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Articles
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Articles |
Unsung HeroesDateline: 17th April, 2005It sometimes takes an unhappy event to make you see the obvious. After the sudden death of Peter Sarah, general manager and chief executive of Newcastle's Theatre Royal, the question many in the city and the region are asking is, where will we get someone to replace him? There is no doubt that when the job is advertised there will be many applications, and many will be from very experienced people, but to get the right combination of talents in one man or woman is not easy. The person who runs a theatre has to have many talents, of which management and administration, in the strict senses of the words, are probably the least important. Of course administrative and organisational skills are necessary, but artistic sensitivity and a sense of what will appeal to the public (even if the public doesn't yet realise it!), along with the ability to motivate and inspire, are much more important. What a good chief executive - and I use that term advisedly: there is more to the job than just managing - needs is vision, the vision to create a programme which is both artistically excellent and appeals to the audience, and a willingness to take risks to develop the audience, not just to attract new audiences but also to expand the horizons of the one that's already there. And (s)he needs the personal skills to carry the rest of the organisation along, to make them as enthusiastic and as committed. These are rare skills, but when you look at the most successful theatres, whether receiving or producing houses, they have this sort of person at the helm. Unlike successful actors (or even directors), they are not high profile outside of the business, but they are vital to the success of the industry as a whole. We need to recognise it more often!
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