The Edinburgh International Festival's ticket sales are well down this year, although exact figures are being kept secret. Houses as low as ten percent were recorded for at least one theatre production, it is reported.
This year for the first time, the International Festival and the Fringe did not coincide and it was in the last week of the International Festival (after the Fringe had ended) that the poorest houses occured. It is understood, however, that the EIF's houses as a whole were disappointing. Fringe ticket sales, however, did well, with sales from the Fringe Office on High Street, which usually accounts for a third of all sales, being up by 1.5%.
It is reported that the Edinburgh City Council is to call the two directors to a meeting to ask them to work together more closely.
Birmingham's Alexandra Theatre is to have a £1m refurbishment to enable it to host West End tours, owners Apollo Leisure have announced. This is thought to be one of the biggest spends on a theatre in recent years which does not involve National Lottery funding.
New Welsh arts lobby formally established
Artists in Wales, including the theatre community, have set up a new arts lobbying organisation with a statement of aims and a governing committee. The new body was set up to lobby the new Welsh Assembly, due to be elected next year, and because of widespread dissatisfaction with the Welsh Arts Council.