The Stage

ATG teams up with Blanchett’s Sydney and Seymour Hoffman’s LAByrinth theatre companies

Published Tuesday 16 September 2008 at 14:40 by Alistair Smith

Ambassador Theatre Group has launched a three-way producing ‘association’ with the Sydney Theatre Company and New York-based LAByrinth Theatre Company.

At its London launch this week, the partnership between the three organisations was described by ATG chief executive Howard Panter as a “creative bridge” and it will be focussed - in the UK - on ATG’s Trafalgar Studios venue.

According to Panter, the idea is “to create, produce and exchange work that might not otherwise get produced in our different cities. In addition, it is anticipated that the work of actors and writers, particularly from the LAB and Sydney Theatre Company, which is either new or rarely seen in London, will be seen at Trafalgar Studios”.

The creative association takes a similar form to the Bridge Project, announced last year by the Old Vic Theatre, which will see that venue team up with New York’s Brooklyn Academy of Music and director Sam Mendes.

Unlike that project, however, an extended programme of work has not been announced for the three companies. While Riflemind - the first collaboration - opens this week at the Trafalgar Studios, further UK productions have yet to be confirmed.

Panter explained that the relationship was “not monogamous… but special” and that it would not mean that ATG would necessarily have first look at STC or LAB productions when they transferred to the UK. However, he said there were plans for the companies to have extended residencies - of possibly three or four months - at the Trafalgar Studios, in which they would use both the venue’s performance spaces, as well as holding workshops and readings.

Philip Seymour Hoffman, co-artistic director of LAB, said that it was important that no firm structure was imposed on the working relationship between the three parties. He added: “The more organic it is the better. The more planned it is makes it always a tricky thing with plays.”

Meanwhile, both he and Cate Blanchett - co-artistic director of STC - said that they had no current plans to appear on the West End stage themselves.

Blanchett added: “All three companies are committed to the development process. It is not about putting on work before it is ready. Part of what excites us about the connection is that it’s about workshops and readings and things that bubble away in the cauldron of development before they even reach the stage.”