Like most regional producing theatres the Derby Playhouse was funded from a variety of sources, including the Arts Council, the Local Authority (Derby City Council), private and corporate donations, and of course ticket sales. savederbyplayhouse.org is grateful to Kit Lane, Lecturer of Media Technology, University of Derby and formerly Head of Production, 2004-2006 (Derby Playhouse) for the following article:
No non-commercial theatre can survive on ticket sales alone. West End and commercial touring theatre amortize their costs across hundreds of performances. Even the large national producing companies such as the National, RSC and Royal Opera House rely on massive subsidies.
Producing theatre is an expensive business. Unlike most manufacturing businesses that can mass produce millions of the same product, thereby spreading the set up costs, a theatrical production is always a one-off. It is, quite literally, hand made. If producing theatres (as distinct from ‘receiving’ theatres that take a show someone else has produced) were not subsidised the ticket price would be beyond most peoples reach. The point of subsidy is to enrich the cultural life of the populace by allowing them to see high quality entertainment at a price they can afford.
The subsidy that Derby Playhouse receives may seem high, but in comparison to many similar theatres it is quite modest. The relatively small seating capacity exacerbates the problem by restricting possible ticket income.
At this time of year there is always a dip in the cashflow. The up-front costs of mounting the Autumn season have been spent or committed but the income from the lucrative christmas show has not yet been received. It is quite normal for the Playhouse to request the forwarding of grant to cover this dip. Note, that it didn’t ask for additional money, simply the payment of the grant to be made a few weeks early. For some time the Playhouse has been trying to get its grant payments phased to coincide with these seasonal dips. This grant forwarding has never been a particular issue in the past. Treasure Island had healthy advance ticket sales
The Playhouse is half way through a Recovery process which is designed to restructure the organisation and put it on a more financially stable footing. To pull the plug part way through the process seems crazy.
Despite the City Councils denials, there is no doubt that the building of the Westfield Centre and the ensuing traffic chaos and confusion has put many people off driving in to the city centre. Recognising this problem the Playhouse wanted to have an extended closure whilst the worst of this was taking place. The CIty Council insisted that the theatre remain open. This was a major contributing factor to the reduced income over the past months.
As soon as the upheaval of the building work was over the audience numbers picked up again. Yet the council chose this moment, just as things were getting better, to pull the plug.
One must question the motives of the City Council and its timing. One view is that if Treasure Island had continued then the financial situation would have been much better.
Kit Lane, 2007.
Kit Lane is a Lecturer of Media Technology, University of Derby and formerly Production Manager 1997-2004. Head of Production 2004-2006 Derby Playhouse
Glossary
Producing Theatre - A theatre in which the majority of productions are produced “in house” by the production and administration staff of the company.
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