Examination of Witnesses (Questions 338-339)
WEST YORKSHIRE
PLAYHOUSE, SHEFFIELD
THEATRES TRUST
22 FEBRUARY 2005
Chairman: Ladies and gentlemen,
I welcome you here today. Clearly, as a Yorkshireman myself I
am obviously very proud of the achievements that we have both
in our own native city of Leeds and in Sheffield, and we are very
glad to see you here today.
Q338 Chris Bryant: Mr Pennington, the
last time I met you was at the Old Vic, when I was researching
with Glenda Jackson, and you gave us some very funny stories!
What do you think should happen to the Old Vic, because we have
had the Old Vic before us already?
Mr Pennington: You cannot argue
with the success they are having. This lash-back that is happening
with Kevin Spacey I think in due course will disappear. I, of
course, hanker back to the repertoire in the days of the Old Vic
in the days when I became stage-struck and spent a lot of my life.
In the last manifestation, where Peter Hall tried to sustain those
things, it was not viable for one reason or another, but I am
not among the Spacey-bashers—as long as he can fill the
theatre and as long as he can keep it going. There are all sorts
of problems connected with the Vic which are probably not central
to what we are discussing today, one of which is its geography,
and the other one, which is that it is much more loved and cherished
by people of my generation probably than people under thirty who
would much rather go to the Young Vic. I do not have a formula
about how it should survive, but if it is succeeding under this
regime, they should continue.
Q339 Chris Bryant: Have you got a formula
for the Royal Shakespeare Theatre? I think you held the view previously
that the old idea was not a good idea. Do you think that the new
thrust suggestion that we will be told about later on this morning
is a good idea or a bad idea, as an actor?
Mr Pennington: It is a more wide-ranging
debate than I was expecting! As a matter of fact, I do. Michael
Boyd showed me the plans not long ago, and I think it is a good
idea. I always felt that the fabric of the building should be
kept, because it is exceptionally interesting—apart from
being listed in any case—although it clearly needs all sorts
of facilities to be added into it. What is needed is an up-to-date
playhouse inside it; the current theatre is too big, seating up
to 1200/1300. For straight theatre, for anything other than musical
theatre, I think that is too big a theatre. As long as the RSC
can accept that they no longer need to use a proscenium arch theatre
regularly, which of course the old theatre is—and now they
will not have that any more, in their home town—then I think
it is very good. If it is like the Swan, albeit bigger, then it
will obviously be a success. In other words, to rebuild the theatre
within the fabric seems to me a solution, as indeed it always
did seem to me the solution. It is amazing how simple the decision
seems now as opposed to three years ago.
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