Companies

Non-building-based companies had mixed fortunes during the year.

There are four theatre companies in the North East which are ACE National Portfolio Organisations, two of which were funded for the first time in the 2012–2015 round.

Hexham-based Théâtre sans Frontières toured Les Aventures de Lapin to primary schools during the year during the year whilst children’s theatre company Theatre Hullabaloo presented three shows: Angel, a play about dementia aimed at age 10+, My Mother Told Me Not to Stare (8+) and The Elves and the Shoemakers (3+).

The two new NPO companies are the already well-established women’s company Open Clasp which this year presented Swags and Tails, which focused on the care of the elderly, and Zendeh, which produces cross artform work which is culturally eclectic. Its production during 2012 was Found.

Non-NPO companies in the region are having a bit of a struggle. Northumberland Theatre Company, which lost its status in the 2011 decision-making process and then failed to get a Grants for the Arts bid also in 2011, had an application for ACE’s Strategic Touring Fund rejected but eventually, thanks to a massive fundraising drive, it was able to continue with its planned tour of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, although on a smaller scale than initially planned. Its Christmas production of Grimm Tales also went ahead, as did its InterACT trainee company production, 4 Words: Love, Life, Longing and Laughter.

Other companies, such as Newcastle-based Unfolding Theatre, were able to access Grants for the Arts money and some were able to get by on selling their shows on guarantees, but many are now finding themselves having to rely on box-office splits and therefore profit-share.

Inevitably this has reduced the number of locally produced productions but actors, writers and directors are still putting on productions, often with the help of theatres which are providing rehearsal space and other facilities and occasionally of organisations such as the National Trust and even local councils, although that money is now drying up as a result of cuts to councils’ budgets.

Indeed, theatres are doing what they can to help, with scratch evenings dedicated to new work at Northern Stage, Live Theatre and ARC Stockton, with Arts Centre Washington joining in for the first time during the year.

In fact at least one new company sprang up during the year. The Sunderland REP plans new writing productions and radio plays in association with Spark FM, but whether this will be financially viable enough to be able to pay its actors remains to be seen.