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To: Mike Baker, Arts Council of Wales I am deeply saddened by the conclusions you have come to at the Arts Council with regard to the future of theatre in Wales. It is not that I do not think there should be so many eggs in the Clwyd basket. (To mix metaphors - I have never believed in smaller portions of the cake all round - just a lot more cake. ) It is that I am dismayed by the route you have taken to arrive at your position Surely the ACW can see the potential hazard attached to establishing both an English AND a Welsh language National Theatre in the sparsely populated area of North Wales,ignoring the needs of the majority of the population in the South. Admirable though Clwyd Theatr Cymru may be in some respects,60% of it's audience comes from England,a selective audience that can only reach the theatre by car. Mold itself only has a population of 8,000. This is hardly a recipe for a theatre output to represent the grass roots and the cultural aspirations of the Welsh people. Neither does an opening repertoire worthy of Farnham Rep. (now deceased)circa 1961, nor a second season (Cheltenham circa 1971 - also deceased) inspire confidence. A bit more money will not change the thinking, and however much a theatre tours it will never be 'owned' by the majority of the population in the sense that a National Theatre should be. I will leave aside the emotive issue of companies that are losing their grants, but point out that a contraction of output from a repertoire of Adult And Young People's work that is already below minimum is at odds with the assertion that the policy will create more opportunity and higher standards. We already lose the best of young talent to English drama schools; the talent drain will only increase. So where do the rest have the opportunity to develop their craft? A few hundred thousand doesn't raise standards substantially. Puts a couple more actors on the stage,slightly longer rehearsal periods maybe. Now a couple of million. . . The priority surely should be, in this year of all years, to establish a major producing company in South Wales. Whether Cardiff,Swansea or the Valleys is debatable,though obviously Cardiff, the capital, with the Assembly, Opera House ( I won't call it a music centre with that hint of 60;s retro) and a rapidly developing dual culture, should take first place. But the Swansea Grand is a perfect theatre to base a company in terms of facilities and has the capacity to develop a studio theatre and workshops. And if people can drive to Clwyd. . . . Cardiff,until a custom built base could be provided (which I am sure would follow pretty soon on the heels of a successful company) has the New and the Sherman to launch large and small scale projects. Or if you don't like the policy of the Sherman - partly a result of your own brief - find a way to house a proper full time small producing company with an additional Young People's brief and fund three large scale projects a year at the New. Move forwards not backwards. Anything. I realise that your hope is that Clwyd will eventually establish a base in the South but that is cart before the horse, RSC and Barbican, Stratford and London. The drive should have been (if it wasn't) , and still should be, to involve local authorities in a partnership to fund such a company that operates initially six months of the year in South Wales and tours the rest of Wales, the U. K and abroad for the other six. Bring Judy Richards, David Evans and other cultural officers to the table alongside major figures from the arts and plan a future with vision. In fact I fail to see how ANY plan for the future of a National Theatre can go forward without their involvement. (Witness my attempt of four years ago to pre-empt this current situation). Surely you must see that it is a disaster that where the rest of Britain has received an increase of 15% across the board Wales has only managed 2. 8%. How has this occurred? An ambitious plan with vision would have at least ensured a proper debate with the ACE and the Welsh office on the future of a dual language culture. The current plan is too cautious and conservative. It is the politics of desperation brought about by a poverty of vision at the heart of ACW thinking. To put it bluntly the plan is yet another example of the Welsh capacity to shoot ourselves in both feet and the brain at the same time. You will take umbrage at the tone of this letter,but you know I am not afraid to speak my mind and have no need to remind you that I helped you out of a hole with Clwyd Theatr Cymru in the first place. So, blunt I may be, enemies I may make, but in this instance I know I speak for many many people concerned for the future of theatre in Wales. Greetings from Hong Kong, from whence this comes, on St. David's day. |
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Monday, March 1, 1999 |
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