Theatre directors earn just £10k per year average, says report

A new report from Stage Directors UK has shone a damning light on the average earnings of freelance theatre directors.

According to the report, which was published today by The Stage newspaper, the mean average annual wage for a stage director in the UK is £10,759, while the median is just £5,000.

The report was based on information from over 800 directors, who revealed their earnings from over 1,000 productions in the 2013-14 tax year. Respondents' answers were "extremely wide", though most fell far below the average take home wage in the UK of £27,000.

It claims that, based on average fees, if a director was able to stage four productions at leading venues such as the Royal Court, Donmar, Young Vic or Hampstead Theatre over the course of a year, they would earn just £22,000.

Out of the 346 people who revealed their pay, only 13 earned £32,000 or more from stage directing, and just nine earned over £44,000.

The report also reveals average earnings on the continent and in New York, where directors can earn significantly more than in the UK. The Broadway minimum is £42,720 for a musical and £36,780 for a play, before royalties.

The biggest payers here, it reveals, are the National, RSC, ENO and Royal Opera House, where directors can earn up to £25,000 per production. At the other end of the spectrum, directors on the fringe often earn less than a pound per hour, or in some cases nothing at all.

Fees in regional subsidised houses range from £2,000 to £7,000, though Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse contends that its fee quoted in the report (£3,750) is incorrect, and is in fact £5,104 for main house productions.

Leading director Marianne Elliott told The Stage: "Clearly, at these rates, only the privileged or very lucky can be allowed to pursue such a career. We must not take our artists for granted. And we must not let theatre's future be so threatened."

Click here to read the full report