Issue 09 - 2006
Prompt Corner 
When is it justified, or even excusable, to complain to your neighbour in a theatre? If their mobile phone goes off or they persistently chat to a companion, certainly (I've been known to remark at the end of a show, with an icily mock-solicitous smile, "I do hope the play didn't interfere with your conversation"). Conduct can be changed there and then. Who or what your neighbour is cannot.
I'm somewhat taller than average, at 6'2" or 1.88m, and much wider than average, at around 25 stone, 3501b or 160kg (or, in the universal unit of obesity, one and a half Homer Simpsons). I'm therefore aware that I can both impinge on the personal space of the theatregoer(s) next to me and create restricted-view seating for those behind me. I do what I can to minimise these effects: when seating is unreserved, I'll always try to take a position on the aisle, not just because it's the traditional reviewer's location but because that way I only pose a lateral threat in one direction and there are fewer people behind who may need to peer around me; I'll try to sit fairly far back as well, so long as I'm still within a reasonable distance of the stage. Moreover, I also try to hunch or slouch as much as the seating, leg room and my sometimes recalcitrant musculature will allow.
Ostentatious
However, such precautions aren't always possible. (Nicholas de Jongh has volubly decried the current tendency, when refurbishing large theatres, to get rid of central aisles; he considers it largely a matter of convenience for the passage of theatregoers to and from their seats - I have my own reasons for joining in his lament.) And, despite my best efforts, I'm embarrassingly familiar with the sound of whispered "can you see all right?" exchanges going on behind me. But here's a thing: in over three thousand shows, I've only been subjected to ostentatious complaint - directed either straight at me, or loudly and pointedly to a companion but for my "benefit" - three times. All three occasions have been at the National Theatre, and on all three occasions the complainant has, to judge by accent, been North American. I presume it's just coincidence rather than being something about the NT in particular that brings out such people or such behaviour, like the woman a couple of years ago in the Cottesloe who complained that she was claustrophobic but apparently hadn't taken this into consideration when booking into a studio theatre where she would be sitting in darkness, and whose elbow certainly had no hesitation in venturing repeatedly and forcefully into the confined space of my ribcage (the bruises healed within a few weeks).
Now, these experiences may suggest that most of my theatrical neighbours down the years have perhaps been too passive in putting up with my encroachment on their space and/or vision; alternatively, it may suggest that a small number of individuals are boorish, unreasonable pillocks. I know which I think is statistically more likely. (And I'm not going to be tempted into drawing any inferences about national characteristics, since I know the nationalities neither of my three tormentors nor of the thousands who put up with me; London theatre audiences, after all, are hardly the most homogeneous.) But in the end, at the performance of The Voysey Inheritance I attended, I felt obliged to apologise... not to the implacable berk behind me (who wasn't some elderly curmudgeon, but a man in his twenties), but rather to those others around me who were also within the blast range of his bellowing tirade.
Rights
It's worth considering the implied argument, though. I think the problem is that basically reasonable expectations are pursued into areas where they become unreasonable. When you buy a theatre ticket, of course it's reasonable to expect a fair view and a decent amount of space unless you're informed otherwise. That's to do with the construction of the theatre, and if expectations aren't met on that front, complaint is surely justified. The one-off circumstance of a burly punter, though, is a different matter. Your ticket is for a particular event, a set of individual human circumstances; a large person like me near you is, so to speak, part of that event, one of its characteristics, just as much as is the collective audience response to the performance. As in so many areas of life today, there's a tendency to assume that one's own rights override precisely the same rights in other people. This can develop into a feeling that, if things aren't perfectly in tune with one's own expectations, someone else must be in the wrong. But it's not a matter of blame, and frankly, I have self-esteem problems enough already, without being made to feel that my physical build means I somehow don't deserve to be allowed into such places with "normal" people.
Oh, for the days when it was other traits of mine that aroused comment. At one Edinburgh International Festival performance in the early 1990s, I was sitting with Tom Morris in front of a couple of crusty old colonel types. I weighed only about half as much then as I do now, but we were both fairly luxuriantly coiffed in those days. Cue the chap behind Tom, who rumbled, "Oh! I don't think I've ever sat behind someone with quite so much hair!" To which his companion rejoined in what I'm sure he thought was a confidential tone, "You're lucky... look at mine!"
And finally...
I apologise if, in recent issues, I seem not to have been commenting enough on the shows covered, or the reviews contained herein. It's been due to various factors, from my being away at various events (such as the Craiova Shakespeare Festival on which Ian Herbert reported last issue) to the brute realities of pagination requirements (hence only one page this time). Two brief remarks on this issue, though. Firstly, note the logo accompanying 4.48 Psychosis: Sarah Kane has now apparently become the kind of "brand" whose name may sell a show more effectively than its actual title. Secondly, has anyone seen Sylvester McCoy since the performance of The Pocket Orchestra when he rashly attempted to play the spoons on various parts of Rhoda Koenig?
At the Back
Can you hear me in Scotland?
You can't say it's not an exciting time north of the border. The National Theatre of Scotland (NTS) has launched its peripatetic programme with resounding success - see the reviews of Elizabeth Gordon Quinn in this issue for the latest reactions. The Record's last issue carried reviews from a thriving Royal Lyceum and an active Citizens', plus big coverage of the latest festival at Andy Arnold's little creative powerhouse under the Arches. With writers of the calibre of Da
vid Greig, David Harrower and Anthony Neilson in full flow and gaining ever-increasing international recognition, there seems to be no stopping the Scottish theatre bandwagon.
Loadsamoney
And all this is being supported with loadsamoney. In January Culture Minister Patricia Ferguson announced a shake-up of arts funding that would come with a sweetener of an extra £20 million for the arts in Scotland from 2007. At the beginning of May she filled in some detail, saying that £2 million of this would be going to the directly funded Big Five, who would be getting more than £22 million between them in 2007-8, a 14% rise. NTS alone will get £4.1 million.
Then came the Scottish Arts Council's contribution, giving an extra £7.7 million for the same period. £4.7 million of this increase goes to 47 "key arts organisations", who will share £14 million under a new system of foundation funding. They will be supported long-term and be able to budget accordingly, while a less fortunate group of organisations will get `flexible" funding from a pot of £17 million, benefiting from a £3 million increase. The budgets for youth companies, cultural diversity and disabled people's arts are each doubled, too, to a total of around £1.3 million. Slightly more is going towards audience development. Individual artists have access to an extra half million in awards, bursaries and fellowships, while a new fund of £0.84 million will go towards the development of music, dance and drama - in this case not exclusively Scottish work - in festivals.
So although the SAC may have lost responsibility for the country's major arts institutions, it has brought some usefully creative thinking to bear on the tasks that remain to them. They may be joined with Scottish Screen into a new, trendily titled body, Creative Scotland, but what they have already done in determining cultural priorities should put them in the driving seat.
Transparency
The most impressive thing about the Council's activities has been the considerable transparency with which they have carried out their work. Minutes of meetings appear on their website, and when they announced their new funding scheme they put up not only the budgeted figures for the current year, but the proposed figures for the first year of the new system, and best of all they published a lot of the background thinking that had led them to their decisions. No secret deliberations, no surprise overnight decisions, just the plan and what had brought them to it.
For example, the two reports on the Fringe, which at first glance seems to have lost its small grant, are not in the least unsympathetic. They show that what is at stake is the organisation's relationship with SAC and other potential funders. It seems likely that the Fringe will certainly get help as an importer of international material for Scots audiences.
It's well worth a trawl through the vast number of reports SAC have posted on their website, on companies large and small. You may disagree with many of them, but you should certainly respect the great care with which they have been compiled. The reports on individual shows are more like a festival judge's commentary than a mere review, with everything carefully and thoroughly laid out in boxes which are not merely ticked, but meticulously completed in forthright language.
Of course there have been strong reactions, not surprisingly from the companies who see themselves as under threat. If you see the magic figure £0 against your 2007-8 budget, you're bound to be upset. But at least you have the reasons for that decision and therefore some grounds for fightback. Not all of the decisions are final ones, in any case - the Citz, for instance, is still being examined with a view to a merger with TAG, but if all goes well stands to have its grant increased to over a million.
Flexibility
Besides, the new system is just what it says - flexible. It's a way of keeping down the number of companies who can automatically expect a good grant. For a while at least these organisations will be free, as "foundation" companies, to manage themselves, and hopefully to spend a lot less time worrying about deficits and a lot more planning creative programmes. The other companies can still figure in the game in two forms of "flexibility": as multi-year funded groups, or as applicants for project funding. In either case, the remaining funds are almost a quarter more than they were. Instead of having 14% of their income uncommitted, SAC will now have 32%, and with it the ability to respond to individual needs more rapidly and more generously. (To calm the financial euphoria, it should be mentioned that drama gets the smallest specific increase of all the art forms, from £9.3 million in 06-07 to £10.6 million in 07-08. Dance, by comparison, goes up from £1.1 million to £2.6 million, more than doubling its budget, with a larger actual increase to boot than that for drama.)
Liberating
I've long advocated that company directors should stay no longer than ten years, fifteen at most. Sometimes this should apply to companies themselves. It can be liberating on all sides - when John McGrath lost 7:84, he began a new phase of great creativity; Max Stafford-Clark has been much livelier with Out of Joint than he would have been if he'd stayed on at the Royal Court. It really is worth cultural leaders looking at these examples, or those of Richard Eyre and Mark Rylance. Change can be good. And this is the message I would hope to offer to those who have been disappointed in the SAC's plans. They include favourites of mine like Babel and Borderline, but my firm belief is that their demise, if it happens, could well be beneficial on all sides. No one wants a stagnant creative system like those that used to exist in Eastern Europe, where a score of pensioners, too old, too incompetent or just too unwilling to play, might take up most of a theatre's salary bill.
Broader Church
So let's be glad for The Arches, who get a 75% increase, for Dundee Rep with their 33%, Theatre Workshop with 40% (though here, personally, I hae me doots), and all the other winners. Let's note that children's and youth theatre are very much to the fore in the increases, with Imaginate getting as almost much of an increase as The Arches, and the Scottish Youth Theatre almost doubling its grant. And let's see the companies who think they've been harshly treated come out fighting. I wonder what lessons Arts Council England will take from their Scottish cousins?.
Contents / Reviews
London |
||||
BABEL JUNCTION New play by A Al-Ali, S Baig, M McMilan, S Makishi and J Smerin (Maya Prods) |
Hackney Empire, Bullion |
26 Apr |
14 May |
496 |
BREAKFAST WITH JONNY WILKINSON New play by Chris England |
Menier Chocolate Factory |
27 Apr |
2 Jul |
506 |
CROOKED New play by Catherine Trieschmann |
Bush |
5 May |
3 Jun |
517 |
A DANGEROUS AGE New play by Godfrey Hamilton (Starving Artists) |
Drill Hall |
3 May |
20 May |
520 |
THE DEAD FIDDLER New adaptation by David Zoob from story by Isaac Bashevis Singer (Sacred And Profane) |
New End |
27 Apr |
21 May |
501 |
4.48 PSYCHOSIS Transfer of revival of play by Sarah Kane (Tangram TC) |
Arcola |
28 Apr |
20 May |
505 |
THE HOUSE OF NO RETURN New piece by Oddbodies |
Warehouse Croydon |
5 May |
21 May |
514 |
THE ISLAND Revival of play by Athol Fugard, John Kani and Winston Ntshona (Market Th, Johannesburg) |
Oval House |
4 May |
6 May |
516 |
KRAPP'S LAST TAPE Revival of play by Samuel Beckett (Beckett Centenary Festival) |
The Pit |
26 Apr |
6 May |
497 |
LIE BACK IN ANGER New play by Bridget O'Donnell |
Union SE1 |
4 May |
20 May |
512 |
LOYALTIES Revival of play by John Galsworthy |
Finborough |
27 Apr |
20 May |
509 |
MOTORTOWN New play by Simon Stephens |
Royal Court |
24 Apr |
20 May |
488 |
THE MUSHROOM PICKERS New play by Jacqueline McCarrick |
Southwark Playhouse |
4 May |
20 May |
505 |
OUR MISS GIBBS Revival of musical by L Monckton, I Caryll, A Ross, P Greenbank, J T Tanner |
Finborough |
30 Apr |
14 May |
508 |
THE POCKET ORCHESTRA New piece by Graeme Garden and Callum McLeod |
Trafalgar Studio 2 |
26 Apr |
26 May |
502 |
ROAD TO NIRVANA Revival of play by Arthur Kopit |
King's Head |
4 May |
28 May |
515 |
THE ROCKY HORROR TRIBUTE SHOW Charity performance of musical by Richard O'Brien |
Royal Court |
3 May |
3 May |
513 |
A SHOT OF GENIUS: The Night Before The Trial / The Man With A Flower In His Mouth / The Ruffian OnThe Stair Revival of plays by Anton Chekhov / Luigi Pirandello / Joe Orton (The Sound And Fury TC) |
Sound |
27 Apr |
20 May |
510 |
THE SULTAN'S ELEPHANT New show by Royal De Luxe |
Central London |
5 May |
7 May |
512 |
TOSCA'S KISS New play by Kenneth Jupp |
Orange Tree |
5 May |
3 Jun |
519 |
UNCLE VANYA Revival of play by Anton Chekhov |
Lion & Unicorn |
25 Apr |
14 May |
510 |
VALPARAISO New play by Don DeLillo (Weaver Hughes Ensemble) |
Old Red Lion |
27 Apr |
13 May |
511 |
VICTIM New stage adaptation of screenplay by Janet Green and John McCormick |
Pentameters |
2 May |
21 May |
491 |
VISIBLE New play by Sarah Wood (Cardboard Citizens/RSC) |
Soho |
26 Apr |
6 May |
504 |
THE VOYSEY INHERITANCE Revival of play by Harley Granville-Barker (NT) |
Lyttelton |
25 Apr |
7 Jun |
492 |
Regions |
||||
ELIZABETH GORDON QUINN Revival (revised) of play by Chris Hannan (NTS) |
Dundee Rep I touring |
27 Apr |
29 Apr |
535 |
AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE Revival of play by Henrik Ibsen (Tara Arts) |
Glasgow, Citizens I touring |
25 Apr |
29 Apr |
535 |
FOXES New play by Alice Nutter |
Leeds, WYP Courtyard |
27 Apr |
6 May |
526 |
THE GOOD WOMAN OF SETZUAN Revival of play by Bertolt Brecht, translated by Tanika Gupta |
Leicester Haymarket |
25 Apr |
6 May |
526 |
HAMLET Revival of play by Shakespeare (Baxter Th, Cape Town; Complete Works) |
Stratford, Swan |
3 May |
6 May |
522 |
INTO THE WOODS Revival of musical by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine |
Derby Playhouse |
27 Apr |
20 May |
527 |
OTHELLO Revival of play by Shakespeare (Münchner Kammerspiele; Complete Works) |
Stratford, Royal Shakespeare |
27 Apr |
29 Apr |
521 |
PARADISE BOUND New play by Jonathan Larkin |
Liverpool Everyman |
28 Apr |
20 May |
534 |
PARADISE LOST Revival of adaptation by Ben Power from poem by John Milton (Oxford Stage Co) |
Watford Palace I touring |
26 Apr |
29 Apr |
525 |
POMEGRANATE New play by Linda Marshall Griffiths |
Manchester, R Exchange Studio |
27 Apr |
13 May |
528 |
PRESENT LAUGHTER Revival of play by Noël Coward |
Bath, Theatre Royal / touring |
27 Apr |
29 Apr |
528 |
THE SEER New play by Ali Smith (Dogstar TC) |
Inverness, Spectrum Ctr / touring |
4 May |
4 May |
537 |
THE TAMING OF THE SHREW Revival of play by Shakespeare |
Bristol Old Vic |
3 May |
27 May |
533 |
THREE TALL WOMEN Revival of play by Edward Albee |
Oxford Playhouse I touring |
27 Apr |
13 May |
534 |