In the theatre world the phrase in kind looms like a dark cloud with a promised silver lining over almost everything. On funding applications you’re expected to note down the space, time, resources, printing, marketing (the everything you generally have to pay for) being donated to you on an in kind basis. People won’t just give you money these days, you have to be really trying to get by as much as possible without it. Now, generally in kind means being involved in some sort of reciprocal relationship – they scratch your back so you scratch theirs sort of thing. In this instance it normally comes down to people just giving you things for free because they support the arts as a worthy cause, or you and your work in particular. Do these people exist? I’m about to find out as I hunt for in kind rehearsal space in Brighton.
Are people genuinely just kind sometimes? The experiential model of walking past countless homeless people and not giving them anything suggests not, but we’ll see. I am hunting for in kind support for a kind of home, somewhere in which to rehearse Witness Theatre’s Brighton Fringe production Window. All I’m seeking is a small space for myself and one performer to work, will I find this for less than £10 an hour and ideally for free? Current evidence suggests not, but we have to keep on trying to find some kindness. Come on people of Brighton, be kind, lend me your garden sheds and I’ll water your flowers!
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