The Stage

‘Power of film’ draws young to theatre, finds Nimax

Published Wednesday 7 January 2009 at 14:30 by Alistair Smith

Star names can help attract new, younger audiences to theatre, results from a survey conducted by West End theatre operator Nimax have shown.

The theatre group, which owns five West End venues, surveyed audiences at its recent production of Rain Man at the Apollo Theatre, featuring Hollywood actor Josh Hartnett, who has appeared in blockbuster films such as Pearl Harbour and Sin City.

Results from the questionnaire, which was completed by more than 1,000 theatregoers, showed that the majority of the audience - 50.5% - had chosen to come to see the show because of Hartnett’s casting.

Out of those who had not bought tickets because of the star, the next largest percentage - 15% - were fans of the film upon which the play was based. Only 8% said they had come to see the show because of reviews they had read, compared to 12% who had attended based on a friend’s recommendation.

However, nearly a third of all respondents had first heard about the show via word of mouth, while 10% had learned of it through reviews and 17% through adverts in the press.

The results of the survey also revealed that 15% of the audience had not been to the theatre in the previous 12 months, which would translate to around 10,000 new or infrequent theatregoers over the course of the run. The vast majority of the audience for the show - 75% - was under 35, with 31% under 24, an age group traditionally believed to be difficult to attract to the theatre.

Rain Man producer and Nimax chief executive Nica Burns said the results showed that the way to attract younger audiences to the theatre was to “put a talented young film actor into a great contemporary story and turn it into a terrific production”.

She added: “The Rain Man audience profile shows how the power of film can be harnessed to attract a new, young theatre-going audience… I very much hope we can tempt them to come to theatre again.”

Rain Man closed at the Apollo Theatre on December 20.