who was which. everyone’s a loser. newspapers as a whole must have sent to review music, and also a more stable been pretty significant, especially one. In the seven years I’ve been What will be next? Ideas on a postcard to [email protected] CC in an era where students still came from… ’ at Time Out my perception is that actually paid for music). relativity little has changed in the PR landscape, which is a good Because they were all based in London and I was thing as far as I’m concerned. THINGS WE LIKE Flower, Eggs & Water based in Yorkshire, I rarely met them, but it felt like a fairly involved series of working relationships, mostly I’m not really sure what I have to say on the ou’ll do a double take when you realise that the photographs on due to the fact that our antediluvian office dial up relationship between theatre PRs and journalists that Y the @ivenoven Instagram account are of cakes rather than flower meant that our only means of contacting any of them isn’t blindingly obvious, but it does often strike me arrangements. Intricate, accurate and beautifully composed these was by phone. Pretty retro, though in some ways it that on the occasions I happen to stray into dealing terrarium cakes look too good to eat. Almost. Further research on the pales into insignificance next to the most madly with a non-arts PR I can suddenly find myself in a Iven Oven bakery’s website reveals speciality flavour fillings so it wouldn’t antiquated but vitally important bit of a music PR’s strange world of slick, jargon-spouting people with take too much to persuade us to cut a slice. job, which was to post us the official photos of their little obvious interest in the thing they’re PR-ing. artists, which we would put away in an alphabetised From small beginnings in December 2013, after owner Iven Kawi was filing cabinet, retrieving an image as an when needed That’s not necessarily a criticism – boring things need noted baking sugar-coated cookies for her daughter’s school event, Iven in order to scan and crop it for use on the page. PR too – but my world has much more of a family Oven now employs 14 internationally-graduated female pastry chefs. atmosphere, a bunch of people doing what we’re They were simpler times. No amount of cumbersome doing because first and foremost we all love theatre. Indeed, it wouldn’t be a celebratory edition of our Quarterly without a scanning or gossipy phone calls really detracted from cake but unfortunately, for these, delivery is limited to Indonesia where the the fact that there were fewer things that either Andrzej Lukowski is the Theatre Editor of Time Out London. company is based so, dear reader, do let us know when you’re next travelling Instagram @ivenoven journalist or PR was realistically required to do in timeout.com/london/theatre back from that part of the world and we’ll pass over our order. RR ivenoven.blogspot.co.uk

6 7 VARIETY SHOW: A DECADE OF MUSICALS AT THE CORNER SHOP

ike a lot of people I couldn’t decide if La La Land was genuinely ground-breaking or purely nostalgic. As L a movie it had all the ingredients of a great musical, and it left me entertained as well as moved. We like to identify, but we also like to escape. We have had the privilege of working on many great musicals staged in the West End over the past ten years and each has its own balance of all of these ingredients. There’s so much variety, and each has been memorable in its own way; here’s a snapshot celebration. CC

Avenue Q La Cages Aux Folles The Corner Shop was formed on the back of a PR A Menier Chocolate Factory transfer, this wonderfully collaboration on this irreverent, risqué, hilarious and 2006 louche revival featured, among others, Douglas Hodge truly original show. as the definitive Albin.

Disney’s The Lion King (1999) Spring Awakening 2009 marked the tenth anniversary of The Lion King 2007 Adapted from the Wedekind play and arriving in in the West End. A landmark, pioneering show now the West End after winning a hatful of Tonys, this approaching its 20th year (2019) and it is still playing to production literally rocked our world. packed houses. 2008 Matilda The Musical (Nov 2011) Shrek The Musical The Royal Shakespeare Company’s production saw Tim Adapted from the classic Dreamworks animation, this Minchin’s first foray into a full length musical. Winning musical made for a colourful, crowd-pleasing production over 80 major international awards, including 16 for that begins its 2nd UK tour in December 2017. Best Musical, it has brilliance oozing from every pore 2009 and will begin its first UK tour in 2018. Crazy For You Chock full of Gershwin’s greatest hits, this Regent’s Park Sweeney Todd Open Air Theatre transfer had sass and energy in spades. Michael Ball as you’ve never seen him before! Also 2010 Imelda Staunton proving (as she does time and Let It Be time again) that she can do anything. It made an Basically the Beatle’s concert you never got to see, Let understanding and appreciation for Sondheim finally It Be raised the roof nightly and was an authentic and click into gear for me. thrilling experience for lovers of the fab four. 2011 The Book of Mormon A Chorus Line Hats off to Matt Stone, Trey Parker and Robert A meta-musical that beautifully balances the Lopez (see Avenue Q) for their uncompromising, jaw- individuality of Broadway hopefuls with the glitzy 2012 droppingly offensive but wholly, musically reverential line-up that stretched across the Palladium stage with production. A colossal hit. impressive precision. Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory From Here To Eternity 2013 A huge appetite for Dahl was met by this confection of a A welcome return to the West End for Tim Rice with musical where dislikeable children get their grisly come- this grown-up and gutsy Pearl Harbour musical based uppances and sweet nature wins the day. Currently a on the original book by James Jones. triumph on Broadway too. 2014 Sunny Afternoon Rock of Ages Bursting with The Kinks’ greatest hits, we were taken Raucous, raunchy and packed full of rock anthems, on a ride through the swinging sixties into the rocking we had our (fake) lighters in the air at the Shaftsbury seventies by Ray Davies’ masterful songwriting. 2015 Theatre for this not-so-guilty pleasure of a show. Disney’s Aladdin Close To You Disney’s genie-us musical landed at the Prince An homage to Burt Bacharach, newly orchestrated, well Edward Theatre making all our wishes come true in loved classics were given a fresh twist in this wonderfully spectacular style. 2016 choreographed reinvention of his music.

An American In Paris Dreamgirls This classy adaptation has all the bells and whistles you ‘And I am telling you’, this highly anticipated London could want from a musical with, aptly, some echoes of 2017 premiere more than lives up to the hype, giving us so (ooh) La La Land to boot. much heart and soul at the Savoy.

Contributors: BC Ben Chamberlain; CC Clair Chamberlain; FA Fiona Abbs; JD John Drake; PG Paul Goodman; RR Radojka Radulovic