The British Theatre Guide: Interview with Stephanie Sirr

Interviews

Stephanie Sirr - a commitment to new writing

Nottingham Playhouse's chief executive tells Steve Orme why box-office figures keep going up

One of the greatest success stories in the Midlands is how Nottingham Playhouse continues to attract an increasing number of people through its doors with a brave programme that includes a healthy number of new plays.

Since 2000 audience numbers have increased by 35% and box-office revenue for in-house productions has gone up by 51%.

Chief executive Stephanie Sirr says one of the reasons for the Playhouse's renaissance is the high quality of the work over the past few years.

"We've had a purple period, with show after show after show being of a high standard and really appreciated. Trust is an enormously important thing with patrons. Even if they haven't liked everything, they could see it was good and we've kept them with us.

"We've made a concerted effort to programme a range of work so that we're not assuming one person will come to nine shows a year. That's an old-fashioned view. People aren't like that any more. They have other things to do. We assume there's a much bigger pool of people coming less often. That's the way theatre is now. People who think they're regular attenders come about three times a year."

Eleven world premieres

New work is an integral part of the artistic policy at Nottingham Playhouse. "We're doing probably more new work on the main stage than any other theatre outside London," says Stephanie. "Forty per cent of our work over the last three years has been brand new. We don't have a studio space and just do the classics on the main stage. It's a real commitment to new writing.

"From 2002 to 2005 we'll have had eleven world premieres on the main stage. That's a driving force for us. People say it won't work when you put on a new play and you've got 700 seats to fill. But it does work. People have been coming here for long enough now. They've got used to the policy. We're very lucky because it means we can do plays that we feel really passionate about."

Nottingham's success is contrary to a claim (in a BTG interview) by Derby Playhouse chief executive Karen Hebden that Arts Council East Midlands had different views about the main theatres in the region which were "fundamentally flawed and are actually causing quite a lot of damage to each of those theatres.

"They view Derby Playhouse," she alleged, "as a community theatre that delivers community work, like our community play and our youth play. That's how they wanted us to stay because that made us unique within their region. Nottingham does art and Leicester does culturally diverse work. They've actually managed to knacker all three theatres with that view."

Arts Council East Midlands wouldn't become involved in an argument. A spokesman said,"That's Karen's personal opinion and we're not going to get drawn into it."

Stephanie wouldn't comment either, although she pointed out that the theatre had a good relationship with the Arts Council which didn't interfere in the choice of productions.

Playhouse is no art house

So does Nottingham Playhouse concentrate on art, as Karen suggested? Not according to Stephanie: "The East Midlands is a big place and we all have communities to serve. Nottingham isn't an art house. People pick up their newspaper and say they fancy something or they don't.

"We do pantomime, we did The Day That Kevin Came, an entertaining play in the genre of Ealing comedies, and we're doing a play about Brian Clough. We're also doing The Tempest; we've done things like The Man Who and The Hound of the Baskervilles. It's not exactly art house - they're just good productions."

In recent years Playhouse productions have toured internationally as well as nationally and the Playhouse has consistently been nominated for awards. But the staff aren't complacent.

"We need to make sure we keep talking to people that make up our audiences," says Stephanie. "We're manic about audience surveys. We're constantly asking people about what they like and what they don't like. You're never happy until you've got 99% capacity - that's what we're working towards. When you're not absolutely full, there's always more you can do."

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