Exhilarating dance, breath-taking projection and original new music combine to tell a unifying and uplifting story of how communities can make change.
This stunning large-scale outdoor movement and dance-based production featured 187 performers, breath-taking visuals projected onto the walls of Rochester Castle, original new music and spoken word.
In Icon’s signature style, the production was created and performed by professional performers and theatre-makers alongside a company of over 200 people from local communities and young people supported by Icon Theatre’s Theatre31 programme.
Inspired by moments in history that have launched remarkable social change, If Not Now gave a voice to local stories and explored how communities can come together to challenge and transform poverty, prejudice, and the climate crisis.
If Not Now was co-commissioned by Icon Theatre and Medway Council as part of Medway Light Nights 2022.
Cast and Creative Team
Director: Nancy Hirst and the community ensemble
Choreographer: Jon Beney
Projection Content Creators: NOVAK
Composer: Darren Clark
Set and Costume Designer: Sarah Booth
Lighting Designer: Dan Terry for Creative Spark
Music Director: Tania Holland Williams for Fat Lady Opera
Theatre31 Young Cast Director: Lily Vincent-Frankland
Assistant Choreographer: Harriet Parker-Beldeau
Video Content Artist: Josh Barnes
Costume Supervisor: Evelien Coleman
Assistant Music Director: Ben See
Dancers: Ayesha Fazal, Cher Nicolette Ho, Patrick Ross Webster, Ena Yamaguchi
Performers: Jade-Ashleigh Jeffery, David King-Yombo, Olivette Cole-Wilson
Filmed Interviewees: Angela McHutchon, Ron Northover
British Sign Language Interpreter: Becky Barry
Performing Groups: Theatre31, Icon Theatre’s Community Cast, Fat Lady Opera Community Chorus, Square Pegs Arts, Upside Down Dance Academy, Byron Primary School, Warren Wood Primary School, Victory Academy, Brompton Academy
Production Team
Producer: Tania Holland Williams
Assistant Producer: Naomi Rosser (Creative Estuary Placement)
Projection Design, Video Playback and Control: Graymatter
Production Manager: Ian Taylor
Assistant Production Manager / Site Manager: Pete Rickards
Sound Technician: Tom Reading
Projection Technician: Dan Gray
Production Electrician: Matt Littleales
Sound Designer: Simon Foster for How Now Productions
Stage Manager: Christine Hollinshead
Assistant Stage Manager: Cara Friday
Assistant Stage Manager: Dani Osoba (Make Waves Placement)
Seamstress: Elizabeth Day
Theatre31 Backstage Team: Donna Andrews, Amanda Gray, Laura Harris, Colin Smith
Chaperones: Donna Andrews, Emie Andrews (Head), Wendy Bosenko, Angela Clarkson, Xenia Crawford, Charlotte Dyer, Katrina Festorazzi, Heather Gleed, Amanda Gray, Sarah Hehir, Jacqueline Leppert, David Lloyd, Chloe O’Reilly, Colin Smith
Artwork Design: Kate Burt
Photography: Roswitha Chesher
Location
Rochester Castle, Castle Hill, Rochester ME1 1SW
If Not Now in Numbers
20000
People Watched If Not Now
69
Freelancers Were Employed
187
Participants Performed
136
Young People Performed
