Arts Council/Arcola

So .. I'm getting a picture of where this is going now. I spoke to the Arts Council Head of Music Helen Sprott and she suggested by applying for less money I would be more likely to get something rather than nothing. IE my chances of being successful increase the smaller my budget is... It's a question of presenting not only a strong piece for their consideration (which I have to presume Inanna is at this point) but also presenting an overall context for the work within the remit of the festival and the theatre hosting the festival. It has to have a wide reach as well as being a strong piece.
There are other intricacies to do with the Arcola and its current phase of development as a venue and its plans for the future. These are somewhat up in the air at the moment. They are currently recreating their business plan - so it appears that next year there may be a more consolidated and refeshed vision for the theatre and the role of the Grimeborn festival within that.
The plan that is emerging is to do a scaled down version of the piece this year - with a guaranteed opportunity to do a full scale version at next years Festival. This would make sense not only from the timing point of view this year but also that next year Arcola have finalized its plans and can move ahead with the festival fully integrated into their programming and marketing.
The trouble with doing a concert at such short notice is that the people I really want to be in it are not exactly available for the summer rehearsals all the time. It will be quite a juggling act to bring a team together.
I am wondering about just doing Act 2 this year. That would be half the show. So half the time needed to rehearse, half the budget, etc!
The more I think about it the more I like the idea.