Action ‘urgently required’ to save lots of Scotland’s impartial theatres, report warns
T
he boss of one among Scotland’s finest recognized theatres has warned “fundamental sustained action is urgently required” to save lots of the sector.
Alex McGowan, govt director of Glasgow’s Citizens Theatre, mentioned venue closures and the “end to a credible producing theatre sector in Scotland” are a “very real possibility” with out motion.
He was talking as a brand new report – commissioned by the Citizens and 5 different main impartial theatres in Scotland – revealed the nation’s producing theatres had “collectively posted a deficit in three of the four pre-Covid years”.
The Disappearing Act? report, produced by Data Culture Change, added the influence of the pandemic had been “broad and deep” throughout the theatre sector.
“Some audiences have been slow to return and a sizable proportion of the ‘core’ frequent audience appears to have been lost,” the report discovered.
It added whereas particular tax aid for theatre had made a “vital contribution” to funds, that is being lowered from 2025-26 – and it warned it will trigger “significant additional challenges”.
The report continued: “As well as reduced income, there are now enormous pressures on costs across the business, including major rises in the price of utilities.”
Meanwhile, attracting and retaining expert workers is claimed to be a “greater challenge than ever with wage expectations rising, reflecting increases in the cost of living”.
To sort out this, the report, commissioned by the Citizens, Glasgow’s Tron theatre, the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, the Traverse in Edinburgh, Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre, and the Pitlochry Festival Theatre, recommends they work collectively.
It known as for Scotland’s impartial producing theatres to take “collaborative ‘federal’ approaches to production, marketing, learning and participation and the development of new income streams”.
In a bid to provide new Scottish work that can appeal to massive audiences, each nationally and internationally, it recommends the theatres work collectively “to find ways to collaborate with experienced commercial theatre producers, that will support and co-produce popular shows that are expected to tour within Scotland and then go on for further commercial exploitation in other parts of the UK and internationally”.
The report comes after the six theatres bought a collective annual common of 423,000 tickets within the three years previous to the Covid pandemic, with joint turnover topping £20 million a yr over that point.
In that interval of 2017 to 2020, additionally they staged a mean of 106 productions a yr, of which 80% had been commissioned and different new work.
But Mr McGowan mentioned: “If the collective picture for our venues was bleak before the pandemic, the negative and continuing impacts of Covid-19 are potentially devastating.
“To avoid the risk of venue closures and the very real possibility of the end to a credible producing theatre sector in Scotland, fundamental sustained action is urgently required.
“We recognise change won’t be easy and are committed to responding positively and flexibly.
“We hope our funders, partners, colleagues and the public will find in this report all the reasons to support our transformation.”
Liam Sinclair, govt director of Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre, mentioned: “Scotland’s producing theatres have been aware that the challenges we face have been building, and that in order to survive we needed to face some hard facts and tackle the issues head-on.
“We came together to commission Data Culture Change to produce this independent report to provide us with the robust data to inform actions we are committed to taking in order to protect the future of theatrical work made here and telling Scotland’s stories.”