Belgrade Theatre Review of the Year 2007/2008
Picture: Exterior of the new B2 extension to the Belgrade Theatre which won both the Royal Institute of British Architects Regional and National awards and was short listed for the Stirling Prize.
Belgrade Theatre Trust (Coventry) Limited
David Burbidge
(A company limited by guarantee)
I shall be retiring as Chairman at the AGM after a very fulfilling seven years in the Chair. During this time the Capital Project has developed from an initial concept stage to a highly successful outcome with our triumphant reopening last September. I am very grateful for the great job done by a highly committed project team and to our public and private funders who have made it all possible. With our bold re-opening season we have achieved the remarkable success of re-establishing our box office takings in the first year, despite being closed for 18 months. We have put on shows with a wide popular appeal as well as having two triumphs with Scenes from a Marriage and One Night in November. We also finished the capital project with the theatre in a stable financial position.
“...the theatre has successfully come through a period of huge change”
programmes. Many adults have benefited too. Our management and staff deserve our sincere thanks for the way in which the theatre has successfully come through a period of huge change. Th is ded ic at ion an d professionalism will position the theatre to move forward to capitalise on the wonderful facilities that we now have. I am particularly impressed by the initiative shown in developing commercial income through conferencing and external set building. This additional income that we can invest in our core activity, together with support from our funders, will we hope enable us to achieve our goal of becoming “one of the most dynamic producing houses in the country”. I wish every success for the future to everyone at the Belgrade and to my able successor in the Chair, David Shortland.
Great work has been done with the reorganised Community and Education department. Many young people from all social backgrounds have derived substantial benefit from participating in our
Board Members: Mr D Burbidge OBE, MA, DL, Chair Mr D J Shortland FRICS, Hon DBA, Vice Chair Mrs C H Barnett BA Hons (appointed 31/05/2007) Mr B C Beck BSc, C.Eng, MICE Cllr J Blundell Mr W H Glen LLB Ms C Malcolmson BA Hons Ms P G Parrott BA Hons, MA, MBA (resigned 29/05/2008) Mr A C Pettersen (resigned 29/03/2007) Mr N K Rambhai MA Hons (appointed 31/05/2007) Ms K J Reid BA Hons Mr M H Ritchely FCA, FCIB, Hon DBA (Coventry) Ms L P Shields Cllr A Skipper BA MA PGCE DipM MCIM Ms J Stephens Funding Body Representatives entitled to attend Board meetings: Arts Council England West Midlands Ms S Luton (Chief Executive) Arts Council England West Midlands Ms A Gagen (Theatre Officer) Coventry City Council Ms Alice Davey (Head of Culture and Leisure) Company Secretary and Executive Director Ms K J Reid BA Hons Chief Executive andArtistic Director Mr W H Glen LLB Company registered number 593331 Charity registered number 219163 Registered office: Belgrade Theatre Belgrade Square Coventry West Midlands CV1 1GS The Belgrade Theatre gratefully acknowledges financial support from:
David Burbidge OBE, MA, DL Chairman
All photography: Robert Day.
The Belgrade Theatre's vision: To become one of the most dynamic producing houses in the country Mission: Our role is to provide a comprehensive performing arts service of the highest possible quality for Coventry and the surrounding regions and to act as an ambassador for Coventry & The West Midlands when touring
“The idea is to reinforce the notion of the Belgrade as a producing house. I want to produce a programme of work that you won't get anywhere else. I want us to have something distinctive that will start to pull serious theatregoers into the city centre and into this theatre." Hamish Glen, 2007
Picture: Pains of Youth (Sept 2007)
The Belgrade re-opened in September 2007 after an 18 month closure while the £14 million refurbishment and expansion capital project was undertaken. The improvement of current facilities and addition of a second space gave the Belgrade a unique opportunity to re-launch itself with the over-riding aim to restore the Belgrade to the position of producing more in-house work (produced work) that is startling, international in flavour and unique to The Belgrade alongside presenting a broad programme of visiting work which would appeal to many different audiences and an ambitious and far reaching community and education programme. All of this is combined to enable the Theatre to articulate its unique artistic policy and to serve the many and varied audiences of the city of Coventry and the wider region. With its reopening programme the Theatre sought to re-establish itself as a major producing house, create a programme of
Picture: Don Juan Comes back from the War, (Nov 2007)
work that could not be found within any other regional theatre and so establish a ‘voice’ for the Belgrade that could attract the country’s leading artists, develop our audiences and make the creative case for increased investment. To this end between September 2007 (the re-opening of the theatre) and March 2008 the company produced eight home produced shows to huge national and regional acclaim. The programme of presented work, including week long runs and one-nighters, was a broad mix of West End drama, musical work, commercial dance, stand up comedy and popular tribute shows. In the new second space (B2) the most interesting small scale touring companies working with new theatrical voices. 07/08 also saw the introduction of Midday Variety which has proved to be very successful and popular with older patrons.
Main Picture: Scenes from a Marriage (Jan 2008) Hamish Glen
It’s been some seven months since we re-opened our doors and welcomed people back into the rejuvenated Theatre. It marked the start of an exciting journey for all of us and I’m delighted to be able to look back on what has proved to be an immensely successful period for the theatre. We re-opened with a very ambitious series of rarely performed plays with the distinct intentions of giving the Belgrade a very clear identity amongst other local theatres and putting us back on the nation’s cultural map. The ambition of the season certainly made a real impact with people as we’ve seen a massive rise in new audiences visiting the theatre from all over the country as well as a huge increase in the amount of reviews and articles about the Belgrade in the national press. The Theatre recognises that our reopening strategy was bold and ambitious. Desk research on comparable venues to the Belgrade that had extended periods of closure showed that those theatres contacted took between 12 and 24 months to begin recovery of audience levels (even to pre-closure levels).
“I’m extremely proud of everything we’ve achieved on our journey so far…”
In contrast the Theatre’s results clearly demonstrate the success of our bold reopening strategy. 52.3% of buyers travel from outside the city centre (15 minute drive time) compared with 30% pre-closure. We had 17,438 bookers in 7 trading months of 2007/08 which is 87% of the pre-closure figure of 20,000 in 12 months. 64% of those bookers were new to the Belgrade and the value of those tickets was £1,405,963 gross, which is 90% of pre-closure figures for 12 months. I’m extremely proud of everything we’ve achieved on our journey so far and with the continued and much valued support of both our audiences and funders, I’m sure we’ll continue to enjoy many great seasons to come.
Hamish Glen Artistic Director & Chief Executive.
Pictures: (From left to right: Mr. Puntila and his Man Matti (Sept 2007), One Night in November (Mar 2008), The Night before Christmas (Dec 2007), Aladdin (Dec 2007)
“Glen has responded to the challenge of putting Coventry back on the theatrical map with hugely commendable artistic nerve.”
“ … a theatre and a performance for Coventry to be proud of.”
“Is Coventry’s newly reopened Belgrade about to become Britain’s most daring theatre?”
Community & Education Company 2007/8 has been a very important year for the Belgrade's Community & Education Company, seeing the consolidation of both the core service and a number of new initiatives that have been in development over the past four years . The Company completed its staffing restructure during the year allowing it to service the creative ambition of the Company better and to begin to maximise its potential. The Company continued to deliver its full year of workshop programmes of In-house Youth Theatre; its pioneering two year project ACTING OUT that is delivered in partnership with the Local Education Authority and works with young at risk Participants and its TIE production BIG SCHOOL (about the transition from primary to secondary school). It also developed its first significant Outreach Project 4x4, made progress in working with participants from Black and Minority Ethnic communities, and is taking forward its innovative pilot project ARTS PARTICIPATION FOR EMPLOYABILITY which works with the long term unemployed.
The Company celebrated its work with the Belgrade’s first Community & Education Festival, IN OUR OWN WORDS, which took place at the start of April 2008, and was the culmination of year long work. The Festival premiered DOCKERS a short film made by participants as well as three productions in B2 – LOOK TWICE, in which a group of young at risk participants challenged the negative stereotype that society has of teenagers; LAST HEROES an exploration of Coventry’s industrial heritage with a cast of 47 young people and THE FIRST TIME I SAW SNOW, a show about children from new incoming communities entering local schools. The Festival was received with enthusiasm by participants, audiences, practitioners and visitors from a wide range of local organisations alike, and demonstrates how community arts work can be key in giving a voice to young and marginalised people in the city.
Picture: Dockers
Picture: The First Time I Saw Snow
“Even some of the most unimaginative children loved the metaphor of the forest for BIG SCHOOL. Brilliant! Thank you very much!” Teacher at Richard Lee Primary School
2007/08 stats 578 Workshops 9079 participants 80 schools performances 44% of participants from
Picture: Now You See Me, Now You Don’t
priority postcodes areas
66 different Community groups supported
“My confidence has really grown since coming to the Belgrade. I’m not scared to speak up any more. And I’ve made loads of new friends” Acting Out Particpant
Picture: Christmas sharing
2007/08 quick facts Where did our audience come from? Number of bookers by area* 3066 from North Warwickshire region 9937 from City 5061 from South Warwickshire region 3071 from other areas 21,135 bookers* in total from Sept - Mar. *Note: number of bookers figure is the number of individuals booking not the number of tickets purchased.
52.3% of visitors come from outside of the Coventry city area.
64% of all visitors were new to the theatre.
What did our income consist of ? In the seven months of trading of 07/08 the theatre was open for, it earned
ÂŁ1.3 million through ticket sales, catering and conferencing, sponsorship and other Earned incomes.