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Interviews
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Philip Bernays - Programming for Quality Peter Lathan talks to the new general manager and chief executive of the Newcastle Theatre Royal Philip Bernays, just arrived at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle, after ten years as chief executive at the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham, does not think of himself as an administrator (which was one of the first words I used when talking to him). "I'm a manager," he says. In fact, he began his theatre career as a stage manager. While at university in Newcastle he became involved in the Gulbenkian Studio Theatre (the part of the Newcastle Playhouse used by the university), crewed for the RSC on one of its annual visits and found himself not liking his course. So, during the autumn term of 1980, he decided to take a year out to think about what he wanted to do. His tutor agreed so he applied for - and got - the job of stage manager at the Croydon Warehouse. "I think I got it because I had a car which is very useful for getting props," he laughs. "I mentioned this in the interview, they all wrote down 'car' and I got the job!" In October the following year his tutor rang to ask where he was. "I had to admit I'd forgotten! I absolutely loved every minute of it, so much so I didn't go back and I stage managed for about five years. "So I'm a manager. Stage management is about organising and being tidy and that's the kind of person I am. I've always been an organised person, the kind who will boss people about a bit. It was a very natural progression for me to become a manager. I became stage manager and then general manager of the Actors' Touring Company." He was, he feels, extraordinarily lucky. He really knew nothing about finance when he applied for the general manager's job. "They asked me a question about finance and I got it wrong, but I'd been their stage manager so they trusted me." He later moved on the the Independent Theatre Council as Administrator and then to the Arts Council as Drama Officer. "Both jobs were absolutely wonderful in learning about theatre. I honestly think that anyone who wants to work in an administrative role in theatre ought to work for the Arts Council for a while, even if only for a few months, because you learn so much about structures, strategies and policies. I'm sure that's why I have managed relatively successfully since." Then he went to the Young Vic as executive director with David Thacker, an experience he describes as being "very exciting". Then he went to Cheltenham (via managing the Pleasance in Edinburgh for the 1994 Fringe), and now, ten years later, he comes to Newcastle. The joy of the job, as far as he is concerned, is the programming: "Creating a high quslity balanced programme that people will want to see and meet the financial bottom line." "When I was in the process of being appointed here," he said, "I looked at a couple of past brochures and I thoughht 'I want to see everything here'! I hope that will continue to be the case. "At the end of the day, the programme is the theatre's identity and for me that is the challenge but also the enjoyment." One concern of the theatre's audience is that the recent growth in the audience for dance, and particularly contemporary dance, at the Theatre Royal should continue. He spent some months as executive director of the Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company and some years as Chairman of the Board of Directors (and Treasurer) of Dance South West Ltd, the national Dance Agency in the south west region. Does that mean the Royal's commitment to dance will remain. "I hope that what my history with dance demostrates is that my commitment to it is pretty big. I cannot profess to be particularly knowledgeable about it in detail - not to the extent that Peter Sarah (his predecessor at the Theatre Royal) was but I'll be looking for support from the dance authorities - Dance City, the Dance Consortium, the Arts Council." As far as programming is concerned, it is quality which matters. "I'm not one for programming a bit of this, a bit of that, but I'm interested in what is good and what is comfortable for that time of the year. I'm always, of course, looking for a balance across the programme, across a reason, across a year, but what drives my programming choice is quality. If there are two fabulous musicals available one week after the other, then I'd rather have them both than have just one. "Quality has been the strength of the theatre's programme and it's up to me to maintain and stengthen that. We come back to the identity of the building!" What of education? He wants to develop the programme and will be looking to orientate education work into the community and not just around the shows. "Maybe there will be ways of bringing the two together." Another aim is for the theatre, with the new facilities which the new extension will provide to work with other companies in the north east. "We'll be looking to become, perhaps not producers in our own right, but collaborators and commissioners. They may not be projects which will happen in this building, but we will have the resources to support in a way we just aren't able to at the moment. We hope to play a more active role in the developmental arts scene in the future than it's been possible to do in the past." What about co-production? The theatre is already involved in some co-production through the Dance Consortium but he does not see that co-production in the commercial sense will form part of the theatre's work in the short or medium term, although it is always a possibility in the long term. Was there, I wondered, anything that I had missed which he would like to add? To make a statement? Indeed there was. "We're still fundraising!"
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