Savvy Women Winter Issue

“The Show Will Go On”

By Annabel Ward Owner - FANCY ENTERTAINMENT

St Patrick’s Day in the year 2020. I sigh at another successful gig under the belt and giggle with one of my best performers, as he sits next to me dressed in green from head to toe, as a very convincing leprechaun. We chat about upcoming exciting plans, who are cast in what roles on which jobs and how this is sure to be Fancy Entertainment’s most successful year to date. Fast forward a week. Theatre curtains close indefinitely, the phone rings continuously to deliver bad news, the arts, entertainment and leisure sectors are brought to their knees and suddenly I am taken over by one thought. Is Fancy finished?

I’m stubborn, ask my family. And what is normally considered to be a flaw of mine comes into it’s own as I refuse to let this pandemic be the reason my business fails. I did what every other company director did on the first day of lockdown which was grab a notebook and pen and scribble a hundred ideas of how to re-invent my business whilst sticking to the new rules in place. Like so many others in this industry, we fell through the cracks with no grants and no support so my desperate bullet pointed list was of a considerable length. I’ve always been a leader and certainly not someone to follow trends which resulted in many funny looks in the school playground during my youth. However, this was the first thing I did. I followed a host of businesses and made the most of our online presence by becoming virtual.

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Our first hurdle came pretty quickly. We have never been and never will be a birthday party company as the market is already saturated with perfectly good princess party suppliers and independent children’s entertainers. It seemed a lost cause to muscle into the line of entertainment companies offering doorstep visits and virtual parties, when it isn’t necessarily our domain. And with the likelihood of any other sort of events happening during lockdown becoming bleaker and bleaker, we had to take a different path. Fancy Entertainment has always been different. I soon realised the only way to get through this crisis was with integrity to the Fancy brand and to not blindly follow the herd.

Annabel Ward

My main fear was being forgotten. As we couldn’t deliver our services throughout lockdown we needed a way to be remembered and to keep singing and dancing in people’s minds until the world was ready for us again. As a large part of what we do is aimed at family audiences, we wanted to bring our characters into the homes of our followers by offering videos where some of our favourite characters used items that could be found at home to make cute crafts and inviting children to join in. Taking on this role was one of our veteran performers Amelia Pidduck who transformed into Alice in Wonderland and made paper caterpillars, butterflies and more all from the comfort of her kitchen! This was a challenge for Amelia as she is used to performing to a live crowd and interacting face to face with her audience. She adapted her exceptional improvisation techniques from stage to camera and in such a way that almost made the screen feel invisible. This is attacking performing from a new angle for us and is also popular as a new form of entertainment with our clients. It is certainly something we will be continuing to explore postpandemic.

Amelia Pidduck as Alice in Wonderland

It’s extremely difficult to look out of your own troubles and see the bigger picture. I chatted to my team and looking beyond my own struggle, every single one of them was in a similar position. Every scrap of work for the foreseeable future - gone in an instant. What was more heart-breaking than seeing some of my beloved team so lost, was knowing that as their boss there was nothing I could do. After some reflection, we all felt the same way. Instead of tirelessly grasping for work that was never going to come, we should take the time to look after ourselves, to get to know one another better and allow our previous relationships to flourish. It’s the most important thing of all, taking time to look after ourselves. And when do we ever have the luxury of time? Mental health is unfortunately so often overlooked, trivialised and seen as a weakness in the work place which is something I will not stand for in an industry where you can be so vulnerable. A business cannot deliver it’s full potential, regardless of any global pandemic, if it’s staff are not cared for. We organised weekly online staff quizzes with the most ridiculous themes imaginable! Laughing until the early hours and making bonds so great that we could share personal feelings and stories. We launched virtual auditions to continue to grow our talent and give everyone the hope of future work. We also put together a music video where our team sang along to the Beatles’ ‘Let it Be’ from their living rooms. This was a simple but moving video highlighting the tough times, hope for the future and our bond as a team.

Fancy Entertainment Lockdown Quiz

After so much down time, it was a shock to the system when our first ‘real’ event happened at the end of July. Excited and apprehensive, with the flash of our logo across my chest, we arrived at a the venue of a brand new client with a list of new rules to follow and a truck full of disinfectant! One of our strengths is that all of our entertainment can be altered to suit all budgets and requirements. The majority of our family entertainment can be easily adapted to perform more or less anywhere in any way. It didn’t occur to me straight away this could also apply to our new Covid compliant world. With a few tweaks here and there, our shows became socially distanced (for audience and staff), interactive sections were altered to fit new rules and we relocated our performances to new areas with ease. Rehearsals were also a safe success becoming outdoor, socially distanced and virtual. This gave me hope moving into the more complex Halloween season. I am proud to report that our biggest Halloween ev-er was a complete triumph despite Coronavirus restrictions.

I am sitting here during our second national lockdown with a situation echoing the beginning of the year with Christmas gigs disappearing by the minute, but with a mind full of positivity. With a big book of plans for 2021, I am in a hopeful, yet content state. I still have all fingers and toes crossed that we can continue to entertain, provide our unique services and make memories, but the uncertainty isn’t quite as overwhelming as it was in March. With the dire current state of the arts and events industry, I feel immensely proud and lucky we haven’t been crippled yet. Until we are out of this pandemic, I’ll be sitting tight waiting for the roaring twenties to take flight as it should be.

Let it Be Video

Take a moment to check out Fancy Entertainment’s Youtube Channel, where you can find videos of our previous work, our lockdown craft videos, best bits of our lockdown quizzes and our ‘Let it Be’ music video.

TEL: 07814 661968 E-MAIL: info@fancyentertainment.co.uk

WEBSITE: www.fancyentertainment.co.uk FACEBOOK: @fancyentertainmentandevents

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