Memorandum submitted by the Royal Shakespeare
Company
The following note provides background information
from the Royal Shakespeare Company on the forthcoming inquiry
by the Committee on Culture, Media and Sport into public support
for theatre.
The Committee has identified the following areas
for discussion:
— The current and likely future pattern
of public subsidy for the theatre including both revenue support
and capital expenditure.
— The performance of the Arts Council
in developing strategies and priorities and disbursing funds accordingly.
— Support for the maintenance and development
of: theatre buildings; new writing; new performing talent.
— The significance of the theatre as
a genre (a) within the cultural life of the UK; (b) in the regions
specifically, and (c) within the UK economy, directly and indirectly;
— The effectiveness of public subsidy
for theatre and the relationship between the subsidised sector
and the commercial sector—especially London's West end.
— Progress with significant (re)development
projects as may be brought to the Committee's attention.
Given the Committee's previous interest in the
project, the note provides a full briefing on the RSC's proposals
for transformation of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.
BACKGROUND
The RSC is one of two nationally funded theatre
companies in England. In 2003-04 the RSC received revenue funding
of £12.9 million from Arts Council England. It is currently
in the early stages of a major capital redevelopment project—with
£50 million earmarked from Arts Council England's Arts Lottery
capital programme. The RSC's Stratford redevelopment was the subject
of a previous inquiry by the Committee in January 2002.
The RSC's purpose is to keep modern audiences
in touch with Shakespeare as our contemporary—understanding
his work through today's artists, actors and writers. The Company's
ambition is to pursue a distinct role at the leading edge of Shakespeare
interpretation, production and presentation, making theatre that
engages with the contemporary world. At the same time, a central
part of the Company's purpose to nurture bold, progressive new
writing under the protective wing of Shakespeare's enduring appeal,
bringing a spirit of enquiry and innovation to bear on its work.
The Company stages plays throughout the year
at its base in Stratford-upon-Avon, the town where Shakespeare
was born and died. It also performs regularly in London and at
an annual month-long residency in Newcastle upon Tyne. In addition,
the RSC tours productions throughout the UK and internationally.
The RSC is one of the most recognisable theatre companies in the
world. It performs every year at the Kennedy Center in Washington
DC, one of two international companies (with the Kirov Opera and
Ballet) to enjoy a sustained relationship with the venue.
Training is at the heart of the Company's ambition—to
develop the RSC's role as the foremost developmental "home"
for British theatre makers. The RSC wants to establish a breakthrough
learning experience for theatre artists that can transform their
abilities and reinvigorate the ensemble tradition, stretching
the possibilities of collective theatre making. Training is not
only an ambition for actors, designers and directors. The Company
wants to encourage the RSC's central role in the development of
theatre makers across a broad range of skills.
CURRENT AND
FUTURE PATTERNS
OF PUBLIC
SUBSIDY FOR
THE THEATRE
Theatre has flourished right across the UK thanks
to the extra government investment that followed Peter Boyden's
report in 2000. The £25 million windfall for regional theatre
has had a significant impact in building a stable infrastructure
and skill-base across the English regions.
Given this, and the considerable investment
in new buildings through the Arts Lottery programme, it is important
that levels of revenue support continue to rise at least with
inflation. The theatre industry recognises that there is a finite
pot of revenue funding allocated to Arts Council England. However,
the RSC believes it is a false economy to cut levels of revenue
support just as theatre is demonstrating the value of recent added
investment.
The Arts Lottery capital programme has had a
significant impact on the health of UK theatre, developing a number
of new and refurbished facilities across the UK. The RSC is confident
that its own £100 million capital development in Stratford
will not only create an artistically exciting main stage for the
Company's core Shakespeare repertoire, but will also establish
Stratford as a world-class destination for cultural visitors.
There is still an important need for capital
budgets dedicated to maintenance. Not all theatre buildings in
the UK require complete transformation, but all theatre buildings
need regular upkeep and maintenance. Stretched revenue budgets
are rarely sufficient to cover maintenance and dedicated capital
budgets should be introduced to cover the ongoing maintenance
of our theatres.
THE ROLE
OF ARTS
COUNCIL ENGLAND
The RSC enjoys a good working relationship with
its main funder, Arts Council England, and fully supports the
idea of arm's length decision making in the arts, giving the Council
the freedom to make individual funding decisions without intervention
from government.
While the RSC supports the continuing devolution
to the regions of Arts Council funding decisions, it maintains
the need for independent, national policy engine for companies
like the RSC with a national remit.
SUPPORT FOR
NEW WRITING
AND NEW
TALENT
One of the central, founding ambitions of the
RSC was a commitment to a sustained developmental approach—creating
a place where artists can learn and make theatre at the same time.
The RSC believes that part of the distinctive contribution it
can make to UK theatre is to provide a breakthrough learning experience
for theatre makers than can transform their abilities and make
or remake their careers.
In his first year as Artistic Director, Michael
Boyd pledged a significant recommitment to this approach, increasing
opportunities for training and experiment. The move saw actors
in the Company's main ensemble rehearsing for twice as long as
is usual in the UK, spending dedicated "class" time
studying voice, movement and Shakespeare's language. Around 20%
of actors from the 2004-05 Tragedies ensemble will continue with
the RSC in 2005-06, providing a unique opportunity in the UK for
the sustained development and training of actors. The RSC is well
placed to develop the career of an actor by promotion from within
the Company. This will become increasingly potent as the RSC's
rolling ensemble begins to establish itself year on year.
Training and the continuous development and
practice of basic performing skills are the norm amongst musicians
and dancers, but not in theatre. The RSC now hopes to build on
its established tradition, providing the most sustained and wide-ranging
training and development opportunities for theatre artists in
the UK.
The RSC's renewed commitment to training and
development is not limited to actors and directors. The Company
recognises that it sustains a wide range of theatre skills, from
costume making to set design and construction. In the last year
the Company has scaled up its investment in these areas across
a wide range of theatre skills. New initiatives include: apprentices
in the Company's scenic workshops; bursaries in the costume department;
traineeships in design; and postgraduate development opportunities
in voice, music and movement. Similar initiatives are planned
for the future.
Shakespeare and the importance of new writing
Michael Boyd's appointment has also seen a renewal
of the Company's commitment to the relationship between new work
and Shakespeare. The New Work Festival, launched in September
2004, provided a new platform in the UK for premie"res of
new plays, devised work, as well as experimental productions of
Shakespeare's work.
It is important that new work plays a central
role in the work of the RSC, providing an opportunity to investigate
the influence of Shakespeare on contemporary writers. The Company's
Shakespeare productions will become shallow unless they relate
to contemporary work which deals directly with the world in which
we live. Shakespeare knew how to marry the recognisable with the
lyrical, entertainment with high art, and he continues to inspire
today's writers. As a commissioner of new work, the RSC is particularly
keen to encourage work that matches Shakespeare's ambition.
As well as continuing the New Work Festival
in 2005, the RSC has also announced a season of three world premie"res,
performing alongside the core Shakespeare repertoire with the
same Company of actors.
THE SIGNIFICANCE
OF THEATRE
AS A
GENRE
Theatre differs from other dramatic art forms
like film and television in one important respect—the audience
is intimately engaged in a dialogue with what is happening on
the stage. Since the Greeks, theatre has also provided an important
debating chamber for issues in civil society. That tradition continues
and is currently enjoying a renaissance in the UK as writers and
theatre-makers are developing more explicitly political responses
to the world around them.
Productions such as David Hare's Stuff Happens
at the National Theatre, Behzti at the Birmingham Rep
and the RSC's forthcoming Gunpowder season all demonstrate
a renewed commitment from the UK's theatre industry to engage
with explicitly political themes.
Shakespeare's genius as a dramatist of spiritual
and moral crisis is central to our role at the RSC. The shared
pursuit of the truth in one consensual room is the RSC's urgent
offer to a fragmented public.
The fact that participation is at the heart
of theatregoing more than in any other art form gives us a special
aptitude for educational collaboration. The RSC has done more
to revolutionise the teaching of Shakespeare in our schools than
any single organisation and has been consistently at the forefront
of kinaesthetic learning practice amongst the educational community.
As well as a vital contribution to the teaching
of English and Drama, the RSC believes that theatre is an ideal
vehicle to teach citizenship, given that it is an essentially
collaborative art form.
Contribution to the economy
Independent research by ARUP Economics undertaken
in 2001 revealed that the RSC in Stratford directly employs 598
people equating to about 480 annual FTE jobs and directly supports
an estimated 280-320 jobs in retail, tourism, catering and other
visitor-related businesses.
The RSC brings a total of around £18 million
of direct income to the local area, including around £11.8
million of self-generated income. When added to the mid-point
of the range of estimated visitor spending outside the theatre
complex that is directly attributable to the RSC (£12.8-£14.7
million), the RSC brings around £31.75 million investment
to the area each year.
The RSC has been presenting a season in Newcastle
upon Tyne for over 25 years and has been independently assessed
as bringing investment to the region and acting as a catalyst
for urban renewal. RSC performances are seen to be directly responsible
for generating approximately £1.1 million in the local economy.
Although not easily measurable in terms of fiscal
benefit, the RSC invests heavily in an extensive programme of
overseas touring. The Company was awarded a Queen's Award for
Export by the DTI in recognition of its valuable role as a cultural
ambassador. As well as regular performances in the US, the RSC
works closely with the British Council and other agencies on stimulating
interest in the RSC among emerging economies.
Since 1997, in addition to Europe and the United
States, the Company has toured its work to Australia, Chile, Brazil,
Japan, South Africa, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Mexico, Columbia,
Taiwan, Korea, and Malaysia. For example, the first RSC visit
to China in 2002 was at the invitation of The Chinese Performing
Arts Agency (CPAA) performing at the Poly Theatre in Beijing and
the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre. The visit was unprecedented,
generating the biggest box office success of any drama performance
in China (domestic or overseas company).
In 2002, the RSC announced a new five-year relationship
with the John F Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington
DC—one of only two (along with the Kirov) internationally
acclaimed cultural institutions to be resident in the US capital.
Since then, three productions have transferred for month-long
residencies at the Center.
Embracing internationalism is a crucial part
of the RSC forward strategy. From April 2006 for 12 months the
RSC will stage the Complete Works of Shakespeare Festival. The
RSC will produce about 15 plays from the canon, inviting UK and
international theatre companies as well as community groups to
contribute to the Festival. This is the first time that all Shakespeare's
plays have been produced at the same Festival. The RSC is working
closely with partners to ensure the Festival makes a significant
contribution to visitor and tourism strategies regionally and
nationally.
The Company's international ambitions continue
in 2007 when a Russian Season is planned. Michael Boyd trained
as a director is Moscow and this collaborative project explores
the different theatre traditions in the two countries.
THE RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN PUBLIC
SUBSIDY AND
THE COMMERCIAL
THEATRE
The RSC recognises that the traditional divisions
between subsidised and commercial theatre have become increasingly
blurred, as collaborations have become more commonplace.
The subsidised theatre has always explored ways
to further exploit its work through partnerships with commercial
producers. Now the subsidised sector has a growing input into
work produced in London's West End. The RSC believes this should
be welcomed and encouraged as it adds to the variety of the offering
in the West End and gives more people the opportunity to see work
produced in the subsidised sector.
The RSC also believes that subsidised theatre
need not only take place in a subsidised building. There have
been a number of recent successful experiments (led by the Royal
Court and the Almeida theatres) that demonstrate subsidised work
can be successfully presented in West End theatres.
The RSC operates in the West End in a number
of different ways:
— Presenting its own work at its own
risk without the involvement of commercial producers—effectively
renting a theatre for the presentation of a subsidised production
(s). This is the model the RSC currently operates for the presentation
of its London Season at the Albery Theatre.
— Extending the life of a subsidised
production through collaboration with a commercial producer. This
extension of the work is entirely by the commercial producer.
— Co-production with a commercial producer.
Arrangements such as this are much rarer and usually involve a
contribution to origination costs by the commercial producer,
but all artistic decisions remain with the RSC. For this investment
the producer gets the right to option a further production of
the play.
However, nearly all work produced by the RSC
is not commercially viable. Because of the large casts, musicians
and the technical requirements involved in running a repertoire,
even sell-out RSC shows rarely make a profit for producers.
The RSC believes that one of its responsibilities
as a national company is to present its core repertoire in both
London and Stratford. This currently requires the RSC to identify
a London theatre or theatres for presentation of its work for
a six-month season (as it has done for its 2004-05 London season
at the Albery and Playhouse theatres).
In the medium to longer term, the RSC wants
to secure a London theatre that complements the planned thrust
stage configuration in Stratford. The Company's goal of a compatible
one room thrust space for London creates the possibility of a
12-month RSC London programme without the Company being drawn
into overproduction. Only by pooling the best from both the Swan
and the RST can we provide a year-round London home with the quality
of programme essential to its success.
Encouraging young people as independent theatre-goers
In July 2004 the RSC has launched a new initiative
to give young people access to the theatre with £5 tickets
for all performances in its 2004-05 London season at the Albery
Theatre. Fifty £5 tickets, including the best seats in the
house, are available to young people aged 16 to 25 for each of
the 150 performances in the six-month season.
In January 2004, the RSC had engineered a radical
shift in the profile of its audience through this targeted pricing
initiative. Over 85% of the young people's allocation has been
sold so far. The policy has been so successful that the Company
is exploring rolling out the initiative to all RSC productions
in London and Stratford from Winter 2005.
UPDATE ON
THE RSC'S
CAPITAL REDEVELOPMENT
PROJECT
The RSC last discussed its £100 million
redevelopment of its Stratford estate with the Committee in January
2002, shortly after the publication of a Feasibility Study which
identified options for the site (published in October 2001).
Since then the Company has been through a number
of important changes in leadership resulting in a decision by
the Board in September 2004 to progress the scheme outlined below.
Critical to redevelopment decision making has
been the change in leadership of the RSC following Adrian Noble's
resignation in April 2002.
Michael Boyd took up post as Artistic Director
in Spring 2003, with Sir Christopher Bland chosen by the Board
as Chairman in April 2004, shortly followed by the appointment
of Vikki Heywood as Executive Director. Vikki brings considerable
experience from the Royal Court, where she masterminded the redevelopment
in Sloane Square.
Transforming the Royal Shakespeare Theatre
In September 2004 the RSC completed an option
appraisal with the new leadership team and announced that it intended
to create a thrust stage within the existing 1932 Royal Shakespeare
Theatre, retaining the key art deco elements of the building.
The new auditorium for the RSC's core Shakespeare
repertoire, seating around 1,000 people, will be a "one room"
theatre where the stage thrusts into the audience with theatregoers
seated around. The main aim is to improve the relationship between
the audience and the actor by bringing them closer together in
a theatre space where the distance from the furthest seat will
be reduced from the current 27 metres to between 14 and 16 metres.
As well as replacing the existing auditorium,
the £100 million plan includes expansion of the front of
house facilities with improved provision for disabled access,
bars, restaurants, toilets and exhibition space. Backstage facilities
will be expanded, with improved dressing rooms and a greater separation
between the main house and Swan theatres—addressing the
current cramped technical and support facilities. The Swan and
The Other Place theatres will be retained, and a new dedicated
space for the Company's educational activity will be created.
The 2001 Feasibility Study recommended a scheme
which included building a flexible thrust and proscenium auditorium.
Further testing of this idea convinced the Company that combining
the configurations ended up by compromising both approaches—resulting
in a poor thrust and a poor proscenium.
Led by its commitment to bringing an immediacy
and clarity to Shakespeare, and bringing the audience to a more
engaged relationship with our actors, the Company made the decision
that the best way to achieve this is in a thrust-stage, one-room
auditorium—a modern take on the courtyard theatres of Shakespeare's
own time. The RST is the Company's main theatre for Shakespeare
in Stratford so creating a space that is sympathetic to his work
is critical to the success of the scheme.
Strengthening the project team
The Company is now embarked on the search for
an architect for the project. The Dutch architect, Eric van Egeraat,
withdrew from the project during the option review. A shortlist
has already been identified and the Company expect that a new
architect will be appointed by April 2005. Work on the site will
start in 2007.
The brief to the architect will include preservation
and restoration of the key heritage elements of the 1932 building,
including the art deco façade, foyers and "fountain
staircase" which links the stalls and circle bars. The Victorian
gothic exterior of the former 1879 Memorial Theatre will also
be preserved. English Heritage have made it clear that the key
heritage elements at the front of the building must be preserved.
In January 2005 the RSC announced that it had
appointed Peter Wilson OBE as Project Director for the redevelopment.
Peter comes from the Tate where he is Director of Projects and
Estates. He has been the Tate client for Cornwall County Council's
Tate St Ives (1993) and the building project director for both
Tate Modern and the Tate Britain Centenary Development whilst
overseeing a number of other projects, including the second phase
of Tate Liverpool in 1998.
Continuity of performance in Stratford
The RSC will continue to perform in Stratford
throughout the build. In December 2004 the RSC announced that
it intends to perform its core, large scale repertoire in a temporary
theatre built adjacent to The Other Place during the transformation
of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. The Company has now submitted
a planning application to Stratford-on-Avon District Council for
a temporary 1,000 seat theatre on the site of the car park adjoining
the RSC's studio theatre, The Other Place. The planning committee
are due to make a decision in February 2005.
Work is scheduled to start in Summer 2005 so
that the temporary theatre will be available for the Company's
Complete Works of Shakespeare Festival which starts in April 2006.
By 2007 when work is planned to start on the Royal Shakespeare
Theatre, the temporary theatre will be the Stratford home for
the Company's main house ensemble until the opening of the new
theatre in 2009. The RSC is working with the architect Ian Ritchie
on a completely sound-proof theatre complete with heating and
air conditioning that can be built quickly with minimum disturbance
to neighbours.
Securing resources
Following the decision by the Board in September
2004, the RSC has now applied to Arts Council England and Advantage
West Midlands for financial support of £70 million.
14 January 2005
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