West End first for Sunday evening shows

Published Thursday 14 February 2008 at 11:40 by Alistair Smith

Exclusive: Stomp is to become the first ongoing West End show to open regularly for two performances on a Sunday, as London shifts further towards the Broadway model of weekend theatre opening.

The news follows recent developments at the National Theatre, which is planning to extend to a seven-day operation in two of its venues later this year, and elsewhere in the West End. The Lion King was the first West End musical to open regularly on Sundays from 2000, while the recent limited West End run of Nicholas Nickleby at the Gielgud followed suit - playing Parts I and II on eight consecutive Sundays. The Donmar Warehouse is also intending to include Sunday performances in its West End season at the Wyndham’s later this year.

Stomp was one of the first West End shows to stage a single Sunday show regularly, having performed the extra day at the Vaudeville - its previous home - from 2003.

Now it has transferred to the Ambassadors Theatre, co-creator Steve McNicholas said it seemed like a natural progression to add a second show in the evening.

He told The Stage: “The thing for us is that we’ve been playing in New York for 14 years, doing a matinee and an evening Sunday show there all the time, and it just seemed crazy that people don’t do it in London. New York is a multicultural city so it seems natural to have shows on a Sunday there. Similarly London is a multicultural city. Times have changed, we’re not in the fifties.

“When we were at the Vaudeville, we started doing the matinees a few years ago and it has been one of our best attended shows. When tourists go to a city, most people go for a long weekend. What do they do in London on a Sunday? There’s a huge gap in the market in the entertainment scene in London on Sundays. Sunday trade is now accepted and it is now time for theatre to follow suit. Not too many shows, though, please - it’s nice being one of the few that is open on a Sunday.”

The production has had to renegotiate contracts with unions such as Bectu to enable the two shows to take place, but McNicholas said that despite the extra cost involved paying Sunday wages, he believed the Sunday performances would be worthwhile. He added that because he had taken the show to other international markets such as New York and Las Vegas, both of which play throughout the weekend, he had been able to see how successful Sunday openings could be for a show such as Stomp, which appeals to tourists and families.

Stomp is to change its schedule from February 25 so that it will perform once on Mondays and Fridays and twice on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. The number of performances per week remains the same, but on Tuesdays and Wednesdays there will be no shows, while on Sundays the matinee will be earlier than a standard matinee - at 2pm, rather than 3pm - as will the evening show, which will be held at 5pm, “as a nod to Sunday dinners and getting kids home for school the next day”.

The issue of Sunday openings is somewhat controversial within the industry. Negotiations between the NT and Bectu over a deal to extend the South Bank venue to a seven-day week have proved drawn out and complicated, with the NT being forced to delay its plans on a number of occasions.

But McNicholas said he fully expected more shows and theatres to follow suit in the near future. “Everyone in theatre wants to maximise the potential of their show,” he said. “Everyone in theatre wants an audience, everyone wants as many people in, seeing their show, as possible to generate an atmosphere and word of mouth. I think everyone is going to come round to it eventually. And, of course, there’s the financial consideration. I do think that Sunday afternoons and evenings are big gaps that are waiting to be filled.”