The Chichester Festival Theatre could have lost as much as £640,000 on its summer season, according to a report in The Stage. Early figures suggest that, overall, the theatre's booking will be in the region of 41% for the season. A 61% figure is needed to break even.
Barclays extends Stage Partners scheme
Barclays Bank has announced that it is to extend its Stage Partners scheme for another three years. The scheme, which supports regional touring, will receive £1.2m from the Bank, and this will release a further £2.5m from the three national Arts Councils.
In its first three years, the scheme funded 30 productions touring more than 100 venues in 90 towns, playing to a total audience of more than one million.
Sadler's Wells is considering suing the Royal Opera House after being told that the Company will be closing from January to December and will not, therefore, be putting any productions in the Wells' newly rebuilt and refurbished theatre, leaving what a spokeperson described as "a large hole" in their programming.
ROH redundancy row rumbl;es on
Musicians Union general secretary Dennis Scard, writing on behalf of the MU, BECTU and Equity, has demanded a meeting with Chris Smith, the culture secretary, over the redundancies planned for the Royal Opera House as it prepares to go dark for almost a full year. Sir Colin Southgate has also set a deadline of 26th October for agreement on the redundancies.
In addition to the closure plans, Southgate also announced that there will be fewer performances when the House reopens. In spite of this, he is optimistic that ACE will increase the company's grant
Belfast Grand Opera House success story
Belfast's Grand Opera House had one of its best ever years in 1997-98 with attendances increasing by 21,000, playing to 77% capacity, whilst turnover rose by 16% and gross profits by 29%.
A planned one-day strike by actors at the Royal Shakespeare Company has been called off after they were offered, and agreed, a 4.6% pay deal. The effect of the deal is to raise the minimum wage to £250 a week. Subsistence rates have gone up to £75 and stage managers receive a 6% deal, partly as a result of a change to overtime arrangements.
New ROH executive director appointed
Micahel Kaiser, currently executive director of the American Ballet Theatre, has been appointed as executive director of the ROH as from 12th November. As yet no artistic director has been appointed. It is rumoured that Sarah Billinghurst of New York's Met was offered the job, but turned it down as she did not wich to share control with an executive director.