The Stage

Experiencing theatres

Published Thursday 25 June 2009 at 11:10 by A K Bennett-Hunter

A K Bennett-Hunter picks some moments from the recent Theatres Trust conference

In the past, the Theatres Trust has set the bar high for what looks like becoming its annual conference. This year it once again cleared that bar with apparent ease with a full and interesting day at the Unicorn Theatre. Although, as before, the opportunities for contributions from the floor were fewer than the quality of the attendees might warrant.

But that is not to say that the standard of the contributors was not high. They came from a refreshing wide range of backgrounds and expertise, from the RSC to Kneehigh and Graeae, from leading architect Steve Tomkins to a couple of teenagers from Waltham Forest, of whom more later.

The theme for the day was Experiencing Theatres and it was refreshingly widely interpreted. Those who have been expressing reservations about the experience of attending and working in Leicester’s Curve were particularly looking forward to hearing from Christina Seilern, the founding director of the London office of architect Rafael Vinoly, and from Curve’s chief executive Ruth Eastwood. Eastwood, in particular, perfectly pitched her presentation. Having joined the company after the design had been completed, she was willing to admit problems such as the means of getting rid of rubbish, but claimed that while last autumn she might have “killed Vinoly” she now loves the building.

Two fascinating things emerged. The first is that a knock-on effect the much-praised ring-fencing of the budget for technical equipment was that any cuts (or ‘value engineering’ in the jargon) had to be made in the public areas. Already, cheaper and quickly broken loos have produced what Eastwood described as a “maintenance nightmare”. The other point didn’t strike us until later when Jenny Sealey, artistic director/CEO of Graeae Theatre, spoke of the need for a “love affair” between the client and the architect. Theatres Trust chair, Rob Dickins, noted that might have been missing in the case of Leicester’s Curve. Almost certainly true, since his remark reminded us that it was Leicester City Council who were the clients. The Leicester Theatre Trust had an influence, of course, but being one step removed from the process meant that any flirting with the architects was heavily chaperoned.

In fact, toilets provided a theme of the day, cropping up in virtually every session. I remember Andrew Leigh, then general manager of the Old Vic, warning me that however exalted one’s position in theatre management, it always ended up being about the toilets.

This was a fact that seemed to escape culture minister, Barbara Follett, who had been parachuted in at the last minute in place of Andy Burnham, who had been moved to the Department of Health only days before. In a mixture of irrelevant and inappropriate personal anecdote and a list of statistics clearly left over from a speech prepared for Burnham, she gave me the impression that she was suggesting that none of the 200 or so theatre architects, consultants and practitioners present ever considered the provision of toilets or comfortable seating, and that the people of Liverpool could at last shake off generations of embarrassment because of their year as City of Culture. And then she fled.

Follett told us that she was 66. Interestingly, the only other speakers who felt the need to tell us their age were exactly 50 years her junior and as inspiring as she was not. Nicky and Lee Caulfield of Save Waltham Forest Theatre Campaign are 16 year-old twins who addressed a potentially intimidating audience with the confidence and humility that we would like to see in our politicians. Not only are they fighting a tough battle with Waltham Forest Council to save the only theatre in the borough, but they have got themselves part-time jobs at the Broadway in Ilford, set up their own equipment hire company to provide affordable kit for local amateur groups and been asked to produce the London Gang Show. As conference chair David Benedict remarked “if that is the next generation, then we are in good hands”.

Throughout the day, we had nuggets of good sense from a number of experienced theatre architects. It was encouraging to hear the Unicorn Theatre and Wexford Opera House architect, Keith Williams, say that “we should try not to impose ourselves as architects on permanent bits of the building”. Steve Tomkins, architect of the Royal Court and the Young Vic among many others, spoke of “unpretentious sincerity” and was against architecture competitions on the grounds that they mitigated against establishing a relationship with the client and the provision of the ‘wow’ factor. And from the floor Mark Foley, of Burrell, Foley, Fischer, reminded us “people try to reinvent the wheel and we must remember that at the bottom there is a craft”. Matt Little, co-director of Real Ideas Organisation, had already touched on that idea by noting that “things are how they are because they work”. He also suggested that “theatre seats are only uncomfortable if the play is bad”.

There will be a full report of the conference, published by the Theatres Trust, in due course but I leave you with two final thoughts to consider. The first is the news that playwright Bonnie Greer doesn’t go to the theatre much because she doesn’t like to hear people in nearby seats “slurping their drinks”. And a warning from Charcoalblue’s Andy Hayles that one way of avoiding the trouble of turning out to theatres with uncomfortable seats and not enough toilets is “to sit at home on a commode with a laptop on your knee”.