I think we can all agree it’s been a roller coaster year. And although the year is almost over, and there’s a distant light at the end of the tunnel, it’s still very uncertain where things are going and it’s hard, at the moment, to make any concrete plans or decisions, which is very challenging, but we’re all getting through, taking things one day at a time.
We want to take this time to update you on the progress the company has made over the last few months and looking ahead to what our 2021 season might look like.
2020 was supposted to be the first year White Rabbit announced a full season of shows. Previously, we had only ever announced one show at a time. Perhaps we cursed ourselves in some way by making future plans :). The
three shows which were supposed to encompass our season where The Rule of Three by Agatha Christie, Ashes to Ashes and One for the Road by Harold Pinter (a double-header for the Fringe Festival) and Hitler’s Tasters by Michelle Kholos Brooks. We were very excited about having a dark and sinister season full of mystery and suspense. We never realized we would have an actual season of mystery.
Lucky for us, we were able to perform our Agatha Christie show before any of this madness started – in fact, the pandemic hit Switzerland only a week after our shows.
We were up in the air for a long time about whether we would be able to go to the Fringe with Pinter but in the
end the entire festival was postponed one year, but our space was reserved for 2021 and we were very hopeful that we would be back on track by then. And while it looks like (fingers crossed) some version of the Festival will be happening in August 2021, in all likelihood, White Rabbit will not be attending. At this point in time there are too many questions to make a financial commitment and we need to take into account the (physical and economic) health of the company.
And then there was Hitler’s Tasters. Originally, this amazing show which we first discovered at the Fringe last year was supposed to be performed in October 2020. However, in the summer, with the uncertainty of what the cold weather would bring, we postponed until February 2021. Instead, we cast the show
in October and powered through a month of online rehearsals in November before one glorious rehearsal in the flesh at the beginning of December. It was so wonderful to be all in the same room and interacting together – some of us only meeting face to face for the very first time! And then, a few days later, the stricter measures came in again and we had to cancel our next three live rehearsals. Because we felt we had exhausted what we were able to rehearse online, we decided to take our Christmas holidays a week early and recalibrate for what’s coming next.
And what is coming next? Well, I don’t know, is the answer. The tighter restrictions are set to be lifted (if everyone follows the rules!) on January 22. This would be two weeks before our Feb. 2021 show, which is a very tight turn around and carries a lot of risk in case things don’t open up by that date. So, after a lot of deliberation, and with a heavy heart, we decided to postpone the show a second time. We don’t have a new performance date yet – though we anticipate late spring – and we want to be very clear that the show is not canceled. We will be performing some day, when the skies open up and everything is clear again.
Before we go off on our Christmas holidays (metaphorically, because let’s be honest, no one’s going anywhere!!), we wanted to say a few thank yous.
First, thank you to the cast and crew of the Pinter shows who have been waiting since the fall of 2019 to perform the double shows at the Fringe festival and who have endured the set back and potential cancelation of the show with the grace and professionalism (and support!) that is the reason why we love working with them.
Second, we would like to thank the cast and crew of our current production of Hitler’s Tasters. You ladies have been absolute stars, rolling with punches as we move to online and then offline and then nothing, and taking on whatever comes next with flexibility and understanding.
And third, and by no means least, to our audience. Thank you so much for the continuous support we have received. Thank you to the people who have reached out with words of encouragement and thank you especially for sticking by us as dates change, and ticket sales change and everything gets thrown up in the air over and over again.
Thank you all so much for being part of the White Rabbit family, and we wish you a happy and safe holiday season.
Cross your fingers for 2021. :)