THEATRICAL VENTURES.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 471, 4 June 1932, Page 26 (Supplement)

THEATRICAL VENTURES.

Problem of Expense to be Surmounted. DISCUSSION IN SYDNEY. (Special to the “Star.”) SYDNEY, May 26. Partly as the result of an episode in which Lady Game figured there has been some public discussion here of “good plays” and their rarity; and some light has been thrown on the subject by a man who speaks with authority. Mr E. J. Tait, of J. C. Williamson, Ltd., has written to the “ Sydney Morning Herald *’ to remind the critically disposed that from the standpoint of a financial backer or the impressario, a theatrical venture must be regarded as a commercial proposition; and one very important difficulty that a company desiring to produce “ good ” plays has to surmount is the expense. As for the so-called “ legitimate ” drama, Mr Tait estimates that it would take £250,000 to start a new and wellequipped theatre for this purpose in a good position in Sydney. “ There is the difficulty of arranging terms with the best authors (where demands are frequently exorbitant), the trouble of inducing artists to come to Australia, losing time on a long sea voyage, and the cost of transportation ” —these are all very serious obstacles. Mr Tait tells us by way of illustration that when his company sent Miss Madge Elliott and a company of sixty to Brisbane for a two weeks’ tour, the cost of transportation alone was £IOOO. As for the general expenses involved in preparation and production, they have a way of mounting up to colossal figures. “My firm,” says Mr Tait, “ employs not only actors and musicians, but an army of artisans, scenic artists, mechanics property-men, wardrobe staffs, stage hands, ushers, totalling—even in these depressed times—lsoo people, and carries on at an annual cost of £500,000.” Think of it! £IO,OOO a week required to cover bare expenses without allowing anything for interest, profit or depreciation! No wonder that even millionaires have sometimes ruined themselves trying to keep the “ legitimate ” stage going.