Moves on theatre venue

Press, 27 September 1983, Page 9

Moves on theatre venue

The Arts Centre Board has suggested that the Free Theatre use the Southern Ballet Theatre for its next S reduction after a row over ie sound-proofing of the Free Theatre’s premises. , The centre’s director, Mr Ray Sleeman, said last evening that the board had been investigating the possibility of another venue for the Free Theatre’s next production and had suggested the ballet group’s premises. Mr Sleeman said the suggestion would depend on whether the ballet theatre was suitable for the planned production and whether the dates the theatre was available matched the dates of the Free Theatre’s coming production.

Mr Sleeman said that he had still to make detailed inquiries but it appeared the Southern Ballet Theatre was available only until , October

16 and the Free Theatre’s production was planned to open on October 12 and run for about 10 days. The proposal to use the Southern Ballet Theatre was probably better than not having the production at all or of the Arts Centre Board’s taking court action, Mr Sleeman said.

Last week the board said it would go to court this week to take out an injunction preventing the Free Theatre from using its premises in the centre. The board had already written to the theatre group’s solicitor asking the group to postpone evening rehearsals until October 7, when the final engineer’s report on sound-proofing is expected. The recommended soundproofing was installed before the theatre group moved into the theatre in December and the final re-

port is expected to outline what further steps need to be taken to further soundproof the theatre for the benefit of tenants in the centre’s flats above.

Mr Sleeman said the board would delay seeking an injunction until it knew whether the Southern Ballet Theatre proposal would be acceptable. The Free Theatre’s business manager, Mr Neil Williams, said last evening that the group had to find out a lot more about the board’s proposal before deciding whether it was feasible.

Mr Williams said that the Free Theatre received a letter from the board yesterday afternoon, giving it an hour and a half to respond to the proposal. “The letter that we got was extremely vague — vague on a number of counts and so we were

seeking clarification. At the moment the Arts Centre is trying to clarify its offer,” Mr Williams said.

He said the Free Theatre would need to know more about the costs of hiring the Southern Ballet Theatre and whether the theatre group would be able to have daytime access to the theatre for rehearsals.

“We are certainly considering the offer,” he said. “The big thing that is worrying us at the moment is can we shift the show and can we recoup our costs on a four-day season. Also we hoped to open on October 12 and when you have to shift a show from one venue tc another that could cause even further delays,” Mr Williams said.

“We are certainly pleased that they have made this offer. It is merely a matter of whether it is viable. “First of all we have to talk tb a set designer who is going to have to work in a totally different environment. We are going to have to talk to a cast that have been rehearsing in a known environment at the moment and moving into an unknown environment. Third, we are going to have to look at the economics — can we break even?” Mr Williams said.

The Free Theatre expects Mr Sleeman to respond to it today with more specific details of the proposal.