Twelve judges are being sought for next year's Olivier Awards. No previous experience is needed, and there is no pay, but successful candidates will receive two tickets for each show they are asked to review. Ful details are on the Olivier Awards Website.
The Royal Shakespeare Company has announced the appointment of Chris Foy as Managing Director, part of the major management restructuring begun last year. In fact, it has taken a year to find the right candidate for the post, after it was turned down by former General Manager Will Whitton whose post was made redundant in the restructuring. The MD reports directly to the Chairman and to Artistic Director Adrian Noble.
Chris Foy joins the RSC from his roles as Chief Executive of African Lakes plc, and also as non-executive Chairman of AEA Consulting Ltd, a specialist consulting firm serving the cultural and artistic sector. He had extensive managerial experience at Unilever for almost thirty years. Chris has had a lifelong interest in, and love of the arts - especially theatre - and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Almeida has new temporary home
The Almeida has received planning permission to turn an old bus garage near King's Cross into a performance space which it will use from March 2001 while its own theatre in Islington is bring refurbished.
Culture Secretary Chris Smith has launched a new Website - Your Creative Future - which aims to give advice and help to those who are seeking a career in the so-called creative industries, which includes the performing arts.
Holmfirth, the Yorkshire town in which BBC comedy series Last of the Sumer Wineis set, is to honour actor Bill Owen, who played Compo in the long-running programme, with a bronze statue of the chaacter leaning against a drystone wall. Local businesses have commissioned the statue from Nottingham sculptor Gordon Brown and it is expected to be in position next year.
Owen, who died last year during filming, had come to regard Homfirth as his home and was regarded as an honorary Yorkshireman.