Postcards of the Past
Some articles about London
Theatres
"Does Britain Need to Develop a New Tradition of Repertory Theatre?"
by Becky Prime

In Britain, the repertory movement was a theatrical movement that originated in the early
years of the twentieth century, was continued and developed between the two world wars,
and became, after 1950, the prevailing form of theatrical organisation outside London. The
earliest repertory companies were created and introduced as a protest against London’s
domination of the theatres in the regions, along with a desire to counter-balance the
commercial successes of the ‘West End’. My argument in this essay is that the time has come
for a renewal of that protest in the face of a modern domination of British theatre by ‘The
West End’.

By the second half of Queen Victoria’s reign, most people earned more money and worked
shorter hours than ever before. This meant that for the first time, ordinary workers had
enough leisure time to enjoy pastimes. By the mid-1800s, most of the large towns had several
theatres, providing a range of ‘song-and-dance’ shows that entertained the whole family. By
the 1860s, theatre became so successful that not only were they decorated to make them
more comfortable with proper cushioned seats and carpet, but also matinées were introduced
and the representational style of theatre was replaced with a new realism, pioneered on the
continent by writers such as Ibsen. This meant box-sets were placed on the stage to create a
proper room or rooms and the set would then be decorated with all the household items
appropriate to that type of room; the set would appear exactly like a real-life room. At the
beginning of the nineteenth century, theatres had stayed open many hours, often until
midnight, showing tragedies, farces, pantomimes and other forms of entertainment that
appealed to a mass audience. Theatres were not always the most salubrious places to visit.
However, by the end of the century theatres were more attractive, stayed open for much
shorter periods of time and the theatre programmes again consisted of just a single play.
Banks and Marson (1998, p.45) claim that:

The court of Queen Victoria and so-called Victorian morality and attitudes affected the
theatre. The Queen invited actors and companies to give ‘command performances’ at Windsor
Castle; thus the theatre became open and acceptable to all social classes, not just the lower
classes of the earlier part of the century.

After the end of the Victorian period, things began to change significantly. Annie Horniman
was “one of the most important forces in the shaping of twentieth century theatre in England”
(Flannery, 1970, p.34), funding many worthwhile and critically acclaimed theatrical ventures
and launching the careers of many famous figures in the world of drama. Annie was one of
the key promoters of realism in the theatre in the UK, after observing with interest some of
Ibsen’s plays. She also became aware of the number of repertory theatres in Germany and
was keen to introduce into England the cultural value they brought. In her time Annie
Horniman bought and renovated or financed several theatres that went on to achieve
international recognition, as well as developing the modern repertory movement and enriching
Britain’s dramatical culture, for which she was awarded an honorary MA. Most significantly,
Horniman collaborated with W B Yeats on the establishment of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin as
the first British repertory theatre in 1903. In 1907, she then bought the Gaiety Theatre in
Manchester and redeveloped it as a regional repertory theatre. Harold Brighouse was
another supporter of Manchester’s Gaiety and a prolific playwright of over seventy plays.
Brighouse’s dominant style of writing was realism, and with Annie Horniman, was one of the
first Britons to introduce and project this new style of theatre into British society. Brighouse,
author of ‘Hobson’s Choice’, and other writers working in a similarly realistic style at the
Gaiety became known as the Manchester School, which influenced the work of many other
regional repertory theatres.

Barry Jackson shared with Annie Horniman her belief in the repertory movement. He was
responsible for opening the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, which offered a valuable
springboard for young actors wishing to work in ‘professional theatre’; through his work in
Birmingham, he was also financing and supporting four other theatre companies. In 1904, a
small group of theatrical players travelled around an area giving performances of old plays
such as, ‘Youth’. It was this group, the Pilgrim Players, that later developed, under Barry
Jackson’s guidance and influence, into the Birmingham Repertory Company; soon small
repertory companies were beginning to establish themselves all over the country.

Although uncommon in British repertory theatres, some companies employed a form of
repertoire system. In theatre, a repertoire system can operate with a theatre putting on many
plays, including musicals, ballets and operas, at any one time. It is different from a weekly (or
three-weekly) repertory system in that each play will have a different cast from within the
same company, and possibly a different technical team too, making each production quite
separate and unique. There are many benefits to this system, such as better quality and an
increased variety of productions. However, the repertoire system has drawbacks too,
including increased production costs due to each show needing separate sets, props,
costumes, actors and publicity, with frequent changes to be organised.

When the British repertory system was in its early period of great success, it used to be that
even smaller towns supported a theatre. The resident company would present a different play
each week, normally a revival from a range of classics, but occasionally, if given the chance,
a new play - the rights for which would have been recently released after a West End or
Broadway run. However, these companies were not known for producing and developing new,
untried work. Generally, companies would include a ‘leading lady’ and a ‘leading man’, two
younger actors who would generally play the romantic roles. There would also be a
‘character’ actor and actress who would usually play the older roles and possibly a ‘soubrette’
who would play the cheeky, mischievous roles, thus creating a resident cast of seven actors.
Occasionally a ‘guest star’ would be brought into the company for a short run to boost
audience attendance and help pick up ticket sales.

The process of weekly rep was very stressful and pushed both the actors and the technical
team to their limits. Typically the plays put on were three act plays and so along with
performing one play, perhaps seven times a week, they would also have to learn lines, run
and block a second play in their time between performances. However, from the audience’s
point of view, seeing so many more, different performances, nearby and cheaper than the
West End, was a fantastic and exciting opportunity. Local communities would strongly support
the actors and would treat them like celebrities. According to the article on ‘repertory’ in
Wikipedia, “sometimes entire families would make a visit to their local rep as part of their
weekly routine like going to church”. For many of the younger audience members, this
became a base for their future recognition, acknowledgement and enjoyment of live theatre,
and indeed, a base for their social and cultural sense of self. However, today the practise of
a new play every week and a week’s rehearsal does not happen and the practise of rep is
more likely to be seen in large cities in well known establishments such as Birmingham Rep
where plays run for between three and six weeks. Now actors rehearse for at least three
weeks and as a result, a better show is produced and performed. However, a variation of
weekly rep can still be found in some places in the UK. For example, producer Charles Vance
still produces a successful weekly rep in Sidmouth based on a rotation of twelve plays.

Local repertory companies were keen to ensure a regular, good quality production for their
communities. However, due to the World War between 1914 and 1918, the development of
repertory slowed so much, it almost ground to a halt. The repertory theatres that remained
open and successful such as Birmingham and Liverpool, encouraged other theatres to open,
and continued giving their own performances, even twice a night. However, despite other
smaller repertory theatres opening, by 1950, the popularity of the old style repertory theatres
was disappearing, being replaced by regional theatres. Following an act of parliament in
1948, which established the arts council, many new regional repertory theatres were built;
these were better financed, provided better facilities and put on longer runs of plays and
invested in new writing, although still in repertory.

Regional repertory theatre in Britain was at its most important and influential between the
1950s and the 1980s. During this period the number of repertory theatres increased and the
movement offered a good solid base to teach actors their trade, often acting as a preparation
for professional theatre. This enabled many actors, such as Imelda Staunton, Judi Dench and
Ian McKellen, who all began their careers in repertory theatres, as did Laurence Olivier,
Peggy Ashcroft, Edith Evans and Ralph Richardson at Birmingham Rep between the wars, to
go on to achieve universal recognition for their acting abilities.

The financing of the early repertory theatres was found privately, either through wealthy
patrons such as Annie Horniman and Barry Jackson, or by local support. This meant that the
companies were dependent either on the public’s continual support or on a patron having
enough money to keep them running for a long period of time. This left many companies in an
unstable position; the money could disappear at any time and the group would dissolve.
However, the importance of keeping morale high during the Second World War was
recognised by government funding for the first time, through what would become the Arts
Council. This resulted in an increase of financial assistance for repertory companies after
1945.There was also a noticeable growth in local funding for resident companies or ‘regional
theatres’ through the 1948 Act authorising expenditure on the arts, from the local rates, by
local councils.

The years between the 1950s and the 1970s were some of the richest for dramatical culture
in Britain with a wide variety of productions. Not only were the classics performed, as we see
in today’s professional theatres, but also many of the plays produced, both in and out of the
West End, were contemporary, with playwrights such as Willy Russell, John Osborne and
Harold Pinter bringing a new meaningful depth to British theatre. Regional repertory theatres
enabled a wide variety of new writers to develop an interesting range of drama, often with a
local or a social and political theme.

A feature of the work of Peter Cheeseman… at the Victoria Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent, has
been… historical documentaries of local interest, using idiomatic speech and researched by
his own group of actors. (Goorney, undated)

In contrast, the same theatre was the early training ground for the famous comedy writer,
Alan Ayckbourn. On the stage today, there are fewer plays being written to be performed
specifically in professional theatres, again reducing what could be a very rich theatrical
culture.

The vast development of the regional theatres throughout the 1960s and 1970s was followed
by a huge decline in the 1980s. Cutbacks in funding meant that seasons had to be cut back
and some of the studio theatres were closed completely. The closing and disappearance of
repertory theatres is due to the year-on-year reduction in funding, whether it be funding from
the local communities, the regional arts boards, or from central government, the financial
support is simply being denied to them. The increasing difficulty for theatres in finding
sponsorship and benefactors to fund their work is resulting in lowering wages, reducing cast
and company sizes and restricting budgets, all of which have a clear effect on the final
performances; a reduced quality production is the outcome. This has become a concern for
many politicians. In February 2003, Robin Harper, MSP for the Green Party, challenged the
Scottish Executive over the funding of Scottish theatre, saying, “Core funding for the Scottish
Arts Council has been at a standstill, causing many theatre companies to suffer financial
hardship, and their capacity to stage productions to be severely restricted.” Repertory theatre
depends upon money and support from local and national government; failure to provide
sufficient support will mean that repertory will not survive and Britain will loose a key
educational and entertainment resource. In a Lords’ debate on 14 July, 1998, Lord Jenkins of
Putney quoted Sir Cameron Mackintosh, a leading commercial theatre producer in Britain,
saying:

The reason that British theatre is the envy of the world – both artistically and
financially – is that public money was invested in revitalising regional theatre from the 1950s
onwards… most UK theatres outside the West End were built, saved or funded by public
money. (Lords Hansard, 1998)

Bill Alexander (1998) wrote to The Independent newspaper about the benefits of good
funding from his experience at Birmingham Repertory Theatre, saying that good finance:

…will see us almost double the number of performances and productions… launch
Birmingham’s only venue for new writing… produce more work for children and family
audiences, double our investment in education and community activities… and bring a rich
programme of large-scale work to our main stage.

Today, the situation with theatres has much reverted to how it was pre-repertory, with the
‘regional’ theatres predominantly producing amateur productions, occasional touring
productions and one-night entertainment shows such as music evenings and dance shows. In
contrast the West End is dominated by Shakespeare and musicals - many of which are the
work of Andrew Lloyd Webber - with only very few theatres presenting plays, and those that
do are long-running and change infrequently. Television has become the dominant medium at
the expense of live drama. Without repertory theatres there are very limited opportunities for
actors to develop their talents and train and learn their craft, thus resulting in the whole of
the British arts system wilting and being reduced to a very primitive and unpolished existence.
As Lord Rix said in the House of Lords, on 14 July 1988, “Regional theatre is the birthplace
of most new work and the training ground for our industry.”

Film and television have been an increasingly dominant medium for drama and acting over the
last fifty years with many actors who had been professionally trained in theatre, turning to
work ‘on the big screen’, a career change that pays more and brings greater public
admiration and acknowledgement. However, film and television do offer a lot, especially for
those who cannot afford to go to the theatre regularly; a wide range of classics and dramas
are constantly being reproduced on film and aired on television, making it possible for the
majority of the population to have some experience of cultured drama.

It is inevitable that the experience of watching television at home, alone or in a small group,
watching a film in a cinema in the company of a larger audience and being part of an
audience at a live production in a theatre are not the same. The improvement in cinemas,
both physically and in terms of technology, has lead to huge revival in cinema going in Britain
in recent years. Watching, for example, a comedy or a horror film with a large audience
around increases the individual’s pleasure and involvement in the film, because it is easier to
laugh out loud when others are laughing around you too, and when one person jumps or
screams, others feel the tension too. However, the performance on film is fixed and cannot
react to the mood of the audience.

The unique quality of live drama is not only that the performance of the actors changes and
develops from performance to performance, but also the involvement of the audience with the
production adds an extra dimension to the experience for both actor and audience. The most
obvious form of this is in the ever-popular Christmas pantomime. However, in more subtle
ways, the same is true for all live productions in the theatre. This interaction is the key force
that enables you to understand what is the purpose and underlying meaning behind the play.
We need theatres in Britain that present a rich variety of drama from both contemporary and
classic sources and from a range of different cultures. As Goorney (undated) suggests:

A popular theatre cannot be built solely on the basis of contemporary plays concerned with
the political or social ills of our society. The plays inherited from the great theatres of the
past, the Greeks, the Elizabethans, the Commedia dell’arte and the Spanish theatre of Lope
de Vega, are the heritage of all people and must not remain, as at present, the privilege of
the few.

I believe there are many good reasons why we need more repertory theatres today, perhaps
most importantly because they encourage, prepare and train young actors and dramatists for
professional theatre so thoroughly, presenting a more experienced and better trained actor to
the public. This has worked for hundreds of actors over the years, many of whom have gone
on to become Britain’s finest dramatic performers. There is no point training the best stage
actors if there is no demand or opportunity for them to exercise their dramatic performing
skills. The whole community is impoverished if we are not able to be challenged, entertained
and educated by the experience of seeing meaningful scripts brought to reality by skilled and
exciting actors. As Goorney (undated) says, “…Art generally, including theatre, exists to
enrich our spirit, to inform and extend our horizons…” In the past, regional repertory theatre
has been at the heart of that experience and I believe it is time for it to be so again.
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