National Theatre Sunday openings shelved until 2008

Published Thursday 8 March 2007 at 10:45 by Alistair Smith

Plans for Sunday openings at the National Theatre have been delayed until 2008, as officials at the venue acknowledged that another year will go by before the South Bank venue can be converted into a seven-day operation.

The National had intended to extend its working week by the end of 2006, before moving its deadline back to this September. However, managers have now told staff to stop planning for that revised deadline and warned them that the change is more likely to happen another six months later, in 2008.

NT executive director Nick Starr told The Stage: “We had set ourselves a target of September this year, but we’re pretty sure we won’t be able to get there. There’s no reason for dismay, we’re still going at it, but we have said internally to stop planning for September. Our feeling is that it is worth getting right, rather than rushing.”

The main stumbling block for the NT has been its negotiations over new contracts with backstage, technical and front of house staff through union Bectu. Contract discussions for one out of nine of the sections which Bectu represents at the National have already taken more than two years, with a key ballot on the proposed changes closing this week. When that section is decided, agreements for the other eight divisions will still have to be negotiated.

However, the union is hopeful that they will prove more straightforward, as they relate solely to Sunday openings, rather than being a thorough revamp of the contract.

“This first deal is significant, but it shouldn’t be assumed that similar arrangements would work with other departments,” Donaghy warned, adding that further delays were possible.

Meanwhile, he also said that any deals brokered at the National will have little bearing on negotiations for Sunday openings elsewhere, as the working conditions regionally and in London commercial theatre are very different.

“What works at the National won’t work in the West End,” he added. “For example, it is more difficult to get every second weekend off in the West End. Equally, you could get a deal for one theatre, but for the whole of regional theatre would be much more difficult.”

His statements will be regarded as a blow to Arts Council England, which revealed in its new theatre policy, that it intends to support theatres across the country which open on Sundays as a way of enabling “more people, from a wider range of backgrounds, to engage with theatre”.