British Theatre Guide Blog

So, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland has announced standstill funding for all but four of its clients in 2007/8.

Bad news?  Of course it is, but there will be many in England who are hoping that ACE will be able to offer standstill funding to its clients next year.  The atmosphere is pretty gloomy with most people believing that the Comprehensive Spending Review will actually cut the amount available to ACE. 

Couple that with the expected fall in Lottery money available to the arts because of the huge underbudgeting for the 2012 Olympics and the fact that most local authorities can only offer, at best, standstill funding to the arts organisations they support in the current budget-setting announcements, and it is becoming more and more obvious that the outlook is not bright.

On the other hand - and a week or so back it looked as though there would be no other hand, so we should be thankful for small mercies - Tony Blair recently said, talking about the concerns over funding expressed by the arts world, “All of us in government take great pride in what has been achieved this past decade. We have avoided boom and bust in the economy. We don’t intend to resume it in arts and culture.”  That is encouraging - I think.

And in today’s budget the Chancellor announced that education spending in England will rise to £74bn in 2010.  As the government has been making much noise about its belief in the value of and its commitment to culture and creativity, especially in education, then perhaps we might have been prematurely gloomy.  Or have we?  The education spending rise, although it is definitely a rise, is actually in real terms lower than increases in previous years.

Oh…

Gordon Brown also announced a 2p in the pound cut in income tax today, and then proceeded to abolish the lower “starter” rate of tax, so the net effect is likely to be no change for most people with some being possibly worse off.

Oh indeed….

I had intended to write more about rehearsals after my last piece on A Cold Coming but all sorts of things intervened, not least there being too few hours in the day and days in the week, as well as a dose of the rotten flu that’s been going the rounds recently.  It leaves you feeling so debilitated that you feel like doing nothing.  But all that’s behind me now - I hope that is not going to be a case of speaking too soon! - and so I return to the play.

Rehearsals have been very demanding but greatly enjoyable.  We have taken every scene separately and really worked on them.  The more we look at it, the more we realise there is in the play.  I thought I had been pretty exhaustive in my preparation but the minute we give a scene legs, perceptions start to change, new insights occur and, averaging a page or less an hour, each scene develops and changes “before your very eyes”!  Speak a line or two and ten, twenty, even thirty minutes of discussion and experimentation follow.

It is very rare in the NE for actors and director to have the time to devote so much time to a piece.  Budgets simply don’t stretch that far but we have the advantage of not being tied to a budget - we don’t have one because we don’t have any money!  What has been really refreshing is the keenness of the company to spend as much time as we can squeeze out of the day to get right under the skin of the piece and their enthusiasm both for the play and the rehearsal process.

And they have been the most unselfish rehearsals I have ever been part of.  Partly, of course, it’s because we are a real ensemble - most of us have known each other for a number of years and have worked together both as part of this company and in other productions - and partly it’s because this is more than a “job” - we all believe in the play.  Five of us worked together over the Christmas period on a touring panto and we enjoyed rehearsing that (but can you ever enjoy a three venue a day tour?) but it was just technique.  With ACC we are all having to stretch our skills and dig deeply into ourselves: technique alone is not enough, not by a long way.  And everyone is being so supportive of each other that it really is a joy to work!

We have now started to put the play back together again, having deconstructed every scene - indeed, every speech and every movement - and it is proving a really exhilirating experience.  We’ve got another two weeks to go and we’re going to enjoy every minute!

BTG London Editor Philip Fisher comments on Equus at the Gielgud.