When you’re looking for ideas as to what to see in the West End, consider all your options carefully. The fantastic musical “We Will Rock You” at the Dominion features the stirring music of rock group ‘Queen’. Alternatively, if you love a good cliff-hanger, the classic “The 39 Steps” should do the trick.

Meanwhile, if reality TV and the search for stars to appear in ‘The Sound of Music’, ‘Grease’ and ‘Joseph’ has whetted your appetite – if so, make sure you secure a ticket for one of these un-missable shows. Or for something a little more traditional, opt for a trip to a stirring opera such as Verdi’s ‘Aida’ or maybe a trip to the ballet in Covent Garden.

The beauty of London’s West End, however, is that so much is packed into such a small area: theatres, hotels, restaurants, pubs, and shops are all conveniently located close together – making it a great place to visit for an action-packed break. Also, many restaurants in the West End offer a special value menu for theatre-goers wishing to eat before attending their selected performance, especially in the area around Leicester Square – so remember to take advantage!

Theatre breaks are not just a summer activity, but can be enjoyed all-year round. Moreover, London’s tumult of activity never ceases, so you’ll be able to see the sights whether you visit in the height of summer or the depths of winter. With many historic attractions, such as Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, Big Ben and the Palace of Westminster, plus far more besides, you will never be stuck for attractions to appreciate. Plus, many of the other marvellous sights of the country’s capital are just a short journey away from the West End, including London’s newly crowned number one tourist attraction – The London Eye.

And no visit to London would be complete without a spot of shopping! Hot-spots such as Oxford Street, Regents Street, Carnaby Street and Knightsbridge are all ripe for a spot of retail therapy. From chain stores to exclusive designer shops you’ll find them all, but remember to get back to your hotel in plenty of time to change for curtain-up!

Perhaps your ideal theatre break involves adding romance to your theatre break with a stay in an intimate boutique hotel in London with your partner, or maybe you just want to plump for a budget hotel. Either way by booking a hotel in the West End you’ll never be far away from the spotlight.

Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull

Travel to New York City (NYC), and you’re bound to discover more sights and activities than you could have imagined. The city beams with culture and excitement around every corner – so whether you’re a fan of sightseeing, shopping, fine dining, or museum-going, New York has something for you.

But one of the most thrilling aspects of the city is its theatre scene. New York’s theatre district offers musicals, plays and off-Broadway shows in countless venues throughout the city. And because shows are staged year-round, you can find a spectacular production no matter when you visit.

So how do you even begin to making sense of the vast number of productions being staged in NYC? A good place to start is through an online theatre guide. A comprehensive guide will list all the city’s theatres, as well as break down all the productions based on categories of plays, musicals and off-Broadway shows. Once you know what’s on, you’ll want to start enquiring about reviews. Once again, many online theatre guides will include reviews along with information about staging.

If you’re mainly interested in plays, you won’t want to miss the return of Jane Fonda in 33 Variations, Angela Lansbury in Blithe Spirit, or Tony Award-winner August: Osage County. However, if you’d like to experience the city’s superb offering of musicals, you certainly won’t be disappointed with the number of options available to you. From award-winning musicals such as Wicked, and Jersey Boys, to iconic musical productions like South Pacific, there’s something for every theatrical taste in New York City.

Moreover, with musical shows like Mary Poppins and Shrek the Musical, the whole family can enjoy one of the city’s most prominent offerings. And of course, there are the ever famous off-Broadway productions – such as the Blue Man Group, Fuerzabruta, and Stomp – which are sure to thrill.

Don’t forget that holiday shows – such as the Nutcracker – are also staged at appropriate times of the year – so look out for special performances such as these when travelling to New York. And if you’d like to delve into the city’s instrumental performance scene, you’ll also find countless concerts to attend.

There is much to take into consideration with a theatre break to the Big Apple, such as your accommodation, flights to New York and of course, which show you wish to attend. But once you have completed all the relevant planning and preparation, you can relax knowing you are off to discover the Big Apple’s theatre scene.

Nationally recognized by other theatres, the American Ballet Theatre brings in thousands of people worldwide. Not only do they perform the greatest ballets from all over the world, but they also offer memberships, the ability to donate and/or volunteer. Focused on bringing in the modern element while keeping with tradition at the same time, there have been many artistic directors from the time of the dance company’s launch in 1939, up to the present day.

The most notable contributors to the arts through this type of dance are, of course, the dancers themselves. The American Ballet Theatre has three levels a ballet dancer can be part of: corps de ballet, soloists and principals, who are typically known as the highest ranking dancers. The most recognizable name in this type of dance is Mikhail Baryshnikov, a Russian born dancer, choreographer and actor.

He performed as a principal ballet dancer at this New York City ballet theatre and was artistic director for ten years. In turn, this theatre company has enhanced New York City purely by existing and making its home here. Every year auditions are held here and all over the country as well. While thousands may audition, only the best of the best are chosen to further enhance this ballet troupe.

This New York City theatre offers a variety of classes and workshops for families, children and teachers. Programs for schools are available and professional training is highly sought after with this ballet company. While other ballet theatres take a great, classical ballet performance and change part of it around to make it more modern, the American Ballet Theatre tends to keep with the original concept of classical performances.

Yet, they also look for new ballets and choreographers to expand their performances and entice new audiences. In 2000, this ballet company took their performance to China.

No matter what your reason for your love of this type of dance, the American Ballet Theatre is a focal point throughout the ballet community. But, you need not travel all the way to New York City to discover the theatres full potential. Their website, at “Abt Org”, has everything you’re looking for.

Get information on locations, auditions and classes, as well as to purchase tickets for up and coming performances. For those more interested in becoming a part of the theatre group, the website also offers the opportunity to purchase memberships or donate your time and/or money. With unforgettable performances and extremely talented dancers, who could resist being part of this national ballet company?

The existence of the theatre in the city of Odessa began from the first days of the city’s foundation. The Opera & Ballet Theatre is entitled to be called the elder among a great number of cultural institutions. Odessa strived for the right of building the theatre in 1804, and in 1809 it was already built. On the10th of February 1810 the first performance took place – the Russian troupe by Fortunatov staged a one -act opera by Fralih “A New Family” and a vaudeville “A Consolating Widow”.

But, unfortunately, in 1873 an old building was burnt. And it was burnt completely. The restoration was our of the question. It was a tragedy, which was relented by one circum-stance – nobody suffered from it. It was suggested to draw up a draft of a new city theatre to Vienna architects F. Felner Y. Helmer. Eleven years have passed since laying of the first brick into the foundation of the new theatre building. And the theatre opening took place on the 1st of October 1887.

The building of Odessa Opera and Ballet House was fulfilled in the style of Vienna “baroque”, which was the main in the European art from the end of the XVIth up to the middle of the XVIIIth century.

There is a sculptural group over the front, portraying one of the muse – a patron of art- Melpomena. She is sitting in the chariot, harnessed by the four furious panthers, which were subdued, her. A little bit lower there are sculptural groups from the ancient mythology subjects. At the bottom, near the central entrance, on the high pedestals, two sculptural groups are set up, personifying Comedy and Tragedy: on the left – a fragment from the tragedy by Euripi “Ippolit”, on the right – an episode from the comedy by Aristophanes: “The Birds”.

Along the pediment of the building in the bays of the upper circle the busts of the brilliant Russian art & literature creators. Pushkin, Glinka, Griboyedov, Gogol are placed. The most beautiful part of the building – is its hall. Its architecture is maintains in “rococo” style.

It is luxuriously decorated by various molded ornaments, with the fine gilt. The ceiling is of a special interest. Four pictures by Lefler in the form of a locket (medallion) are in its basis. The scenes from the works are Syakespeare: “Hamlet”, “A Dream in the Summer Night”, “The Winter Fairytale” & “As You like It”, is depicted on them.

A big chandelier in the centre of the ceiling strikes by its drake of tracery details. There are many different stucco moldings in the hall and in all the circles.

The modeling in the circles is fulfilled with a special grace. Side lobbies and along staircases, leading to the boxes. All kinds of lampions, candelabrums and bronze ornamented inlays are originally and inventively made. Perhaps, in any of the theatres, there is no so tastefully made curtain, outlined by the prominent theatrical painter – Golovin. The area of the stage is 500 Esq. The unique acoustics allows to deliver even a whisper from the stage to any part of the hall.

The Theatre itself is interesting not only by us architecture, but by its rich creative biography. The great merit in the development of musical culture in the south of our country belongs, to this theatre. P.Tchaikovsky, N.Rimsky-Korsakov, S.Rachmaninoff, Ezhen Izai, Pablo Sarasate and others performed their works. There appeared on the stage the actors, who glorified the home art/ the great singers: Fyodor Chaliapin, Solomiya Grushelnitskaya, Antonina Nezhdanova, Leonid Sobinov, Tito Ruffo, Batistini, Jeraldoni sang here, Anna Pavlova, the first world ballet-dancer, had been dancing here. In 1926 the theatre was awarded the title of “Academic”. The theatre ballet group consists of 50 people. Among them such Honored ballet dances of Ukraine as Andrey Musorin and Yelenaa Kamenskih – the participants of the Farewell Tour of Rudolf Nuriyev, and others. “Jizelle”, “Sleeping Beauty”, “Nut-Cracker”, “Don Quihote”, “Chopiniana”, “Un Ballo in Maschera”, “Hunchback Horse”, “Carmen-Suite” are in the repertoire of the theatre. The ballet dancers were touring in Canada, Japan, Vietnam, Ceylon, China, Hungary, Bulgaria, Finland, South Korea, Italy, Spain and Portugal – with Maya Plisetskaya and in Indonesia, Switzerland, Sweden and other countries. The opera singer’s troupe consists of 40 people. They are National artists of Ukraine – Lyudmila Shirina, Anatoliy Boyko, Anatoliy Kapustin and Vladimir Tarasov, the Honored artists of Ukraine: Anisimova Tatyana, Irina Berlizova and Nataja Yutesh, Pavel Yermolenko, Laureates of International Contests. Viktor Mityushkin, Shalva Mukeria, Natlja Shvchenko, Ruslan Zinevich and others.

There are 25 operas, such as “Carmen”, “Aida”, “Il Trovatore”, “La Traviata”, “Cavaleria Rusticana”, “I Pagliacci”, “Iolanta”, “Madam Butterfly”, Rigoletto”, and others are in the repertoire of theatre. The theatre opera singers were appearing on the stages of Spain, Italy, France, Finland, Japan, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Belgium, Greece and the individual opera soloists – practically in all the countries of the world.

I’d like to begin by differentiating postmodern theatre from its preceding periodizing categorization, the ‘classical’ and the ‘modern’ drama. Classical drama is characterized by the value placed in the plot and its adherence to Aristotle’s laws of dramatic unities. In the nineteenth century we also observed how Hegelian philosophy filtered into modern drama with the movement of ‘man’/character at the forefront of dramaturgy in the character dramas of Ibsen, Strindberg and Chekov. We also see how Aristotle’s mimesis is taken to the heights in the period of naturalism as influenced by the Darwinian science in the stagings of modern theatre. Raymond Williams observes the perfection of tragedy in modern drama where the alienated predicament of the human being in a highly industrialized world is highlighted. He sees Beckett’s tragicomedies representing the reduction and degradation of the human beings in a new absurdist dramatic structure.

To Elinor Fuchs, it is in the postmodern theatre that we witness the “death of the character” and the eradication of the plot. In this statement we are reminded of Barthes’ announcement of the “death of the author”, Foucault stating the “death of man” and Lyotard hailing the dissolution of metanarratives. As rigid categorization and structures of modernism collapse, eclecticism now characterizes postmodernism. But unlike Jameson’s notion of pastiche and extreme consumerism of multi-national capitalism, critical postmodern theatre derives its theory from the post-structuralists’ insight on semiotics. De Saussure laid bare the very construction of the human language exposing its structure of signs and codes. Taking off from this, Derrida’s analysis of the subjectivity of man’s meaning-making has furthered the invalidation of metanarratives. Now as the validity of the sign-signified and code-meaning constructs of languages are put into question, postmodernists are forced to investigate the language construction itself. Ultimately, we come to realize that meaning and signification is subjective and should be contextualized. With this, categorizing boundaries set by modernism collapse as well.

How do all these reflect in postmodern theatre?

Raymond Williams notion of the theatre convention explains this. Conventions in theatre according to Raymond Williams are methods such as figurative speech, stage blocking, songs or dance through which specific dramatic objectives are achieved. He pointed out how conventions in the theatre whether, performative techniques or literary devices, are characterized by its acceptability by the audience and its relations to the specific given standards. With this, he stressed the fact how dramatic conventions are maintained as “terms upon which author, performers and audience agree to meet, so that the performance may be carried on.” Nicole Boireau expounded on the concept of dramatic conventions through the Hamletesque metaphor of the ‘Mousetrap’. From this, he claims that the truth can be accessed through the world of illusion; that it is only through theatricality that truth can be revealed. Theatre expresses reality through the use of artificial conventions. He explained that only through the reflective nature of drama and the dramatic conventions that truths presented in drama are validated . It is then through the same dramatic and theatrical conventions set as the medium in expressing truths, that the expressed truths can be validated. It is through the limitations and self-confined means of definition can the expressed truths substantiate.

Williams and Boireau’s explanation is a profound manifestation of structuralist and post-structuralist concept of laying bare language and systems of signs and codes. Although rooted in the Classical and Modern Theatre tradition, this is a postmodern realization of what Linda Hutcheon calls the self-reflexive nature of postmodern theatre.

With the dissolution of a ‘universal’ language, postmodern theatre is but provoked to look into historical and cultural contexts for a language to articulate itself. The same characteristic is seen in other art forms. Postmodern choreographers made dances about dance, inquiring on the very core of movement vocabularies that gave birth to choreographical works on walking, skipping, etc. This is also true in the experimentations on the various dance styles seen in Twyla Tharp’s combinations of jazz, ballet and ballroom. In the Philippines, this is seen in Agnes Locsin’s and Alice Reyes’ fusion of jazz and ballet and Philippine folk and ethnic movements. Postmodern architects see the history of architectural design as a diverse source of signs to be combined and recombined, thus Greek columns, Art Deco ornamentation and Modern Industrial materials are eclectically put together in a single building.

Postmodern theatre sees the various cultural and historical traditions as a vast source of signs. Kaye describes how postmodernism sees history as a store of signs available for postmodern theatre practice. In a recent production of Hamlet in Singapore, Hamlet was shown as a Noh actor Ophelia as a Balinese dancer. Or in the recent staging of Dulaang Habi’s musical Sa Kaharian ng Araw, audiences are taken into an seemingly incoherent worlds of a cabaret/rock concert, a Peking opera stage, and an extremely expressionistic theatrical world. The music is a mixture of Broadway influenced pop and rock songs, and fusion of classical and traditional Filipino ethnic and folk music. In the postmodern theatre, representations in acting style, costumes, production design, music and other elements are taken from different contexts.

With the collapse of the modernist boundaries, postmodern theatre takes on pluralism and multiplicity in style, approach and over-all process. This has been reflected in various approaches to production. Another important postmodern theatre practice is the use of inter-text, or what Jameson calls a culture of quotations, where various texts could be used to comment on each other. Such is in a production of Romeo and Juliet, where the play ends with the closing monologue by Puck from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In Nick Pichay’s musical version of the Oyayi ng Ulan, the character Dugong complained about the accumulating garbage in the ocean. He remarked that the worst kind of garbage is the postmodern poetry of new poets- which of course includes Pichay himself.

With the similar collapse of the modernist notion of Aristotle’s linearity and the Hegelian logic of cause and effect, postmodern theatre is characterized by multi-dimensionality and simultaneity. A simplified example of this is Maria Irene Fornes’s Fefu and Her Friends where the audiences are divided into groups to see different scenes of the play happening in various places. Or in the seashore scene of the 2002 staging of Sa Kaharian ng Araw, past and present converge with the appearance of Paolo’s deceased parents in the same stage where Paolo lovingly recalls them. On the same space in the stage an actor fishes on one side, while another plays with a rain stick, while other actors waiting for their cue sit attentively on chairs onstage. Here, multi-dimensionality and simultaneity is not just seen in how the plot is (dis)arranged. Even the actors playing the characters go through different dimensions of performance and representation in the same time and space. The actor although dressed up for the character he is to portray sits on a chair on the side waiting for his cue, substantiate both as the actor and as the character. The person exist as both the actor and character simultaneously but in different dimensions – where at one point, while he waits for his cue he essentially is not part of the play but simultaneously, physically and intentionally, he is physically there.

As Fuchs sees the diminution of character and plot in postmodern theatre, she sees the other theatrical elements taking on equal importance with these elements. She sees that “each signifying element – lights, visual design, music, etc., as well as plot and character elements – stand to some degree as independent actor.” She pointed out that the Aristotelian elements survived but their classical and modern structural hierarchies ceased to operate. This attitude in theatre production takes its roots from the Brechtian Epic Theatre. Brecht earlier on said: “Today we see the theatre being given absolute priority over actual plays. The theatre apparatus’s priority is a priority of means of production… The Theatre can stage anything; it theatres it all” (Raymond Williams, p.280).

And as postmodern theatre see the “death of the author” (the playwright), the director now takes the central role as the theorist responsible for creating the language of a production.

Postmodern theatre is also differentiated from the modern theatre with its mode-of-production. The Industrial Revolution and the idea of mass-production and the division-of-labor affected music and theatre production. The symphony orchestra and the opera are megalomaniac inventions of modernism. The eighteenth century symphony captured the massive sound of modernism. Here music is produced by a big group of musicians who are divided into sections. The opera is an even bigger modernist creation. Such massive theatre production requires a complex web of ‘workers’/artists who work as a big company that include an orchestra, singers, dancers, clothes-makers, carpenters, etc. Even the art-products are now produced for mass consumption. While music used to be performed in courts and chambers, the symphony and the opera are staged in large opera houses that sit thousands.

This new paradigm in theatre production calls for a different attitude from the audience as well. In postmodern theatre, Aristotle’s notion of catharsis comes to extreme obscurity in postmodern theatre. Aesthetic experience becomes completely dependent upon the meaning making process. The aesthetic experience that transpires in the postmodern process is closer to Kant’s sublime. Unlike Aristotle’s cathartic drama that succumbs its audience to empathizing attitude towards the mimetic illusion of classical and modern drama, Kant states that distance is necessary in achieving aesthetic pleasure. Brecht in turn, proposes ‘complex seeing’ in theatre: “Complex seeing must be practiced… . Thinking above the flow of the play is more important than thinking from within the flow of the play” (Ibid., p281).

In as much as postmodern theatre is required to go through a dialogic process of taking theory into practice and back to theory for it to be able to express itself, postmodern audience then is also called to go through this process of meaning-making. Here, postmodern theatre forces its audience to always take on a critical stance in watching. Language-creation and meaning-making in postmodern theatre is never a simple one-on-one correspondence mode of cognition. With a wary stance towards subjectivity of language, postmodern productions then are manifested with recurring disruptions in its audience’s cognitive process. John Orr sees this as intentional dis-recognition/mis-recognition and he notes that these are often used as dramatic-shock effects. The audience is provoked to figure out what is ‘menacing’ and ’strange” in familiar objects onstage and they are prodded to “translate back the strangeness, as a performed disguise of the metonymic, into something they truly recognize, knowing there is no complete translation” (John Orr, p.32) .

In the elusive nature of postmodernism as a theory, DiGaetani sees the importance of having a terminology that can serve as a handle. He noted that “it is wonderful to have a term like postmodernism to describe the art” (John DiGaetani, p. xv). To Fuchs, the theatre has indeed what we can call now postmodern and she asserts that the sooner we grasp its methods we are “immediately at a better vantage point from which to view what used to be called ‘avant-garde’ theatre” (Elinor Fuchs, p.171).

Works Cited:

Boireau, Nicole. Drama in Drama. Macmillan Press: London, c.1997. John DiGaetani. The Search for Postmodernism: Interviews with Contemporary Playwrights. Greenwood Press: New York, 1991. Elinor Fuchs . Death of the Character. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, c.1996 John Orr. Tragicomedy and Contemporary Culture. Hong Kong: Macmillan Academic and Professional, Ltd., 1991 Raymond Williams. Drama from Ibsen to Brecht. Oxford University Press: New York, 1969 c. 1968.

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.

Bibliography

Alexander, Bill. 1998. Rep must look to the future, not live in the past, The Independent, July 3, 1998

Arts and Humanities Data Service 2005 Birmingham Repertory Theatre Archive Database http://ahds.ac.uk/performingarts/collections/birmingham-repertory.htm

Baker, F (Ed). 1998. The Annie Horniman Papers, Manchester: John Rylands University Library

http://archives.li.man.ac.uk/ead/search/eadSearchHandler?operation=full&recid=gb-0133-aeh

Banks, R A and Marson, P. 1998. Drama and Theatre Arts, London: Hodder and Stoughton

The Birmingham Repertory Theatre 2007 Birmingham Rep

http://www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/core_asp/gen_faq.asp#24

Chambers, Colin (Ed). 2002. The Continuum Companion to Twentieth Century Theatre, London: Continuum

Goorney, H. (Undated). Political Theatre in Britain 1928-1986

http://www.wcml.org.uk/culture/hgepilogue.htm

Hayman, Ronald. 1973. The Set-up, London: Eyre Methuen

Flannery, James W. 1970. Miss Annie F. Horniman and the Abbey Theatre, Dublin: Dolmen Press

Lords Hansard 1998. Provincial Repertory Theatres http://www.publications.parliamnet.uk/pa/ld199798/ldhansrd/vo980714-16.htm

National Museum for the Performing Arts 2007. Drama Tour: 1900-1945 http://www.peopleplayuk.org.uk/guided_tours/drama_tour/1900_1945/repertory.php

The Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch 2007. The Queen’s Theatre (1975-present day)

http://www.queens-theatre.co.uk/aboutus/billetlane.htm

Scottish Green Party 2003. Green MSP Challenges Executive Over Theatre Funding

http://www.scottishgreens.org.uk/site/id/3736/title/Green_MSP_Challenges_Executive_Over_Theatre_Funding.html

Wikipedia 2007. Repertory

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repertory

Why did you decide to start using social media?
We started for a couple of reasons. We knew we needed to start trying new ways of reaching audiences. Print advertising has been losing its effectiveness for years. And it seemed like everyone was getting MySpace pages and blogging. It just seemed like to band wagon to jump on. We started using social media at the same time we really stepped up our grassroots marketing efforts. We’re really focused on creating good word of mouth buzz, and social media is a great way to do that.
Anthology of Instrumental Music from the End of the Sixteenth to the End of the Seventeenth Century (Da Capo Press Music Reprint Series)
How did you start?
We started about 3 years ago with a MySpace page, followed by a Facebook page and Youtube a few months later. We started blogging about 2 years ago and have been on Twitter since February 2009. We just jumped in. Not much of a plan at all! Three years ago when we started, there wasn’t as much buzz about social media as there is now. There weren’t conferences and webinars and people telling you how to integrate you social media plan with the rest of your marketing or how to calculate ROI. Or maybe there were, but I didn’t see them! For us, it was a way to reach younger audiences (although that really hasn’t been the case. The majority of our Facebook users are in the 35-55 age group!) and to expand marketing efforts as print advertising becomes less effective and print editorial space declines. So we jumped in, figured out how all the different outlets worked, and then went back and thought about planning. Which worked for us, I think if you wait until you have the perfect plan, you’ll never dive in and figure out how to tweet or upload a video or whatever.

What tools/sites are your currently using?
Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and a blog. We also have a Myspace, but just keep it updated with show dates, not much interaction there anymore for us.

What results have you seen?
I think Twitter has been amazing at raising our visibility among local people and businesses. MET has definitely been given opportunities though the twitter community- partnerships and whatnot, that we would not even know about otherwise. It’s really hard to judge the impact on ticket sales, but I look at our social media efforts as public relations, not advertising. Our blog posts, videos and Facebook posts have really started to generate conversations about our work, which is super exciting. Just this week we got ‘like’s and comments on facebook from people I don’t even know! So I see our online community starting to grow beyond the inner circle of employees, board members, volunteers, season ticket holders, etc. I think that’s the most exciting part – to put up a video of a rehearsal, or interview with a director and a week later over 100 people have watched it, and some have posted comments and we get to have a conversation. A conversation that we would never have without social media. People would just come to see a show, sit in the seat and maybe read the director’s notes in the playbill, then go home. But with our social media efforts, the experience begins even before they get here – with the reading of a blog post, or commenting about rehearsal photos on Facebook, or watching a video. And then after they see the show, there’s a place for them to talk about what they thought, it’s a whole different way to connect with patrons.

What has been your biggest challenge in using social media tools?
Time! Social media is time consuming. Maintaining a consistent presence on Facebook and Twitter, shooting, editing and uploading video to YouTube and trying to blog at least 3 times a week takes a lot of time. So juggling that with all the other things on my plate is hard, especially since social media is so much more fun than the other things on my plate! I’d say a second big challenge is measuring results in a way that I can present to my boss and to our board of directors. I know MET’s visibility has been raised through our social media efforts, but I don’t have any numbers or charts to back that up. And it’s almost impossible to track how social media affects our ticket sales. But in the end, our social media strategy is to engage our audience members and our community and I think we’re doing that.

When it comes to booking theatre tickets it is quite the other story, people seldom like to stand in long lines that could go on virtually for an hour and wait their turn at the ticket counter. When they do reach the window they find that the seats they wanted so much have been taken up by someone else already. This can create a lot of frustration.
Theatre Ticket Album
However there is another alternative to buying theatre tickets. You can check out theatre tickets online, you will find that you can save time, the hard work and the frustration. You can pay online through the credit card. You can also check out other time and venue where the theatre program is being performed. This way you can find out the appropriate day when the theatre program will take place and which you can visit.

If you are worried about whether or not you will be able to find out the place you want to sit at, you can check out the charts where they will let you know the rate of each seating arrangement. You will also know the seating arrangement. If there are smaller children going to go with you, the seats should be such which they find comfortable.

Many a times, there are some of the world’s most renowned events taking place at the theatre at such times booking theatre tickets online can prove to be a great boon, this way you will be able to find proper place and book tickets well in advance before the charts close down. such tickets could be a little expensive, therefore, you may need to shell out a little more money than you pay for the local artists and theatre groups.
American Girl Molly Emily Movie Theatre Seats Popcorn Licorice tickets
There are many theatre groups performing world wide, therefore, you would want to know which one is performing near you place and when if you are interested in a particular group. This information can be provided to you by the websites that sell online tickets. Subscribing to their newsletter will help you know all the upcoming theatre performances. You can also check out which one you can attend. You can check out favorite theatre groups and dramas and plan accordingly to enjoy theatre.

If you do not want the newsletter to continue you can cancel it, this process is easy. Theatre tickets can also be given away as gifts to people near to you, if you are aware of the person’s favorites you can choose and pick your gift. Gifting theatre tickets to some premium performances will make your gift a most memorable event for that person.

Author:
Online Ticket Agency selling tickets to events nationwide. Visit http://www.warehousetickets.net

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Since it would have been impossible to use cranes from within the O2 dome structure, the roof of the arena was actually constructed on the ground of the venue and lifted upon completion, allowing the rest of the arena to be built around the already completed roof. The O2 arena, despite having only been open since 2007, has already played host to several music and sporting events.

The arena is comprised of three seating areas, the upper and lower tiers, built in the same manner as an amphitheatre, and the floor. Arena management claims there is a clear view to be had from any seat in the arena. The arena is also located in a low emission zone in London and, as such, was designed to be environmentally friendly. Within the venue, steps are taken to reduce carbon emissions. Some of these steps include recycling used cooking oil from the food vendors and composting waste food.

The first performance in the O2 arena, which took place June 23, 2007, was an event strictly for the O2 staff. The “O2 Premiere” private event consisted of performances by Peter Kay, Tom Jones, Kaiser Chiefs and Basement Jaxx. The venue opened to the public June 24, 2007, with a concert performed by Bon Jovi.
KEANE O2 Arena 21st July 2007 – Custom Framed Original Concert Ad – Framed Music Poster/Print
On Dec. 10, 2007, Led Zepplin played their first show in 25 years at the arena. Five days later, on Dec. 25, the Spice Girls played their first British concert in almost 10 years in their original five-piece group form at the arena.

In April of the next year, the Olympic torch passed the site during its relay in London and the arena hosted WWE tapings for ECW, SmackDown, and Raw; and in August, Tiësto became the first DJ to entirely sell out the venue in advance of the actual show.

The arena has hosted, aside from sporting events including ice skating, wrestling and boxing, several musical acts, including The Eagles, Prince, Smashing Pumpkins, and Justin Timberlake.

Since its opening, the entire O2 structure has been shown at several times in several different movie and television presentations. In the 2005 film “Green Street,” the O2 can be seen during the final fight scene. In 2006’s “The Da Vinci Code,” the O2 is featured prominently in the background during one sequence. In the James Bond film “The World is Not Enough,” the O2 was the structure that aided James Bond in reaching his hot air balloon destination. In season seven of “The Amazing Race,” the O2 was the location of a roadblock for the contestants, during which they had to properly drive a double-decker bus.

Author:
If you fancy some tickets for The O2 arena or any other London Theatre Tickets visit the website.

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