Ends and beginnings
February 15, 2009
Ron Simpson on the changes afoot in Hull and Scarborough
The theatre scene on Yorkshire’s east coast is certainly changing in the opening months of 2009. The modest Spring Street Theatre, home to Hull Truck ever since the eponymous truck was parked in the garage, is about to be replaced by a shiny new theatrical complex on Ferensway, whilst up the coast at Scarborough the man who oversaw the creation of the Stephen Joseph Theatre and the move into the former Odeon cinema, Sir Alan Ayckbourn, is retiring from the post of artistic director.
The dominant figures on the Hull/Scarborough theatre scene, Sir Alan and John Godber, whilst very different as playwrights, have much in common. Both have kept small regional theatres regularly supplied with plays whilst piling up hits in the West End: Godber plays like Bouncers and Up’n’Under have had extended, award-winning London runs, whilst Ayckbourn’s achievements are even more wide-ranging. His stint as a National Theatre director brought such memorable productions as a stunning View from the Bridge which still packed a punch (and the house) when I saw it on its final matinee in the West End.
Furthermore both playwright/directors (with some 60 years in post between them) have developed and sustained a distinctive ensemble style of acting which has benefited greatly from the loyalty of actors and can astonish more upmarket theatre centres, as when SJT took Private Fears in Public Places to New York in 2005 and the Butchers of (off) Broadway suddenly discovered a major new acting company.
Perhaps both have been too prolific and too attuned to the demands of the company to be really consistent as playwrights – Shakespeare had a similar problem – but there has been no sign of Ayckbourn’s powers diminishing in his fourth decade as artistic director. Improbable Fiction in 2005 was, in my opinion, his best new play in years and, even after his stroke put him out of action briefly, his final season contained the superb revival of Woman in Mind, with the wonderful Janie Dee, and a subversively entertaining Christmas show in Awaking Beauty. It’s good to see that his retirement is purely from the administrative side of theatre, with Woman in Mind now playing at the Vaudeville, The Norman Conquests scheduled for Broadway and numerous other projects including directing at Scarborough.
What is disappointing is to see how little reference is being made to Sir Alan’s successor. So far as I can see (and I’m not the best at manoeuvring my way round a website) the SJT site makes no mention of Chris Monks and there is little happening on the theatre front at Scarborough except for Lenny Henry’s Othello. It all feels too much like the end of an era; it should also be the beginning of an era.
Hull Truck also seems surprisingly coy about what is to come in the new theatre which will have a similar capacity to the Stephen Joseph Theatre: 400-plus main house, plus studio. The challenge there, of course, is different. Many people feel affection for the old Spring Street Theatre, but it was, in truth, never the most comfortable of houses and no-one will miss pushing through the crowds in the inadequate foyer in pursuit of a drink or a toilet break. So the new Hull Truck hasn’t arrived a moment too soon. But it will be interesting to see what John Godber and company do to sustain what was unique about Spring Street. Audiences at some theatres arrive demanding to be flattered and entertained; at Hull Truck they arrive to support. I never felt that more strongly than with Alan Plater’s Confessions of a City Supporter (45 minutes each way – no injury time), though, as a Barnsley supporter accompanied by assorted Featherstone Rovers Rugby League fans, I must admit the locals made us welcome!
Sometimes eras end without us noticing. In retrospect the splendid, but short-lived, Sam West regime disguised the fact that the great era for Sheffield Theatres ended when Michael Grandage devoted all his energies to the Donmar Warehouse. Now it’s fascinating to see that some of the best (and most completely sold out) theatre in the West End is provided by the Donmar season at Wyndham’s, otherwise known as Sheffield-on-Thames. Currently Grandage’s acclaimed production of Twelfth Night stars not only Derek Jacobi, but also Victoria Hamilton and Samantha Spiro, reminders of a magical Sheffield As You Like It.
At both Hull and Scarborough there is terrific goodwill for the theatre. During the Crucible’s closure for refurbishment, the Lyceum’s programme hasn’t really been enough to sustain that at Sheffield, so there’s work to be done to make sure a new era begins once the Crucible re-opens.
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