The publicity machine kicks in

News of the commission is only just sinking in and I get a phone call from the marketing department at the Octagon. They want me to produce copy for the brochure for next week! This is because the programme for the new season is being prepared - and as the Octagon plan a whole year ahead the whole thing is quite urgent. They also want my suggestions re a suitable image for the play’s publicity. The photo by Paul Wolfgang Webster that I’ve recently seen in an exhibition at the Royal Exchange springs to mind. It’s Fred in a stovepipe hat posing as Isambard K Brunel and it strikes me as a near perfect image for the show.

They also ask me to put them in touch with Sheila Dibnah re other possible photos. I contact Sheila who also agrees to write some copy for the main body of the brochure and says she up for any interviews etc. nearer the time of the production. I suggest to her that she tries to get her autobiography published to coincide with the play – dual publicity and all that. (I can picture her sitting in the foyer during the run of the play signing books.)

This sets me thinking about other possible ‘add on’ events that could be held around the production – talks, exhibitions, film-shows and I contact the Octagon with a list of suggestions. My mind is buzzing with ideas of a total Fred Fest and I can see the café offering Lancashire Hotpot, black puddings and Spotted Dick.