A Practical Guide to Working in Theatre

Gill Foreman

• Publisher: Methuen Drama
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN: 9780713687675
• eBook ISBN: 9781408142202
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Theatre

Live theatre is an exciting, challenging profession - but how is professional theatre actually made? What are the roles and what does each person do? Which pathways lead into the profession? What skills are necessary to each role and how does the job differ according to the size of theatre or company?

Written by the Acting Head of the Young People's Programme at the Royal Shakespeare Co. and former Director of Education at the Bristol Old Vic, this is a book for new entrants in the theatre industry needing a behind-the-scenes glimpse into how theatre is made. It covers each role including director, designer, sound and lighting, front of house, playwright and many more.

Each chapter looks in detail at what each role entails, the main people who it involves working alongside and the skills required. Interviews with a number of key practitioners for each role provide authoritative and clear advice and insight for the reader. The book features interviews with all of the following and many more besides: Nick Hytner (National Theatre), Simon Reade (Bristol Old Vic), Mike Shepperd (founder and performer, Kneehigh), Emma Rice (Artistic Director, Kneehigh), Rachel Kavanaugh (Birmingham Rep), Tim Crouch (Writer/Director/Performer), Anne Tipton (Director), Stephen Jeffries (Playwright), David Edgar (Playwright) and Jack Bradley (Literary Manager).

CHAPTER 1
An introduction to the theatre industry

Drama – the desire to perform or enact a story – is as old as the human race itself: for as long as people have gathered together they have told stories, of themselves, of the things that surround them, and of the issues that preoccupy their community. Rituals and ceremonies have evolved until at some point, rather than tell the story, the community, or members of the community decide to act it out. This pattern can be traced in almost every civilisation that has existed on Earth. However, a communal love of story and play-acting is not the same thing as a professional theatre, where those who take part earn their living.

Professional theatre in England was the invention of Elizabeth I and her government, and its first stars were Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare. I suspect, though, that even they would be amazed to see how it has developed!

In this chapter we’ll explore the professional theatre landscape and seek to understand the structure of the industry as well as the process of a production.

The professional theatre industry today is extremely diverse and embraces everything from small independent theatre companies to large corporate entertainment conglomerates. There are commercial producers and small, locally funded community arts centres. There are large, national state theatre companies, regional venues and international companies, as well as tiny one-person outfits making street performance. They are all wildly different – so how are we to make sense of it all?

The two industry sectors

Professional theatre can be roughly divided in two sectors, the commercial and the subsidised. Modern subsidised theatre is chiefly funded by central and local government, while commercial theatre receives no state or grant funding, operating in the same way as any commercial business, its money coming from the profits of previous productions and funds from investors.

Commercial theatre

At the heart of any commercial theatre company will be a producer or team of producers. They will have established a knack for finding ‘hit’ shows and they will have a loyal group of financial backers or investors, known in the industry as ‘angels’. These angels will invest money in a production for a percentage of the show’s profits, once it has paid for its costs. The commercial sector is unlikely to stage the work of a new or unknown playwright, or cast unknown actors in lead parts. Instead, lead roles will be played by well-known actors, often from film or television.

Commercial theatre companies rarely own their own venues – they lease a theatre from one of the commercial theatre landlords for a fixed term, usually between six weeks and three months initially, with an option to extend the term if the show is a success. Some of the West End’s most successful productions have been running for decades – the longest-running production being Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap, which opened at the New Ambassadors Theatre in 1952 and is still running today, in its fifty-seventh year, at the St Martin’s Theatre.

Subsidised theatre

A subsidised theatre is one that makes no profit, and operates using funds donated by a patron. In the UK, subsidised theatre involves a whole sector of companies and their chief patron is the British government. The Treasury, via the Arts Council, distributes a series of grants that fund arts organisations, including theatre companies, in one of two ways. A key list of theatres receive annual capital grants to fund their day-to-day operations as well as the productions that they stage. In addition, the Arts Council also issues project grants, ranging from a few hundred pounds to multiple thousands of pounds, to theatre companies in order that they stage a specific production or project. There are also regional Arts Councils that do the same for regional theatre companies. Some companies also receive funding from their local county, district or town councils.

Subsidised theatre companies must spend government money properly and report regularly on how they do so. They cannot make a profit and they must keep ticket costs at a level that make them accessible to all. In addition to this, the conditions of the grant given include being a resource for their local community as well as carrying out education and participation programmes.

Types of theatre organisation

Within the broad division of the commercial and subsidised sectors there are further subdivisions as to the type and structure of the organisation. These structures are not exclusive to one or other sector, but exist in both.

Receiving houses

Receiving houses are theatres that produce no original work of their own. Instead, they host or ‘tour in’ other people’s productions, usually those of commercial production companies. Much of London’s West End is made up of commercial receiving houses. Many of these are owned by entertainment conglomerates and, more recently, commercial producers who see the value of owning theatres in which they can stage their work, rather than paying rent to a theatre landlord. A receiving theatre is run by a very small management team who will hire in additional staff to suit the production coming in.

Outside the West End, runs are short, sometimes just a week, and often for part of a tour prior to or after the production has played in the West End.

Producing house

Also referred to as a building-based theatre company, most but not all of these companies are subsidised theatre companies who make and stage their own original productions. They have a significant number of permanent staff, from administrators and office-based departments, to the full range of production departments such as scenic construction, wardrobe, lighting and sound.

Producing houses often enter into co-production deals with two or three other building-based theatre companies, particularly when staging a more expensive or risky play. In this arrangement, the companies share the costs and the profits of the production, which will open at one venue and then move on to the other theatres involved in the deal.

Subsidised, building-based producing houses usually have an artistic policy from which their programme extends, and must ensure that ticket costs are reasonably affordable to all. These sorts of theatre companies include our state theatre companies, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre, as well as many of the country’s regional repertory theatres.

Independent production companies

Most independent production companies are commercial operations of the kind discussed earlier. They are usually headed up by one or more successful producers who may have three or four shows in production at any one time, and because production companies need small overheads they have a limited number of permanent staff.

While the producer will choose the play to be staged and have some involvement in the casting, every other aspect of the production will be contracted out to separate organisations, from the marketing and PR to the building of the set. Production companies are rarely based in a theatre building; they are more often installed in suites of offices close to a town or city’s theatre district.

A new production will be rehearsed in rented rehearsal rooms and transfer to the theatre just a week or so prior to opening. The theatre will be hired, initially on a short lease, so that should the production fail, a producer can close the show without incurring too many losses. If the production is a success the rental contract will be renegotiated and the lease extended.

Independent theatre companies

Not all subsidised theatre companies are based inside theatre buildings, and for many small to medium theatre companies receiving only project funding, owning and running a theatre building would be impossible. Instead, these companies are usually based in commercial business properties, maybe warehouses or converted factory premises, sometimes church halls or disused schools – places that offer the company some sort of rehearsal space and a number of offices. Sometimes an independent theatre company, like an independent production company, will be office-based, hiring its rehearsal spaces as and when required.

The independent theatre company, while not based inside a traditional theatre building, may have significant links with their local building-based theatre, regularly staging their work at the venue or developing projects together. Independent theatre companies regularly embark on tours of venues within their region or across the country.

One of the key aspects of such a company is that they are often driven by a specific set of ideas or a particular performance philosophy. They will have a permanent team of company members – not as large as a building-based theatre company, but larger than a production company.

Fringe theatre and fringe festivals

In 1947, during the annual International Edinburgh Festival, a group of small theatre companies rented space around the fringes of the official festival in order to present a series of plays. None of these companies was part of the festival, but by roaming the streets close to the official venues, handing out leaflets and publicising their shows, they drew an audience and thus the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the UK’s first ‘fringe’ festival, was born. This style of theatre, named for the fact that it lay both physically and artistically on the edge of traditional and established theatre, was then coined for a whole genre. In the 1960s it became an umbrella term used to embrace a wide range of new and experimental theatre styles. It tended to imply performers who were engaged in seeking out new methods of staging as well as new philosophies for creating work, and because many of these groups could not access commercial or mainstream venues, they sought to convert alternative spaces, such as industrial buildings, open-air venues, decommissioned churches and church halls, and in particular the old function rooms in large public houses that had mostly fallen out of use.

This new theatre was more intimate, more edgy than the plush world of velvet-covered seats and wood veneer, and attracted a whole new audience of young and adventurous theatregoers. The very nature of this type of work is transitory and changeable. Some of the fringe companies that were created in the 1960s are today part of the theatre establishment, while many have disappeared, only to be replaced with a new wave of young theatre-makers seeking to invent and innovate.

Fringe theatre is the seedbed of new theatre, but it is largely unfunded and unprofitable. At one time it was possible for new, young companies to apply for and get project funding from the Arts Council, but this has been increasingly difficult since the 1980s. Today, companies produce work with little or no money and actors and crew often work for free or on profit-share agreements. For those in the early stages of their careers, fringe theatre can offer opportunities to experiment with and develop their craft, and in the last three decades, it has repeatedly been the source of leading new playwrights, actors and designers.

Systems of production

Each theatre company has its own approach to programming its plays and productions, but will traditionally follow one of three approaches: repertory, repertoire or stagione. The latter was once the preserve of opera companies, but is becoming increasingly popular due to rising costs and the influence of Central European approaches to theatre production.

Repertory system

The current repertory system, an adaptation of a much older style of production process, consists of a season of between six and eight plays. Each play is separately cast and rehearses for three weeks before opening. Once open, it will run for a further three weeks while the next production moves into the rehearsal room. Generally, there will be a different cast and crew for each production. Some building-based companies have more than one theatre, usually a smaller studio space where they might present more experimental work, which may also rehearse for longer.

Repertoire system

This is a complex system requiring considerable resources in terms of planning and technical ability. In the repertoire system, the plays for a season are decided in a similar way to those of the repertory system; however, instead of each show being cast individually, in the repertoire system, a company of actors are cast who will appear in all of the plays, taking a variety of lead and supporting roles. As in the repertory system, rehearsals usually last three weeks, but as one show opens and the next goes into rehearsal, the actors will find themselves rehearsing one play during the day and performing another in the evening.

Unlike the repertory system, where a play runs for three weeks and then finishes, in the repertoire system a play may run for as few as four performances before it is taken off and another put on in its place. However, the initial production is not over. Its set, costumes, props, etc., are stored, and it will be back onstage at regular intervals throughout the season.

Because the plays come in and out of the theatre at regular intervals, they must be stored nearby, and a reasonably sized stage crew be kept on hand to carry out the changeovers. Such changeovers often occur overnight, or in the space of a morning, so the various departments must be able to swap one show for another smoothly and speedily. As for the actors, well, they must remember the lines of several shows at a time. In the largest building-based theatre companies, such as the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre who have more than one stage, this workload is substantial and requires a staff of several hundred to carry it out.

Stagione system

Until very recently, this approach to programming productions was primarily used by opera and ballet companies, but in Russia and Central Europe, the idea of developing a ‘signature’ staging of a play that is revived again and again, and plays among a number of other productions, is a familiar one. As more and more of our young directors train and work internationally, these ideas are beginning to influence British theatre programming.

The structure of a producing theatre company

Producing theatre companies are complex organisations but on the whole they are all structured along the same principles. There is an artistic director, an experienced theatre director of some repute, who runs the building and sets the artistic programme alongside the chief executive or executive producer, who is primarily responsible for the financial organisation of the theatre. This pair are supported by their senior management team who are the heads of the theatre’s other divisions. The leadership and senior management are regulated by the theatre’s board of governors, which is made up of experienced business people who bring valuable commercial skills and advice to the theatre. They also serve as a check, ensuring that money is spent wisely and decisions have been made carefully. The board will often include representatives from the theatre’s funding organisations.

A producing theatre will also have a range of staff who work in the technical departments responsible for making and running the shows. In addition, there are creative teams, usually temporary members of the company brought together for one show or season.

Production process

As already discussed, there are a number of approaches to producing plays within a theatre, and different theatres will devote a different amount of time to each stage. In general, there are three parts to the production process. First, pre-production, which is when most of the planning and preparation is done. This period can last anything from six months to a week, depending on the role an individual has within a production – a director will spend a long time preparing a production, while an assistant stage manager might be hired the week before the show goes into production. Next, the production period itself, which lasts between three and six weeks – sometimes longer – and is the most intense period of the cycle. Rehearsals start, the set is built, costumes made and tickets sold. The final production phase is known as ‘the run’, the period during which the production opens to the audience, plays for a number of weeks and then closes.

Finding out more

Billington, Michael, consultant ed., Performing Arts: An Illustrated Guide, Macdonald Educational, 1980

Brockett, Oscar G., and Hildy, Franklin J., History of the Theatre, 10th edn, Allyn & Bacon, 2008

Cassell Companion to Theatre, revised edn, Cassell, 1997

Griffiths, Trevor R., The Theatre Guide, 3rd edn, A & C Black, 2003

Kennedy, Dennis, ed., The Oxford Encyclopedia ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Dedication
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 An introduction to the theatre industry
• Chapter 2 The playwright
• Chapter 3 The director
• Chapter 4 The actor
• Chapter 5 Production management
• Chapter 6 The set designer
• Chapter 7 The costume designer
• Chapter 8 The lighting designer
• Chapter 9 The sound designer
• Chapter 10 The marketing department
• Chapter 11 The education department
• Chapter 12 House management
• Glossary
• Acknowledgements
• Imprint