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Interviews
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Marc Sinden - A Business Called Show (2) We moved on to Marc's work as a producer and I asked how he chooses the plays he produces. "Gut reaction," he said. "There's no other way. If we knew what made a successful play, then we'd do nothing else and we'd all be rich! What it comes down to is, is this a play I would like to see? "But the number one rule," he went on, "is always to have about five plays in which you believe passionately on the go. You can't afford to put all your eggs in one basket because if that goes belly-up, so do you. You throw all five balls in the air and see which ones land, and you go with them." And, for him, the most important thing to get right straightaway is casting. Casting, he believes, is everything, whether you're doing Hamlet or the Romanian telephone directory. "You could cast any play thirty times over with exactly the right people, but they are not stars and they won't attract audiences. There are so many staggeringly wonderful actors in England, yet some of the finest mean absolutely nothing to the public. So you need a star." He instances Sean Connery. "Logically who would believe a balding 60 year old guy with a Scottish accent is the captain of a Russian nuclear submarine? Nobody! But when Connery does it, you believe!" Big names are essential. "You want to do a non-star-led production? OK. You find the money then! Stars bring in the money." He goes back to one of his earlier comments: theatre is a business - "We're in a business called show." "You get your star, and then you cast the very best actors you can in the other roles. That's what keeps the play alive." Then he sounds a warning to actors. "No producer appreciates getting constant and unsolicited publicity material from actors. I do put on file anything I get, but I do my casting by trawling through Spotlight." For Marc, the most important people in his professional life are the Angels, the people who put up the money which enables a play to be performed. For them, too, he has words of advice: "Investing in theatre is like investing in any other business, but instead of widgets, we sell glamour. OK, there is a little more risk, but the potential returns are greater. But you've got to do it properly. There are tax efficient ways of doing it, but simply investing in one play is not one of them. You should roll it. If you have £20,000 and give it to me to invest as a one-off, I'll think you're a bloody fool - but I'll still take it off you! But I would always advise you to be aware of how beneficial the current investment tax system can be to everyone." (You can find out more by going to Marc Sinden Productions' website at http://www.sindenproductions.com and following the links there.) This discussion led to the state of the West End. Marc admits that not only was 9/11 disastrous but the knock-on effect is still happening. And it isn't helped by the cost of tickets. He did a quick calculation and worked out that an evening out in the West End for two, including a meal, drinks, theatre tickets and programme, will cost a minimum of £140, but that does seem to be on the low side, especially as it does not include travel, baby-sitters and so on. If people are going to spend that sort of money - and, he feels, the best we can hope for is it being a monthly outing - then they will want something safe, so they'll go for the long-established shows. "'It must be good if it's been on a long time' is the attitude people take," he says, "and it doesn't help wonderful productions such as the recent shows starring Warren Mitchell or Patrick Stewart!" The salvation of West End theatre, he believes, must be to appeal to the 30-somethings. "I went to see This Is Our Youth," he said, "and I was heavily outnumbered by women. They were all around the age of thirty and they didn't breathe for two hours! It was utterly magnificent and appealed to everything that you want. It was kind of the 'angry young men' of the 21st century. "We must produce theatre to regularly attract that age group. Sonia Friedman (another producer) has got it right, but we won't get them in if they can't afford it! They'll pay £30, but not £50." Getting rid of VAT on theatre tickets (something the BTG feels strongly about too) is only the first step to making West End theatre more affordable. But in itself it is not enough. So what is it that pushes ticket prices up? "Well, it's not greedy producers, or greedy stars, for that matter. There hasn't been much change in what they get out of a production in real terms over the years. And of course publicity is an unknown factor really: you never know how much you need to spend in advance. Maybe the rent of a West End theatre is too high? I don't know. "I went to see Denise Van Outen in Tell Me on a Sunday. Glorious! A real star performance, the sort where you can sit back in your seat and you don't have to worry. You know from the start that everything is going to be fine! But why is it so expensive?" But for Marc, the real stars of any show are the angels. "I've been to first night parties where they are more or less ignored, shoved in a corner and forgotten about. For us, they are the stars of the evening because without them the performers and creatives and techs can do nothing!" We ended the conversation with some words of advice he got from his father, words that anyone in theatre should take to heart. "He told both Jeremy and me: for right or wrong, within certain obvious parameters, always accept the next job! You win some: you lose some; but it works! It did for him. Excluding times when he knew he was going to be working in four weeks, he only had seven weeks out of work in sixty years. That's pretty marvellous." PREVIOUS << Part I
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