Theatre and Dance Companies
The number of small-scale theatre companies seems to have grown this year. Long-established companies such as Open Clasp (which deals with women's issues), Zendeh (cross art form and culturally diverse), Unfolding Theatre (somewhat off-the-wall), Tender Buttons (cross-disciplinary), Cap-a-Pie (using drama processes to connect people and generate new ideas), Theatre of Moths (new writing), KG Productions (mainly classic theatre), Cloud 9 (new writing) and a number of others have been joined by a significant number of of new groups, some of which are ad hoc companies, formed to present a particular production.
Some of the established companies are Arts Council NPOs, some receive Grants for the Arts funding for individual projects and some work on a profit-share basis. Most of the new companies are profit share and, in fact, this model has become increasingly common during the last couple of years because of the significant reduction in the availability of funding and the lack of resources in theatres to offer guarantees to incoming productions.
Among these small companies are a number which have been formed by recent graduates and some were specifically formed to produce the work of their artistic directors. Among the latter were the already mentioned Gaslight on Grey Street by Janet Plater and two productions by one-time BTG reviewer Steve Burbridge: Testing Times, about the effects of being diagnosed HIV positive, and Gee But It's Great to Be Here, an imagined audience with Ethel Merman.
A number of venues ran scratch nights throughout the year. Northern Stage (First in Three), Live Theatre and ARC Stockton (ARCADE) continued their programme and were joined by Arts Centre Washington with its Greenhouse sessions. These give small companies and individuals the chance to try out works in progress in front of an audience and receive feedback.
There were three festivals featuring small companies during the year. In May it was GIFT, the Gateshead International Festival of Theatre, which ran in a number of venues over a period of three days. This was its third incarnation and the most successful by far. It was followed in June by the region-wide Festival of the North East 2013, a series of arts and other events loosely tied together by the theme. Although there were some productions which were specially created for the festival, to the outsider it looked more like an attempt to bring together a disparate series of events under a single umbrella but, in spite of an impressive printed programme, failed to establish a unique identity.
The third festival was the most well established. The TakeOff Festival, organised by Darlington-based Theatre Hullabaloo, took place in Durham City in October and featured a wide range of children's theatre from across the world.
The loss of the Theatre Royal as a regular contemporary dance venue was partially alleviated by Northern Stage's dance programme and partially by Dance City in Newcastle, which featured performances by local and visiting companies. The venue also has its own regular scratch night, Public Announcement, showcasing work currently being developed in the region.
Two companies toured during the year. In March and April, Apple Yang's Appetite Dance Productions brought a double bill, Letter to My Father and Crush, to The Maltings in Berwick, the Gala in Durham, Tiverton's Community Arts Theatre and the Customs House in South Shields, whilst Dora Frankel Dance (now renamed Fertile Ground) took its open air production The Unfolding Sky: Turner in the North to Bamburgh Castle, Lindisfarne Priory, Tynemouth Priory, Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle, Dance City (the only indoor performance) and Bede's World in Jarrow.