The Stage

Exclusive: Stratford East audiences to choose theatre programme in run up to the Olympics

Published Thursday 30 April 2009 at 12:35 by Alistair Smith

Theatre Royal Stratford East is to give audiences a free rein to choose its programme for the first six months of 2012, in the run up to the London Olympics.

The move, which is thought to be the first time a major producing theatre has given the general public an open say about what is put on its stage for an entire season, is seen by officials at TRSE as an extension of the company’s long tradition - famously expounded by director Joan Littlewood - of being a “theatre of the people”.

Artistic director Kerry Michael described the initiative as “scary and exciting”. He told The Stage: “It’s big and mad, and really brave, I think - to do it properly. It plugs into so much in terms of audience development, marketing and fund-raising, as well as the artistic side.

“Joan Littlewood called it the continuous loop and it’s an extension of that. It goes back to Joan’s idea that everybody has a voice, everybody’s voice is equal and everyone’s voice should be heard. It’s about that and also the idea that we’re heading up to something remarkable in east London, which is this thing called 2012.”

Audiences will be able to choose both the productions which take place and “the pattern of the work” - meaning the season could feature three or four large shows, or several smaller ones. These could be revivals that have taken place at Stratford East, or elsewhere, or new works.

The venue has already launched an initial research and development programme, which is looking at smaller ventures which have been run by other theatres, and Stratford East itself, to see what can be learned from those experiences. Michael is also keen to run a programme of investigation and analysis alongside the initiative, which could be used to inform future audience development schemes at other theatres across the UK.

He added: “It is about the TRSE, but it’s also about more than that. I’m happy for us to be a laboratory and for other people to study it. We want to be completely transparent about the process.”

Officials are also developing a voting system which will give people who get involved with the theatre’s activities a greater input than those who don’t.

“We’re still at the early stages of working this out, but we want to have a mechanism whereby the more you put in, the more you get out,” Michael explained. “So, for example, if you do a five-minute questionnaire you get one vote for what you see on stage, if you do a two-week residential course with us, you might get 50 votes. The more you invest in understanding who and what we are and how the theatre works, the louder your voice is. That way it becomes a real relationship and partnership - a real joint venture.”

The season will run from January 2012, after the venue’s annual pantomime, until the beginning of the Olympics in June.