 |
|
|
|||
|
News
|
|||
|
News
|
Dateline: 21st October, 2011
Blackmore to Leave Octagon Octagon executive director John Blackmore is to leave the Bolton theatre next summer after eleven years to pursue freelance work as a theatre consultant. Blackmore had already headed several theatre companies including Manchester's Library Theatre Company and The Dukes in Lancaster and resolved serious problems with the Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse Theatres at the request of Arts Council before inheriting an Octagon Theatre in September 2000 on the brink of financial collapse. Since then it has become one of the most successful theatres in the region with major successes on stage, impressive audience numbers and critical response and a large programme of education and participation work. Out of Joint artistic director Max Stafford Clark paid tribute to Blackmore, with whom he first worked in 1985, saying, "John has made a massive contribution to British theatre over the last forty years. He founded Northern Stage (in its first manifestation) and he has run companies in Manchester, Leicester, Newcastle, Lancaster and Bolton. He’s also made a significant contribution to the English Shakespeare Company, Warwick Arts Centre and the West End. He has an unrivalled knowledge, in particular of English regional theatre, and continues to make a huge contribution to producing theatre." The Octagon's chair Margaret Blenkinsop said, "With prudence, business acumen, passion and drive he has taken the theatre from the verge of bankruptcy to robust financial health. The board is indebted to him for his very significant contribution in making the Octagon a sustainable centre of excellence. We thank him for his unfaltering commitment and wish him well for the future.” Blackmore will leave the Octagon in June 2012. The theatre's board will be advertising soon for a new chief executive to start next spring. David Chadderton
Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
|
||
|
|
