Simple Recs...
So here’s how our site started.
Out of Lockdown
The Recs’ editor Steve Coats-Dennis was always someone who friends would ask what’s good to see at the theatre or cinema or would be the person who would flag up a great album to others. To that end, The Recs was born as a very casual affair – with random articles on music, telly and even recipes! It was something positive to do during the Covid pandemic.
Having worked for years in the theatre industry, lockdown came as quite the shock. It was a wake-up call how going and seeing a show was something easily taken for granted. And we heard from actor, performer and writer friends, how damaging the pandemic had been on their sector.
With the easing of restrictions, theatres slowly began to reopen, albeit with masks and other preventative measures. We wanted to support live entertainment so we booked to see shows that we would perhaps might not have under normal circumstances. After almost 30 years in London, we finally went to see The Mousetrap!
Wow
What a joy it was to be able to enjoy live entertainment again – but there was a nagging question: was there anything else we could do to help support theatre getting back on its feet.
Seeing Sarah-Louise Young’s brilliant, funny affectionate cabaret tribute to Kate Bush, An Evening Without Kate Bush, galvanised us to write our first theatre review. “Sell your Babooshka for a ticket!”, we said. The Review is HERE.
Our review caught the eye of the show’s publicist, the legendary PR and one of the nicest people in the industry, Kevin Wilson. He wrote us a lovely email complimenting us as ” a new critical voice” that he wanted to support. Very much taking us under his wing, we started attending press nights of shows he was representing. Where Kevin led, other PR companies followed and we were adding to more and more press lists.
The Thrill of the New
Subsequently, The Recs has grown with enthusiastic, constructive writers joining our review team.
We’ve added a periodic online magazine to grow what we offer to our readers, and our reviews have continued to expand beyond the M25 to avoid the trap of becoming too London-centric in what we cover.
We hope you enjoy our RECS! x
If you’d like to contact The Recs, we’d love to hear from you.