Group rehearses despite Arts Centre warning

Press, 23 September 1983, Page 5

Group rehearses despite Arts Centre warning

The Free Theatre went ahead with a rehearsal at the Arts Centre yesterday in spite of a threat by the centre that it could cost the theatre its continued use of the premises. The group had been threatened with eviction if it used its room after 5.30 p.m. The theatre’s business manager, Mr Neil Williams, said yesterday that the group had given the Arts Centre a week’s notice of its intention to use the theatre at night. The group, which employs eight actors under a Labour Department scheme, rehearsed for its next production which will open on October 12. Originally the show was to have opened on September 28 but the lack of rehearsals has led to the postponement. In April the group agreed not to use the theatre after 5.30 p.m. because of complaints about noise and vibrations from the tenants of flats above the theatre. The Arts Centre board waived the group’s rent from then.

“In April we made a

temporary agreement with the Arts Centre,” Mr Williams said. “Five months later it has still not come up with a solution. After seeking legal advice we have notified the centre that the temporary agreement is at an end and that we will use the theatre when we want, as we are entitled to under our lease.” The theatre had offered to start paying rent again. Mr Williams said the theatre could not delay its rehearsals for its next production any further. The theatre had a responsibility to see that the actors were doing the work for which they were being trained and paid. “We are prepared to go to court if necessary to fight for our right to use the theatre,” he said. The Arts Centre’s director, Mr Ray Sleeman, said yesterday that the theatre group had been sent a letter asking it to postpone rehearsals until after October 7. (Mr Williams said last evening that the theatre had not received the letter). The final report by the engineer

who outlined the original sound-proofing work done by the group before it moved in last December was due on that date, he said.

Mr Sleeman said that any action to be taken by the Arts Centre board would be decided after consultation with its lawyer. He declined to say whether the board would take legal action but said, “It appears that if we want to remove the Free Theatre we will have to go to court. There is no other way, it seems.” The board’s chairman, Mr Peter Dunbar, said the board was trying to find a solution for what was an awkward situation. “We have to retain some authority in the matter and any action we take will be determined by advice from our lawyer. It is dependent on the contents of the report from the sound engineer,” he said.

Asked if there was any alternative space the Free Theatre could use if the report indicated that further sound-proofing would not lessen the noise, Mr Dunbar

said, “It would be very difficult and take a lot of rearranging but that is always a possibility.”

In a letter from the Arts Centre board’s solicitor to the Free Theatre’s solicitor this week the’matter of an alternative site was mentioned.

“If it should appear from that report (the engineer’s) that a satisfactory solution to the board’s problems cannot be found in the existing premises the board is quite prepared to pursue steps to seek some alternative site at the Arts Centre or elsewhere and we would like to have the society’s co-opera-tion in this search,” the letter said.

The board had sympathy for the frustrations of the theatre members but felt an obligation to prevent interference with the apartment users, Mr Dunbar said. The flats were part of the original concept for the Arts Centre and would always be a part of it. Of the 140 tenancies only 8 per cent were commercial, Mr Dunbar said.