Memorandum submitted by Norwich Theatre
Royal
1. Norwich Theatre Royal (NTR) is one of
over 50 medium-to-large scale theatres throughout the UK that
are known as "receiving houses"; that is, the majority
of its presentations are tours. It sells over 340,000 tickets
each year for over 400 performances of over 90 different productions
to a base audience of about 120,000, in the most sparsely populated
county in the kingdom. Its economic churn is put at over £12
million per year.
2. It is also a founder member of the Touring
Partnership, a loose federation of receiving theatres whose object,
with assistance from ACE, has been to bring to the regions productions
that might otherwise be unable to leave the M25 ring. It has toured,
among other productions, major creations by Matthew Bourne.
3. NTR's statistics and experience are fairly
typical of the receiving theatres, whose governance varies between
charitable trusts (as is the case in Norwich), commercial management
and civic administration.
4. Receiving houses have in common that
by virtue of their sizes (900-seats plus, up to about 2,500) and
repertoires they sell more tickets to more productions to a broader
section of the population than the repertory theatres, which tend
(with some exceptions) to have smaller auditoria and present fewer,
and a more restricted range of, productions.
5. Apart from the few receiving houses that
are linked to repertory companies (eg Plymouth, Sheffield) the
other common factor is that very few of them have any regular
liaison with their regional arts board. This also distinguishes
them from the repertory companies, which because of their revenue
funding situations have constant communication with their arts
boards.
6. In discussions about regional theatre
and audiences the actual and potential contributions to community
wellbeing, artistic excellence and accessibility, educational
initiatives and management/marketing expertise of the receiving
theatres are almost invariably ignored in favour of the repertory
theatres with whom the government (via ACE) has regular relations.
7. The Committee should find time to consider
the significant contributions made by the receiving theatres on
a local and community level, their ability to reach far into their
communities, their broad statistical base which can provide authoritative
and comprehensive information on local spending patterns, discount
and target group management, and their positions as valued regional
resources.
8. It is in the context of the regional
receiving theatres' economic and social positions that assessments
can be made of their capital and revenue funding requirements.
9. The creative training functions of the
repertory theatre system are not in dispute, nor are the considerable
funds made available to enhance that system.
10. The particular case that has brought
the dislocation between the producing theatres' and the receiving
theatres' needs into focus is the inability of NTR to get its
modernisation programme onto ACE(East)'s regional capital priority
list, which is dominated by ACE-subsidised organisations.
11. Without endorsement by ACE(E) not only
are significant Lottery funds out of reach, but the East of England
Development Agency cannot offer financial support, and substantial
improvements required for DDA compliance and modernisation are
threatened.
January 2005
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