March 2011 Archives

This was never going to be an easy funding settlement for the arts, or indeed, for the arts council. ACE was dealt a tricky hand by government with the pot of money it receives from the Exchequer reduced by 30%. No more than half this cut (15%) had to be passed on to its regular funded organisations, now to be referred to as national portfolio organisations.

Yes, it’s true Lottery funding to the arts will increase over time but that has had little bearing on ACE’s ability to offer core funding to cultural organisations. Today was a day when ACE was always going to have to make cuts. Although, as it acknowledges itself, some it would have made anyway.

Last time we were here - back in 2007/8 - ACE made an almighty hash of things. In rosier economic times, the Labour government had dealt them a strong hand funding-wise and they proceeded to do everything in their power to mess it up. Individual decisions were flawed (for example the decision to cut the Bush), the process was opaque and the announcement was allowed to morph into a PR disaster, culminating in an angry meeting at the Young Vic where ACE’s then chief executive Peter Hewitt was lucky to emerge physically unscathed.

Gina Beck writes: Following a recent flurry of letters to The Stage from theatregoers expressing their disappointment at the absence of anticipated stars from West End shows, I felt I should stick up for the targets of their displeasure - understudies.

As an actress who has played principal roles in the West End, I know all too well that understudies are an essential part of the London theatre scene. Without them, no long-running show, especially a musical, could function.

One letter asked: “If this had been a Saturday night performance, would the show have gone ahead with so many [five] understudies?” The simple answer is yes. It is naive to imagine a show would be cancelled when there are highly skilled understudies waiting in the wings to go on - after all, that is their job. It’s inevitable that people get sick from time to time and they are also entitled to holidays, but the show must go on and theatregoers are entitled to value for money, so that’s where understudies step in.

This was the year the Oliviers came home. After years marooned in a hotel on Park Lane, the 35th Laurence Olivier Awards returned to the West End.

The move was part of a major relaunch of the awards spearheaded by the Society of London Theatre’s new chief executive Julian Bird, which also saw a sponsorship deal with MasterCard, extensive advertising on tubes and buses across the capital and live coverage on the BBC - both on Radio 2 and via the Red Button.