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Dateline: 8th May, 2011
S4K Cuts Touring Shakespeare 4 Kidz, which tours child-friendly versions of Shakespeare plays, is to cut back its national touring. Its A Midsummer Night’s Dream has just finished a successful national tour and dates in Dubai and Bahrain and will make a few appearances in the UK during the summer and some international dates during the autumn but foe the rest of this year the company will concentrate on film, starting with a big screen version of its musical show S4K’s Romeo & Juliet. Shooting starts in September, with the S4K versions of Hamlet and Macbeth also currently in pre-production. These will be followed by the other three titles in S4K’s repertoire: The Tempest, Twelfth Night and The Dream, all of which have been on UK tours over the last fourteen years. The board wants to focus attention on taking its brand and products to a worldwide audience through these films, but chief executive Julian Chenery also a number of concerns regarding the viability of commercial theatre touring in the current economic climate. "It’s not just the subsidised sector which has been affected by recent budget cuts and VAT rises," he says. "It has become harder and harder to make middle-scale touring profitable in recent years, both for producers and theatres. "Sadly there appears to be an increasing “Ryan Air mentality” towards the business, which is pervading theatres across the country. "Just like budget airlines, extra costs are now piled on to the face value of theatre tickets for the theatre-goer, whilst at the same time hidden costs are also ramped up for the producer. "We try our hardest to produce a full scale musical theatre production for an inexpensive £10 a ticket to make it affordable for school children to attend and enjoy our shows, but so many theatres are now struggling to make ends meet. "The result is that many have resorted to charging mandatory booking fees, 'restoration levies', group booking surcharges, 'agency commission' and processing and administration fees to try to claw back as much money as possible. "In reality this is nothing more than a ticket tax which is both alienating theatre-goers and irritating producers. "The problem is compounded with many theatres’ increasing reluctance to settle promptly – with some trying to resort to settlement dates sixty or even ninety days after the performances. The subsequent clogging-up of cash flow in turn affects onward payments to our own suppliers. "I wouldn’t be surprised if some soon charge for using the toilet or wearing-out the foyer carpet! "Now that VAT has risen to an all-time high of 20 per cent, profit margins are getting tighter. As a touring company our overheads include the costs of transport and hotel accommodation for a cast and crew of twenty, which is also getting more and more expensive because of rising fuel prices. "We had a serious look at creating an 'S4K Lite' version of the show in an effort to slash costs – but this not only became problematic but we also felt it affected the impact of the show and the hard-won integrity and reputation of our work."
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