Reaction to ACE funding of the new Rice company

Damn, you got in before me! Yes, it's very much something that Rice has led on, so, if it's in the plan, it'll probably happen.

When you are, on the one hand, attacked for being too conservative and, on the other, for being too radical, you are left thinking that people just want to find fault in anything.

I am sorry but I think it is better to describe it as a successful application rather than an excellent one.

It is based on a considerable amount of wishful thinking with a very untested business plan and a very tenuous link to the South West.

Just because Rice achieved some critical success with Kneehigh does not mean that her new company will achieve the same. It also has to be remembered that other than Brief Encounter, her recent attempts at a broader popular success have not always worked.

Whatever the merits of Rice as a creative force, I cannot help but feel that Wise Children would not have received this level of support without the events surrounding her departure from The Globe.

She has her supporters and enthusiasts, that much is beyond question. But to make this level of public money available to a brand new company still seems open to doubt.

And ACE have yet to address these issues to the satisfaction of many.

Feeling sorry for someone who left a high profile role in a very difficult and public way is right. Giving two million quid to her new set up seems over generous. I would have absolutely supported an initial start up grant to test the new ideas and structures. But not NPO status at this level of funding.

None of my friends who saw Rebecca were in any way impressed by it. This is a group that includes many ardent Rice fans.

As regards her work produced at The Globe, I can only comment on her 'Dream' as that is the only one I saw. It was not a production that offered me any pleasure at all. The changes to the text were facile, the staging was over complicated and, for me, it was not a great piece of work. It showed a director who didn't trust the text to be funny enough for her and that is never a good start. There are many other directors who react in a similar fashion to Shakespeare and I call them out in the same way.

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is what I had in mind as an example of an attempt by Rice and Kneehigh to attract a more mainstream audience. And it closed very quickly.

I have never denied the Rice has an appeal to certain audiences. I have also never questioned whether her style of work has a place in our theatrical landscape or indeed whether it warrants some ACE funding.

It is the decision to grant NPO status and £2 million over four years that I continue to question. Nothing I have read in the application or the associated documentation makes that decision any easier to understand or justify.

Raising questions about the ACE decision is not an attack on Rice.

Youre on the wrong forum mate!

Due to my, ahem current employers I have kept my mouth shut on this up until now.

However one of my esteemed colleagues heard about this 5 minutes ago and has just tried to mansplain it to me and another colleague (who had read up on it for work purposes).

So while I'm still not commenting I am screaming into the void momentarily.....