A wish too far?
Theatres opening on Sundays? Cheap ticket night in the West End? The way ahead for 2008? Or does hope spring eternal?
It’s a time of year for looking forwards. So, entering into the seasonal spirit, let me offer a short wish list of things I’d like to see happen in our theatre in 2008.
1. First nights to start at the advertised time. This may seem a parochial matter but, believe me, it doesn’t help the reception of a big West End show if it starts 20 minutes late. Indeed, for an overnight critic, the glamour of a West End premiere is not all it’s cracked up to be. You struggle through paparazzi snapping at a minor player from Holby City, hunt high and low for the press officer in a crowded foyer, then push through bingeing punters to attain your seat. Having slumped exhausted, you wait a long time for the show to start, especially if it’s a musical. Along with a senior colleague, I actually started a slow handclap on the first night of Hairspray. To avoid such future unpleasantness, I suggest curtains go up on time.
2. Theatres to open on Sundays. This issue has been dragging on for years and is constantly stalled by protracted union negotiations. It seems mad that one can come into central London on a Sunday and take in a movie, a concert or an exhibition but not go to a theatre. Those few theatres that do open report high attendances. Nick Hytner, to his credit, promised that he would try and open the National on a Sunday. Yet nothing has happened. To those theatre workers who say they want to spend Sundays with their families, I’d remind them that they are there to please the paying public.
3. Cheap seats to be a permanent fixture. We all know that the National’s £10 Travelex scheme has been a roaring success. It’s much harder for the commercial theatre to follow suit, but since Monday is traditionally a slow night, why doesn’t the Society of London Theatre urge its members to launch a flat £15 price for all seats that evening? Far better that than rows of emptiness, I’ll wager such a revolutionary idea would attract precisely the kind of young audience on whom the future of the business depends.
4. More plays in the West End to balance the abundance of musicals. My definition of “plays” would include farces, comedies and thrillers. The success of Boeing-Boeing proves there is an audience for pop classics. So why not a slap-up revival of No Sex Please, We’re British or some vintage Ray Cooney? I’d like to see the West End returning to authors who were for so long its backbone: Shaw, Coward, Rattigan and Priestley. There’s also life in Emlyn Williams’ Accolade, which I came across in writing my recent book, State of the Nation. More new plays would be good. But why not also ransack some of the treasures of the 20th century?
5. Theatres to acquire a distinct identity. This is starting to happen with the Jonathan Kent season at the Theatre Royal Haymarket and Michael Grandage preparing to put down new Donmar roots at Wyndham’s. It is really a return to a traditional commercial principle: when George Alexander ran the St James’ and Beerbohm Tree Her Majesty’s, theatres had a particular profile. Today, when the producer-director has largely replaced the actor-manager, wouldn’t it be fascinating to allow Stephen Daldry or Richard Eyre, say, to occupy a building for a season or two? Such a scheme would need to be extensively bankrolled but, given the track record of key directors in filling subsidised theatres, it would be better than the present merry mayhem.
Will any of this happen? I’ll let you know in a year’s time.
December 1st, 2007 at 8:07 am
It’s all very well wanting a theatre to put on its production on Sundays but when would the cast have a day off. Surely they are not expected to work seven nights a week plus two matinees. that would surely be against employment laws.
April 7th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
This is just to confirm on behalf of the Society of London Theatre that there are Sunday performance agreements in existence with BECTU ( for theatre staff) and the Musicians Union. In the case of Equity, there are collective negotiations currently in progress, but some producers have already done individual deals on particular productions, eg Tom Stoppard’s `Rock n Roll’. However it should be borne in mind that Sunday performances are bound to be more expensive than performances on other days in the week and producers have to decide whether or not the potential additional box office income is greater than the additional costs. I can also confirm in response to the above comment that the performing week would remain at 6 days not 7. There would always be a day off in lieu of the Sunday.
June 24th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Sunday performance are the norm in Australia. Eight shows a week Wedneday - Sunday. For the Lion King perf schedule was Wed 2:30 then 8:00pm Wed-Fri then the weekends ran Saturday 3:00 and 8:00pm, then Sunday 1:30 and 5:00pm. This was originally tried by Disney and adopted by many other companies as it worked extremely well. I think the weekend is the most accessible time for most people, especially those who dont live near the theatre.