Category: theatre

Lyn Gardner, who sees more plays in more places around the country than just about anyone, will swear by the high quality of the UK’s regional companies. Yet, she writes, with every effort they make to bring in more revenue, more funding cuts just set them further back.

The Burnley Empire Theatre is on the list of Theatres At Risk in the UK, and might be moving up from its spot at 14th after the fire. But it’s not alone, says an adviser at the Theatres Trust: “Heritage crime is a blight on the historic buildings in the UK and unfortunately it is all too common for empty theatres to be attacked in this way.”

Or rather, she took her mother’s story and melded it into a new play. Playwright Jaclyn Backhaus on why her new play includes pirates: “It’s a pirate attitude that got my mom to where she is. … t’s a pirate attitude that lot of people with dreams face when they’re trying to attain them.”

“Certainly American culture is different from European culture. So I had expected the life of a theatre artist in Paris or London to be more refined, somehow easier, and at the same time more gratifying on a creative level than mine here in the States. But it turns out that their struggles, passions, fiscal concerns, their training, their identity issues, and the sexism they face—in other words, much of their life experience, seems very similar to my own.”

Speaking at the Theatres Trust Conference 2018 in London, Emma Stenning said: “We can’t be subsidy-reliant charities any longer. We have to look at our buildings as our principle assets. We have to keep saying how can it carry on giving back to the business.” She explained that the Bristol Old Vic previously made a £60,000 profit on its catering business, which is expected to increase to about £300,000 over the next 18 months, following the theatre’s refurbishment.

Lyn Gardner: “While everyone may in theory have the right to failure in theatre, I believe we need to look much harder at who gets the opportunity to fail upwards. We’ve talked a great deal in recent years about who gets the opportunity to make work. But we also need to talk about who, once an opportunity has been secured, is allowed to fail and who isn’t.”

The total amount of investment needed in theatre buildings, according to the survey, is likely to be closer to £1 billion. This takes into account planned major works outside of the theatres that responded. However, 50% of respondents were confident or very confident they could raise the money needed.

Alexis Soloski talks to the playwright and director Jack O’Brien about the challenges of his latest script, The Hard Problem.