The Theatre Question Amnesty Thread

Previously it worked similarly to touring in the UK, where the producers would pay an allowance to cover the cost of accommodation and commuting into the theatre, as well as not being able to have food cupboard so you eat out more with the responsibility for researching and booking falling to the employee, OR provide accommodation and give you a per diem. The current UK allowance is £330 for commercial tours (£265 for subsidised tours), but Dublin meant tours going there had to receive the rate agreed by Irish Equity (roughly £500 from what I can remember). Dublin is incredibly expensive, meaning the allowance was woefully inadequate, even by the already poor touring standards. In the latest batch of negotiations it was agreed that the ability to pay people an allowance for Dublin would be removed and producers would have to book them accommodation. I've done Dublin a few times, when the producers sorted it I stayed in a modern aparthotel studio room, when I was issued the allowance I could just about afford a rather grimey spare room in a stranger's flat. 

Equity made a big song and dance about digs last year with their Dignity in Digs campaign, whilst achieving nearly nothing in the negotiations: www.equity.org.uk/campaigns-policy/dignity-in-digs None of the outlined aims were acheived and can't be neogtiated again for the next three years.

Digs is a big issue for me. I spend probably 10 months out of the year in them, so I could talk at length about the problems and solutions.

Where do you find papered tickets for big regional shows and tours? Reading that some people have £2 seats - I only see offers of £15-20 which is still cheap but not through any papering sites.

For a musical like Pride & Prejudice (Sort of) that uses a lot of copyrighted music as background to original lyrics, what happens behind the scenes to ensure that licensing is possible.

Imagine writing the song to a particular tune then finding out you can't license the music? Or the musician wants a very large (or even extortionate) amount of money for the music? What percentage do the original makers of the music get?

Just generally curious about this topic.

How do playwrights get their first play produced?

I often look at the websites of different theatre companies and they all tend to say "Sorry, we don't accept unsolicted submissions" from playwrights. 

I've looked at a few literary agents websites (  www.knighthallagency.com/ ) and they often don't accept unsolicited submissions either 

Many of them start out small. They get to know people in the industry: producers, actors etc. Then they might put together some table readings of their play, before moving on to a more "staged" reading in front of an audience, preferably an invited industry audience, usually in like a pub theatre or studio somewhere.

From there you hope it picks up some interest from producers. If not, it could mean self-funded/crowd-funded fringe runs, festival runs etc. There's a lot they can do actively as well as just sending the script to people.

I was thinking something similar Dave B. Makes me wonder what was cut if anything during the rehearsal process ? And if not are the creatives not able see that until joe public walks in ?

I wouldn't be surprised if the dress run for The Human Body was 3 hours 20 minutes but as previews have gone on, they've managed to get timings down by cuts or just faster scene changes.

Oh actors LOVE that

And as a DSM there is nothing so fun as making detailed blocking notes, diagrams and beautifully detailing the show book for musical numbers/long scenes with dozens of Q’s which only get performed once or twice - if at all. We really love staying up late into the night doing that stuff, only for the director to let you know in the morning it’s all cut.

Great fun

It really depends on a few factors when it comes to things happening in the auditorium, but it's generally a last resort. An ill audience member will generally be dealt with without the show stopping unless it's something big where they can't be moved from their seat and paramedics have to come into the middle of the auditorium etc.

Size of venue matters too. A small intimate venue may require a show stop for someone vomiting and a lot of movement. A West End theatre pretty much never would.

Disruptive or loud audience members are usually just removed by management or security if it comes to that - no show stop unless it escalates into a full-on fight.

The majority of show stops happen because of technical issues or injuries/sudden illness in the cast.

If a show stop happened every time someone was ill or disruptive in an auditorium, the show would be stopping every other day, and putting the brakes on a big musical is a big expensive hassle.

Here’s something I’ve always wondered about. In musical theatre I’ve noticed the MD speaks on a phone (which is usually black for some reason, the traditional chorded type) before a show starts and before the interval. I assume this is to speak to stage management to confirm they are ready to start…but I’ve noticed these calls can last for up to a few minutes which seems a long time for a quick “we’re ready”…sooo what is discussed? 🤭😀