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Articles
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Articles |
The Royal Shakespeare Company 2004 - 2005Dateline: 27th November, 2005The news that the RSC has, for the second year running, achieved an operating surplus is very welcome. Not only has it eliminated the £2.8m deficit left after the departure of Adrian Noble, but it has enabled the company to set aside £3.6m for the Complete Works Festival next year. But good as the news is, it is merely the icing on the cake, for this financial success has come on the back of some of the most exciting programming for years, a rejuvenated ensemble, the succesful reinstatement of the London season and a feeling that the company has found its way again. It has hard to believe that it was just three years ago that the company was in turmoil, that members of the company were attacking Adrian Noble through his wife, that the company had to pay out in the region of £13m to the Barbican for breaking their contract, that the first post-London season was a financial disaster, that Nigel Hawthorn postumously attacked it for its uncaring attitude towards its actors, and in the same week that the National Theatre declared a £99,000 surplus, the RSC slid £1m further into deficit and Lord Alexander, the then-chairman, was forced to admit in the annual report, "We are undoubtedly wiser from our experience of the last 12 months." From the point of view of the ordinary audience member, however, it is the ensemble which is the nost important, for it is the quality of the ensemble which determines the quality of the productions and if the productions are of a high quality, then they can put up with a less than perfect theatre. But the ensemble is more than a group of actors: it is a way of working. Actor John Mackay, who plays Sir Andrew Aguecheek in the current production of Twelfth Night, sums it up:
A few facts and figures from the annual report to show what the company has achieved:
The company's total income was £24.9m, to which the box office contributed £12.1m and development and membership £1.5m.. Enterprise and Partnership between them accounted for £0.7m and Arts Council England contributed £13.9m, with £1.2m coming from a variety of other sources. The largest part of the expenditure of £27.7m was £10.4m for direct show costs (3% below budget). Production costs accounted for £3m and stage operations £2.4m. The highest admin cost was Marketing, Press and PA at £2.6m, while the catch-all company wide expenditure was £3.9m. £0.7m was spent on music, £0.8m on ticket selling costs, £0.3m on RSC Learning, £1.7m on theatre operations and £1.9m on premises. The cancellation of Hecuba cost the company £0.5m which meant that, although income was 3% higher than budget, the Stratford season failed to reach budget. However the London season exceeded budget by 27%. The company's net assets at the end of the financial year were £24,131,000, an increase of £1,095,000 ver 2003 - 2004.
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