BP News

Chairman's Corner

Firstly, sorry for my absence last month, I was out of action due a bad back that made me virtually immobile following my rather active involvement in a warm-up exercise at one of our Directors’ Workshops! Who knew that “speed-charades” could be so hazardous to your health!

Anyway, back to business. I am so pleased to be able to announce that the work has finally started on removing the old box office and in fact by the time you read this the old box office will be a distant memory! There are still some cosmetic finishing touches that need to be completed, but already the benefits are there for everyone to see. I would like to thank Chris Lane and the team who worked so hard to start the work and make it reasonably tidy in time for Private Lives. The next and finishing touches will be complete around Easter-time.

Already in the first 2 months of this year we’ve had a number of exciting evenings at the theatre, one of my personal favourites was Backstage in the Studio. Written by, directed by and, in the end, starring our own Tracy Hunt, it had me chuckling in my seat for almost the entire evening. I understand from speaking to Tracy that she is also developing the idea further, so watch this space for more news and well done to the whole Backstage team.

In other production news our theatre was transported back to the 1920’s at the end of February when not only did we have Diana Linnett’s production of Private Lives, but we also had a Noel Coward tribute band in the bar! At the time of writing this I hadn’t seen the full production, but popping my head round the corner at the dress rehearsal I’m sure I won’t be disappointed. I would like to thank Diana and her excellent team for pulling together to get the final stages of the show ready in a week, rather than the standard two – a credit to everyone’s hard work.

I’m going to change tone a little bit and become more serious for a short while, it’s not my normal style, but sometimes these things need to happen. Although shows like Private Lives and James and the Giant Peach are not only crowd pleasers, but also financial successes for us as a society and local arts venue, the cost of putting on shows and running the theatre continues to escalate and there is only a certain amount you can cut back before you jeopardise the quality benchmarks we try to maintain. Like all societies in the area we have increased difficulties attracting audience members, but I would like to plant this seed with you. Next time you are planning on coming to the theatre to see something, why not search through your address book and invite a friend with you. If every member bought 1 or 2 friends with them each time we’d soon fill the empty seats. There are a number of ways for us to be financially successful, but we need to balance the artistic mix of our season to please both our actors and directors as well as continue to produce the guaranteed bums-on-seats shows that really get the money in. So I look forward to meeting all your additional friends the next time you’re at the theatre!

Anyway, that’s enough from me this month – until next time.