SING SOMETHING SIMPLE (The Greatest Hits Volume 2)
Behind the scenes....

An Interview with Dark Horse Business Director Lynda Hornsby

Going out on a job with Dark Horse
actor Joe Sproulle- and Dante the dog!

What's your job title and what do you usually do at Dark Horse?

I'm the Business Director and my role underpins our very busy Artistic programme in lots of different ways.  With Vanessa, the Artistic Director, I'm responsible for the strategic direction of the company, fundraising and developing our work and brand generally, making sure that Dark Horse is in the best position it can be to make excellent theatre and be an outstanding drama school. My job also means making sure people stick to the rules and I do all the boring but very important things like paying wages and fees, drawing up contracts and making sure there's enough money to actually do the work.  We tour nationally and that means developing and maintaining relationships with lots of different venues all over the country and on a big tour like SING SOMETHING SIMPLE that's a lot of conversations to be had!  We have some terrific funders like the Arts Council,  Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, LLoyds TSB and Kirklees Council and I manage those relationships and also serve the needs of our trustees.  There's a lot of people management and the day to day work is always very involved.  The ensemble is in the rehearsal room three days a week and I like to have the working lunch with them and sometimes I deliver corporate training with a couple of our actors or go to an event (As in the photo above where I went out to give a talk with actor Joe)  No two days are ever the same- we work with very highly regarded creatives and high profile theatres and TV and film companies and I can be doing this one day and then finding a prop or taking a phone call from the company that services the water cooler. In the pre production period there's a lot of planning to do and then during production and when Dark Horse is on tour my job becomes more complex again as we work with large teams- for a small permanent staff team, usually just me and Vanessa, there's a lot of work to do!

Baywatch was a hit in the 80's-
Sing Something Simple 2 features hits from
that decade

Imagine you are a lifeguard as in Baywatch and you spot both Matt Smith and Harry Styles in trouble in the sea.  Who would you save first?

That's a very difficult question.  I'd like to save both at the same time and not take the risk that one would drown but if I really had to choose one to save first it would be Matt Smith. I've always liked Dr. Who- I use to hide behind the sofa when I was a kid when it came on as it was so frightening.  I think Matt Smith's a good actor.  So him first then straight back in for Harry Styles.

All hands on deck during the
Sing Something Simple
greenscreen shoot as designer
Pip Leckenby sets up for a shot.

The show opens in March next year (2014)-  there's not much to do right now is there?

That's very funny!  There's a lot to do, it's all in the planning and preparation for big tour like this. Marketing is very important so that we can spread the word about the terrific work we do at Dark Horse and get general adult audiences in to see the show, the fact that it's a very strong comedy helps.  We need to make lots of people aware of us all over the country.  The large creative team is in and out of the office having meetings and last week we had a green screen shoot where digital projection designer Mic Pool took photos of actor Lisa Howard which will be used in the show. Costume and props are beginning to fill up any available space and it all needs to be sorted and everyone relies on me to know where anything is!  There's a major job ahead around logistics and booking accommodation and travel for the team on the road, there's a print run of flyers and posters to organise and while all of this is going on the fantastic F2 course continues and our actors and students and acting tutors are often in the building.

Tell us a joke or something funny that's happened to you recently.

At home we got a new cat recently, he's called Barry, or Baz for short.  He's still a young kitten really and he is exploring everything. He loves climbing up things and the other day I came into the kitchen to see him climbing very quickly up the front of my husband who was making dinner at the time.  He got to his shoulder and then ran down his back and onto the floor in one really fast movement.  It was very athletic and very funny because of the shocked look on my husbands' face.  I think his claws might have hurt a bit too!


What are the highlights for you of the new writing process?

The script for Sing Something Simple

I enjoy the early stages, hearing about the new plays when they are just ideas before anything's been written down at all. Then watching the process as it develops is wonderful. The work unfolds around our actor/s- whoever happens to be in whichever show and characters grow around areas that Dark Horse actors need to strengthen. I've learned that although playwriting is creative it's all about making pragmatic choices and that's really interesting. It's absolutely fascinating and I enjoy it all. A lot of people assume that we do devised or improvisational work and that couldn't be further from the truth- all of our work is scripted and our actors like all actors learn the skills to work with text.

In Sing Something Simple VAL (Spencers' mum) is an eighties tribute act and wears some amazing clothes from the period.  What was your biggest 80's fashion mistake?

An 80's hair victim (Not Lynda!)

Like many people at that time I experimented with my hair and it was important for hair to be as big as it could possibly be.  I had an absolutely awful perm- all tight curls- and it took forever to grow out.

I wore my fair share of shoulder pads too and once had a geometric bob.