British Theatre News

News Index

Dateline: 17th December, 2000

Kids' Week is Achievement of the Year

The Society of London Theatre's Kids' Week was last week named Achievement of the Year by the Society of Box Office Managers. In Kids' Week thousands of children are given the opportunity to see shows at West End theatres for free and to take part in specially organised workshops.

Kids' Week 2001 will take place from 24th to 31st August.

Pearson Playwrights Bursary winner

The winner of this year's Pearson Playwright's Scheme Bursary is Amanda Whittington for her play The Day We Met Diana, about the effect on a Nottingham family of meeting Princess Diana. The £5000 bursary also means an Ms Whittington will be attached to the Sho Theatre for a year, where she will write another play. Her first play Be My Baby was performed in the Soho Theatre's opening season this year.

Previous winners of the bursary include Howard Barker, David Edgar, Stephen Poliakoff, Alan Bleasdale and Conor McPherson.

Weinberger buys Warner/Chappell catalogue

Theatre publisher and licenser Josef Weinberger has bought the full catalogue of Warner/Chappell plays, making it one of the largest such companies in the world.

FT/A&B Awards

The winners of the Financial Times/Arts and Business Awards have been announced They included

• Allders plc/LIFT (London International Festival of Theatre)
  Allders was recognised for its first ever partnership with the arts, in which living, sleeping, bathing actors from LIFT (London International Festival of Theatre) were installed for several days in Arding and Hobb’s shop window in Clapham Junction. This spectacle drew huge interest from passers-by, boosting customer traffic, involving employees and contributing to local urban renewal.
• Bloomberg/Royal Court Theatre
  Through the innovative marketing campaign, Bloomberg Mondays, the business information provider worked with the Royal Court Theatre to capture a younger audience traditionally alienated from the theatre. The project enabled the flourishing of new theatre audiences and new writing, while increasing team-building opportunities in the company by bringing together employees from different departments.
• ScottishPower/Facepack Theatre/Royal Scottish National Orchestra/Edinburgh International Festival/Unique Events & UZ Ltd
  ScottishPower has been recognised for a number of initiatives: ScottishPower Learning’s work with the Facepack Theatre gave adults with learning difficulties and physical disabilities the opportunity to experience multi-sensory arts. The company has also developed its long term partnership with Royal Scottish National Orchestra. For the first time, BBC Scotland’s coverage enabled an estimated 300,000 additional people to hear the Last Night of the Scottish Proms. ScottishPower worked with the Edinburgh International Festival’s Summer Dance School, developing and evolving dance/education projects of the highest calibre, reaching new audiences. It sponsored Opera in the Gardens, an open-air concert to celebrate the opening of the Scottish Parliament, organised by Unique Events & UZ Ltd. The event made artistic excellence accessible to a large and diverse audience - a memorable mark on one of Scotland’s most historical days.
• Ron Parsons
  Ron Parsons contribution to arts/business partnerships has spanned almost 20 years. Ron developed a diverse national programme for English Estates that included support for regional theatres and an innovative programme with Paula Rego and the National Gallery. In late 1991, Ron created the Sponsors Club initially embracing English Estates, Northern Electric, BT, Tyne Tees Television and the Tyne and Wear Foundation. These were members were quickly followed by other major organisations. The Club has supported nearly 300 companies new to sponsorship, invested £500,000 and brought in another £750,000 to the arts from the private sector.