Almost one in five RSC jobs may go at Stratford, according to a report in ths week's Stage. The jobs under threat are in the production department and it is feared that up to 80 may vanish in a bid to increase efficiency and cut costs. The company and BECTU are understood to be in discussions about redundancy packages. It is hoped that voluntary redundancies and early retirement will cover most of the losses.
There will be changes in working practices for those who keep their jobs and management hopes that a new pay structure will be introduced, bringing the company more in line with the rest of the industry. At the moment staff are forced to work long hours to boost their low pay.
The RSC is to make another attempt to fill the vacant new post of Managing Director. None of the candidates interviewed earlier this year proved suitable and new interviews will be held in July. It is hoped to make an appointment before the end of the year.
Shakespeare's birthplace reopens
After a £300,000 refurbishment, Shakespeare's birthplace, a house in Henley Street, Stratford, is now again open to the public. The official opening was carried out by Judi Dench and Michael Williams. The interior is now as close as it is possible to get to the way it would have looked in Shakespeare's time, with all the furnishing being done with meticulous attention to historical accuracy."We've done it. So can you!" Oldham says
Oldham Coliseum announced last week that it has eliminated its £300,000 debt and has broken even for the first time in ten years.
According to chief executive Kenneth Alan Taylor, the theatre's success was not due to cutting back but to going for shows which appeal to the audience.
"If a lot more theatres looked at what the audience wanted," he said, "and did not indulge themselves, they would not be in the trouble they are in."
He said that they had discovered that audiences did not want small scale shows, so they have had bigger casts than the theatre had had for many years. "That's what people want," he claimed.
LIPA introduces new disabled course
The Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts is to introduce a Certificate of Higher Education in Performing Arts for Disabled People, thought to be the first of its kind in Britain.
Sainsbury's Checkout Theatre to fund three plays
Sainsbury's Checkout Theatre is inviting applications for funding for new plays for children aged 10 to 14. Six companies will each receive £1000 to prepare a detailed treatment and then three will be awarded up to £45,000 to commission the script, develop the production and keep ticket prices low.
Since its closure was announced, audiences for the Broadway production of Cats have grown to 90% and so the closing date has been pushed back by eleven weeks to 10th September, when it will have played 7,485 shows.