The Stage

Artistic team leaves Glasgow Citizens

Published Friday 3 September 2010 at 16:47 by Thom Dibdin

The Citizens Theatre in Glasgow has parted company with its joint artistic directors, Jeremy Raison and Guy Hollands, as its board of management considers an organisational review.

The news comes as the Citizens records a successful financial year 2009/10. It recorded its best ticket sales for over three years, with attendances to shows numbering more than 72,000, its highest ever box office income and a decade-high audience in percentage terms.

Alison Martin, press officer for the Citizens told The Stage that the review was “not just looking at the artistic directorship. It was looking at every element of the business particularly, in the current financial climate, looking for options for financial models. It was looking to the future, basically, for acting.”

Martin added that the board had taken the decision that “this plan of change was the best way forward for the company.” She agreed that Raison and Hollands standing down had come from the board rather than from the individuals.

The current chair and vice chair of the board, Roderick Macpherson and Dr William T. Scott will resign at the annual general meeting in September when Murray Buchanan (chair) and Professor Adrienne Scullion (vice chair) will take over.

“The board has looked at itself, so it really is the management and governance of the company as a whole that has been looked at, not just the artistic direction,” Martin added.

Jeremy Raison was appointed artistic director of the Citizens Theatre in November 2003. In 2006 he became joint artistic director of the company with Guy Hollands. During the last seven years, the company has had 60 nominations and awards for its work and, with Backbeat, is about to celebrate its first West End transfer for nearly 25 years.

When contacted by The Stage, Jeremy Raison said he would prefer not to comment directly. He did, however, include a formal statement.

“Having built audiences up, and achieved what I have achieved, I am happy to leave the Citizens Theatre after seven years - I have had a wonderful time, but with Citizens Theatre funding now at the same level as ten years ago, funding cuts on the way and a review process imminent of the theatre sector by Creative Scotland and Glasgow City Council’s Glasgow Life, I feel it is time to move on and hand over to a new director. Seven years is the longest time I have spent anywhere, which says something of my love for such a wonderful and seminal theatre and its brilliant staff.”

Murray Buchanan, chairman elect of the Citizens Theatre board acknowledged the “hard work, talent and commitment that Jeremy Raison, Guy Hollands and the management team have demonstrated to secure success for the theatre over the last seven years.”

Pointing out that they have ensured that the theatre is in a “strong position to face the challenges of the future” he added the Board is “committed to embracing those challenges and creating a new vision for the Citizens Theatre as a centre of artistic excellence in Glasgow and Scotland.”