Shakespeare in the Gatehouse.

Mudgie

Mudgie

Well-Known Forumite
Carole said:
Yes, if you’d read my others posts then you’d know that I volunteer front of house, that’s why I know first hand that people who were sceptical but came anyway thoroughly enjoyed it. Night after night, I can see the enjoyment and pleasure.

Yes, there are empty seats because some people think it won’t be the same because it’s not at the castle.

I‘m repeating myself now but all I wanted to do was emphasise to those with doubts that it’s a great show, castle or no castle. I just wanted to let people know how fantastic it is, and that if they enjoyed Shakespeare at the castle then give it a chance and they will be pleasantly surprised.

There was no ulterior motive, I was just trying to be helpful but you are being deliberately argumentative.

To be honest , you were not my target audience anyway, I don’t expect you to buy a ticket even if they reduced them to £1 because it doesn’t involve drinking in a pub.
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Trying to add facts towards a more useful discussion isn't "being deliberately argumentative".
So I'm not your "target audience" despite having attended Shakespeare at the Castle for more than a dozen consecutive years and having seen A Midsummer Night's Dream at the RSC in Stratford upon Avon ?
I've always believed that there's more to life than drinking in a pub !
 
Carole

Carole

Well-Known Forumite
Ok fair enough, I got you wrong, sorry about that.

But you were happy enough to see Shakespeare inside at Stratford then why not at The Gatehouse?

As I said, from someone who volunteers there and has first hand experience of the audience reaction , I was genuinely just trying to be helpful but I’m now not sure why I bothered. I’ve just met with quite a lot of negativity.
 
joshua

joshua

Well-Known Forumite
Declare an interest ?? are we in court now or is this just pathetic passive aggressive dickery
 
Mudgie

Mudgie

Well-Known Forumite
Carole said:
Ok fair enough, I got you wrong, sorry about that.

But you were happy enough to see Shakespeare inside at Stratford then why not at The Gatehouse?

As I said, from someone who volunteers there and has first hand experience of the audience reaction , I was genuinely just trying to be helpful but I’m now not sure why I bothered. I’ve just met with quite a lot of negativity.
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That's fine, communicating from a computer screen is far more difficult and frustrating than properly face to face.
Designed by Elisabeth Scott, the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre that opened in 1932 was the first important building erected in Britain from the designs of a woman architect and with several notable Art Deco features, including the staircase and corridors at either side of the auditorium, it is understandably a Grade II* listed building ( It being built from the the campaigning efforts and donations of the owners of the local Flowers Brewery might not be of interest to everyone on here ). Our Gatehouse Theatre isn't quite in the same league.
As for our Shakespeare at the Castle I've already mentioned that "I gave up on it years ago when a couple sat behind me were noisily eating sweets or crisps as if in a cinema".
 
Mudgie

Mudgie

Well-Known Forumite
joshua said:
Declare an interest ?? are we in court now or is this just pathetic passive aggressive dickery
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Neither.
It's just the same as if, for example, someone kept going on on here about how good a particular local pub and its beer are it would be only be fair for them to declare if they were the owner, worked there or had some other such interest.
 
Glam

Glam

Mad Cat Woman
Mudgie said:
Neither.
It's just the same as if, for example, someone kept going on on here about how good a particular local pub and its beer are it would be only be fair for them to declare if they were the owner, worked there or had some other such interest.
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You must own a lot of pubs then.
 
B

bunique

Well-Known Forumite
We’ve just watched and loved it! Now in the interests of full disclosure (😉) I’ve never seen Shakespeare at the castle, only at RSC, but that was excellent. Kiddo claims she didn’t have a clue what was going on but laughed in all the right places so I’m taking that as a win.
 
Withnail

Withnail

Well-Known Forumite
I didn't get to see it this year because life conspired against me.

There are some misconceptions that are knocking around on this thread that are worth addressing though...

Shakespeare @ the Castle never, and i mean never, made money - it always ran at a loss. Bums on seats? There weren't enough seats to put bums on to make money. What's in a name? Subsidy, by any other name, still smells like
a sum of money granted by the state or a public body to help an industry or business keep the price of a commodity or service low.
Shakespeare @ the Castle was essentially subsidised by SBC.

Now you can argue to your hearts content as to whether that was a reasonable use of 'The Holy Taxpayer' -insert choral music here - money, and some will argue that it was good vfm, and some will wonder what vfm stands for and then scramble for google before saying no. The Arts have always been politically difficult in the UK, ironically for a Nation so well known for being so good in so many areas of almost all of them. Especially this one, with this dude.

When Entrust didn't take on the contract for running 'Leisure & Culture' services, and Freedom Leisure did, what wasn't Entrust were contractually obliged to continue the 'Shakespeare Festival' as part of that contract.

If we just pull up a sun lounger at the pool that is life for a moment - it is interesting to note that 'Leisure & Culture' seems to have its priorities in order, does it not?

Anyway - a point made earlier about the whole Market Square debacle actually has some truth to it. When it was first pitched to SBC that it could be moved to the Gatehouse, bearing in mind that they had to convince them to change the contract, they originally hoped that the Market Square could be used as an outside space for picnics/bars/street food, to mimic that at the Castle - bad timing this year, sure, but you can see how that might work next year...

Last thing... apropos 'cheap tickets' being issued because of low sales, i've heard that actually the Gatehouse folk were adamantly opposed to it, but cutting the price was forced on them by higher ups who got the jitters and were keen to see good pre-sales in light of the change away from the Castle after they'd blagged that new contract.

Being in the business of putting shows on in Theatres, rather than selling Gym memberships, the good folk at the Gatehouse had noticed that peoples' behaviour has changed in the last two years - if only there was some way of knowing why? - and people have tended to book things much later than they once did. They were confident that those bums were coming, just maybe without a week or two weeks warning.

Higher-ups won, cheap seats followed, see if you can envisage the knock-on effects 'going forward'...

It's nice to see you back @Carole , i've heard nothing but good things about the actual show, so that's something positive.
 
S

Staffs1992

Active Member
Bums on seats this year, dramatically down from an admittedly artificially high last year due to covid. But most importantly also down on 2019 which was a hard sell being Merchant.

This isn't official stats, just what seating plan numbers suggested super close to the performance times.

The production likely is the biggest selling drama at the Gatehouse, but not biggest selling produced by the Gatehouse. An important difference. I also suspect it can't be biggest selling show due to the long run (and high ticket sales) for pantos over the years.

Freedom will have to seek council permission to move for a second year. But also in the process already was a more long term analysis on the production by SBC which should be with the council in the not too distant future.

The production as others say has never made a profit, I would be shocked if it did this year too given the cast size and stature of them compared with ticket sales.

It's not all been positive news, some have proclaimed the best, others have said unless it goes back they won't be back. Others said great show, would have been great to see it at the Castle. Ultimately everyone has different opinions on this stuff.

Personally I'm convinced the production could make a profit but a change of approach will be needed - namely income streams.

Not many, if any, theatres generally make a profit purely based on box office / subsidy anymore.
 
D

DoggedWalker

Well-Known Forumite
Flowers in the park and mowing the bowling green don’t turn a profit either but we tax payers pay for both. Not a criticism that, I’m glad we have civic amenities in a gentile and civilised way.

Shakespeare at the castle was (hopefully, is) something special to the town that nowhere else regionally offered. I’d gladly have it subsidised without the blatant wastefulness the council are eager to stress as winning parts of delivery.

Get rid of the posh toilets (a normal port-a-loo cleaned each day would suffice for the event, do away with carbon neutral nonsense and let the likes of Candid and a couple of other independents cater it.
 
Mudgie

Mudgie

Well-Known Forumite
DoggedWalker said:
Flowers in the park and mowing the bowling green don’t turn a profit either but we tax payers pay for both. Not a criticism that, I’m glad we have civic amenities in a gentile and civilised way.

Shakespeare at the castle was (hopefully, is) something special to the town that nowhere else regionally offered. I’d gladly have it subsidised without the blatant wastefulness the council are eager to stress as winning parts of delivery.

Get rid of the posh toilets (a normal port-a-loo cleaned each day would suffice for the event, do away with carbon neutral nonsense and let the likes of Candid and a couple of other independents cater it.
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I too would like to have civic amenities in a gentile and civilised way but am disappointed that Broad Street is shown as Stafford's only public conveniences and then only open from 10am to 4pm, or rather meant to be open from 10am to 4pm as they were shut last Thursday lunchtime on my way from the bank to the Chell Road bus stop.
 
S

Staffs1992

Active Member
DoggedWalker said:
What was occupancy at the Castle?
Slow. Painful. Death, and it’s all the council’s fault.
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71%. Its spun as it was a lot higher due to people deferring tickets, but I disagree. Those people deferred, they would have still gone if they didn't.

Also worth noting capacity at the Castle was larger too and so audience size is even more significant.

You may as well say it lost over half of its audience.
 
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