The Stage

Buchanan’s End of the Pier Productions takes over management of London’s Arts Theatre

Published Thursday 22 April 2010 at 11:51 by Alistair Smith

Central London’s Arts Theatre has undergone a change of management and a restructuring, after Bronia Buchanan’s End of the Pier Productions was brought in to take over programming at the struggling venue.

The 350-seat theatre, best known for having hosted the London premiere of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, is currently leased by Kingdom Entertainment Group and Wimpole Theatre.

Buchanan explained: “The theatre owners Kingdom Entertainment and Wimpole Theatre approached my company, End of the Pier, to take over the management and programming of the venue, as a service provider.”

End of the Pier took over the running of the venue earlier this month, following a short hand-over period.

According to Buchanan, she has since installed a new ticketing system in the venue, provided by Group Line, and begun “restructuring” the organisation.

This has led to two positions being made redundant, while the former operations director at the theatre, Sean Sweeney, has also left, but remains engaged by Kingdom Entertainment.

“We are making the ship tighter and making it run more smoothly so that the theatre will have a secure team of people working there,” added Buchanan. “Due to that, current positions simply no longer exist.”

She added the people who had been made redundant would have the opportunity to apply for one of three new posts that have been created, including that of box office manager and theatre manager.

Shortly after End of the Pier took over the management of the venue, the theatre’s resident production, Wet Weather Cover, announced early closing notices, less than a week after opening.

The show’s executive producer Kim Poster told The Stage she could not confirm why the production had been taken off early, but added: “The events that have unfolded in the last two weeks have been more extraordinary than any I’ve ever experienced in my 20 years of producing in the West End.

“There are two things that are categorical - that the decision to bring down the show had absolutely nothing to do with its calibre or artistic merit, nor has it got to do with the financial situation of the production. It was not ticket sales, it had absolutely nothing to do with the normal reasons that you close a show.”

The next show due at the Arts Theatre is Lillies of the Land, which starts performances on June 8. Currently the theatre is due to remain dark until then.

End of the Pier Productions was a co-producer of A Christmas Carol, which ran at the Arts Theatre last Christmas. Buchanan also runs personal management agency Bronia Buchanan Associates and was a co-producer on Take That musical Never Forget.