The Stage

West reveals Sheffield dispute

Published Wednesday 17 January 2007 at 17:20 by Nuala Calvi

Samuel West has revealed that the reason he is quitting as artistic director of Sheffield Theatres is because of a disagreement with senior management over its refusal to allow him to continue producing while the Crucible is closed for refurbishment.

An official statement issued by the organisation last month claimed West wanted to leave, after only two seasons at the venue, to pursue other projects. In fact, he had been keen to launch a programme of site-specific work and co-productions for Sheffield Theatres and was refused finance by the board.

West told The Stage: “Probably with hindsight we could have put more detail into [the statement] to make it clear that, rather than it looking like I was looking for an opportunity to leave and was running out of ideas, actually, I’ve got lots of ideas. Two years is never long enough to spend at a great theatre like this and my plans being turned down was the only reason I decided to leave.

“When the building is closed I believed, and still believe, we should make attempts to produce outside the theatre, with co-productions, found spaces, bringing back old shows that had served us well and doing West End seasons - all those sorts of things - partly because it’s important to keep audiences alive in a city where you’re the only theatre.”

West said he told the board that, if it was not possible to carry on producing while the Crucible was closed, which would be for most of the 07/08 and 08/09 seasons, he would have to step down.

“Because that decision had been made and was unchangeable, that’s the decision that I took,” he said. “The job of artistic director becomes unviable when there’s no art to direct.”

However, he said he did not believe board members were against his aims but that their financial plans prevented them from making “promises which they couldn’t later fulfil”.

West had been keen to follow in the footsteps of theatres that have managed to sustain and expand their audiences in new ways during periods of redevelopment, such as the Young Vic, which launched its successful Walkabout season.

He also hinted that he had been concerned about the possibility of staff being lost as a result of the board’s decision, adding: “One wants to keep the momentum up because dismantling a successful team would be very unfortunate.”

This week, a spokeswoman for Sheffield Theatres said: “As an artist [West] is keen to produce theatre whilst the Crucible is closed but also realises that in this case it is not possible and in order to secure the long-term future of the theatre, and those who work in it and with it, he is acutely aware of how crucial planning the finances for the next period of development is.”

However, West said he still hoped a compromise could be reached. “My understanding is that at a board meeting next week we’re going to look at if there is an opportunity to put work on during the closure and I want to be a part of that discussion. The impression I’m getting now is that the discussion is not over,” he added.