The shock announcement yesterday that Samuel West, who is only in his second term of office as artistic director of Sheffield Theatres, will depart at the end of the current season gives one pause, and cause for speculation, about what the reasons might be. Handed a theatre with a thriving artistic agenda by his predecessor Michael Grandage – who was doing double duty as he juggled that job with also running the Donmar, which has just had the best year of any theatre in London – West was an intriguing choice for the post, since he had never run a theatre before, and had directed comparatively little as well. (His prior directorial credits had included an ENO opera, Cosi Fan Tutte, staged while the company was away from its home base; and a production of Christopher Fry’sThe Lady’s Not For Burning at Chichester Festival Theatre).
But Sam, who like Mark Rylance at Shakespeare’s Globe, was a popular classical actor who knew how to galvanise the troops; and he made some bold artistic statements, such as his early decision to give Howard Brenton’s The Romans in Britain its first major revival since the original highly controversial National Theatre production in 1980. He also provided one of this year’s most powerful and poignant evenings when he was joined by his father Timothy in Caryl Churchill’s A Number – to play father and son(s) in this extraordinary play about the genetic cloning.
The official statement issued about his departure – which came from a PR company I was previously unaware of, since they do not routinely handle the theatre’s dealings with the national press on new productions – says it was a decision “reached by mutual consent of both West and Sheffield Theatres Trust Board on Wednesday”, and goes on to suggest that a big part of the decision was the fact that “The Crucible and Crucible Studio will be closed for refurbishment during what would have been the 2007/08 season, and it was agreed that this was a good point to allow West to leave and pursue other projects.”
This refurbishment programme (which will see the theatre closed from January 2008 to March 2009) should not, however, have been a surprise to West, or at least I hope not – he should have been an active and integral part of those plans. In any case, it doesn’t mean the work had to stop. During the Young Vic’s two-year refurbishment, for instance, David Lan became building manager as well as making sure that the company kept its profile high with its ‘Walkabout’ season elsewhere, doing some 22 shows at 41 different venues. The Arts Council’s Christopher Frayling, who had recommended a shut-down during the refurbishment, ate his words publicly on the opening night, saying that it had been a huge success to keep its work going over that period.
West and the board have found a face-saving formula for both of them that has seen him agree to be appointed an associate artist, with the stated aim of working again in Sheffield when the building re-opens. But it still leaves the Crucible without an overall artistic manager during its closure (when the Lyceum will, of course, still be available for productions and the artistic programme could have simply been moved there), but more immediately for next autumn, too, when it is still open but West’s tenure will have already ended. A main house show for the autumn is evidently to be announced in the New Year, but who will choose it?
At a time when Jonathan Church has put Chichester Festival Theatre back on the map after a rocky few years there, it seems a pity that Sheffield should so dramatically lurch off course now.
