Lovely piece by Lyn Gardner about the things left behind as reminders of a performance (she mentions Neverhome, where I gave each audience member a thimble as they left): http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2011/may/02/theatre-shows-that-haunt-us
I love to give people things, gentle echoes of ephemeral moments. Maybe when they touch their gift, they’ll recall something they felt or thought because of a piece of work. I like to think this extends the experience for as long as they keep the object. A particularly pertinent object can change the tone of a piece of work once you have stepped out the door, can be a bitter-sweet epilogue or a whispered question of oneself. Unfortunately, as with the thimbles in Neverhome, cost sometimes gets in the way of giving something to everyone. I put some of my own money into buying 250 thimbles for the One-on-One fest as I felt it was important. Multiply the cost of any small object by 250 and it suddenly becomes a costly element of a production. But for the joy and surprise tiny, tangible pieces of a fleeting moment can bring when bestowed, it is worth the expense. It may only be a thimble but it is also a lot more.
