Sydney’s Spirithouse Theatre Company needed to boost ticket sales for their biggest production of the year - Morris Panych’s ‘Vigil’. It is a play featuring just two cast members. To fill Sydney’s renowned Old Fitzroy Theatre every night we needed to advertise the play to Australians in a way they could not ignore. We needed something different. We discovered an insight. People are far more likely to go see a play if they know someone in it. So we changed the script and wrote a new scene into the play that dramatically increased the amount of actors performing each week.We cast, rehearsed and got them ready for the stage. Our new and bigger cast told their friends, family and entire social network about their new role through social media and word of month. These people responded by buying the tickets to see them perform.

Firstly we needed to write the new scene to fit perfectly into the existing play and would not interrupt the plot. This scene contained an extra 25 actors. They would change each week.

Then we advertised the new roles on posters, in theatre press and online. Theatre enthusiasts, closet performers and anyone with a will to perform jumped at the chance of being in a high-end Sydney theatre production.

We then cast and rehearsed our new actors with the Artistic Director of the company and prepared them for the night. The new actors couldn't help but tell everyone they were in a high-end production. They used social media, word of mouth and even the humble telephone to spread the word of their new role, and word spread fast. The night arrived and people filled the theatre to watch them perform.

Every night the new actors took to the stage the play sold out.It was Spirithouse Theatre’s biggest success of the year. The solution wasn't in advertising the play with the usual print, flyers and posters. The solution was putting more people in it.

It suited the clients national brand strategy of 'getting people involved in theatre' to the core. The new cast loved the opportunity to be in a high-end play for the first time and the sell-out audience that came to see them were equally satisfied as they watched someone they knew performing.