No Plays in the Parks this year

Published: 15 May 2018
Reporter: Peter Lathan

Plays in the Parks

After six seasons Theatre Space NE’s 2018 season of Plays in the Parks in Sunderland will not go ahead.

A statement from the company said, “due to the sudden and unexpected withdrawal of almost all of our funding and following numerous unsuccessful attempts to gain investment, we have been left with the unbelievably difficult decision to put the season to rest this year in order to build a successful and sustainable season for 2019. We have tried our hardest, right up to the last second, to procure at least some of the revenue required to stage our season, but this has sadly been to no avail.”

“We’ve sent out letters and applications to over 40 different funders and had no luck,” Artistic Director Corrine Kilvington added. “We simply refuse to engage our professional actors, musicians, storytellers and expedition guides in employment if we cannot guarantee appropriate reward at the end of it.”

Plays in the Parks began in 2012 with a promenade performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Barnes Park. The cast was made up of amateur actors who rehearsed in the evenings and were paid a share of the profits. The transition to a paid professional cast happened in 2014, along with the expansion of the season to include two Shakespeare plays and one specially written (by David Farn, a director of Theatre Space NE) for children. Two other venues—Roker Park and Mowbray Park—were added at the same time.

The event was one of the first in the North East to charge on 'Pay What You Decide' basis. Audience members were asked to make a donation—£10 was suggested but was not compulsory—at the end of the show.

In 2016, performances in Alnwick Castle were added.

Prior to this year, support has come from Business Development from the City Council but this has now ceased. There has been no specific event funding.

Sunderland is in the middle of a cultural renaissance, thanks to the bid to be UK City of Culture 2021 coming so close to success, but none of this seems to have rubbed off on Plays in the Park.

“We’ve tried arts trusts of every size,” Kilvington added, “as well as asking local businesses for sponsorship and, of course, we’ve approached Arts Council. It seems that there’s just no money.”

They’ve exhausted standalone options and now are looking to plan longer term, seeking funding for a longer period of outreach work of which the Plays in the Park will be just one strand.

Kilvington is adamant: “we’re not going to be a company that doesn’t pay properly,” she insists, “and I’ll be damned if this is going to happen two years in a row!

“The reaction from our audience to this news has been truly heart-warming. We’ve watched our audience grow over the years in more than one way; there are teenagers who first saw a production as young children and they’re still coming!

“We love our audience and we will find a way!”

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