Hey pals,
No proper Substack this week as I’m heading into a workshop this morning and also in the crunch time for a bunch of Edinburgh Fringe things.
It draws my attention to one of the trickiest things about a life in theatre that everyone working in it knows but doesn’t vocalise much: the ebb and flow. Our industry relies on a whole lot of extraordinary people doing very high-pressured work on tight deadlines, but the economics mean that compared to our sister creative industries like film/TV and music, the pay off for it is often limited except at the highest echelons. When you’re paid enough, it means you have periods of nothing to do and periods of extreme busyness. When you’re not paid enough, it means you’re perma-trapped in alternating states of too-busy because you can rarely pause for too long in the ebb or you can’t pay your bills.
Stage Directors UK have talked about this a lot and its impact on directors, but there is no body for producers or general managers with quite the same purview. Our trade associations exist for information sharing and tackling sector-wide issues, but nobody is advocating for us or our well-being the way the unions do for their workers. So if you’re a producer or GM struggling to see the wood for the trees, know that there’s a whole bunch of us going through it too. The rise of general management work from the ongoing American theatrical invasion of London is most certainly a boon, but it can also be a lot to take on, especially when you can’t afford assistance. Make sure you take some time to rest. Or let yourself know that it’s okay if you don’t write a Substack this week.
Anyway, this is a great time to catch up on some recent bits and bobs of waffle from me that you might not have had time to read yet… Some recent posts below!
Marginalia: in which I share some assorted thoughts on my time in New York in February/March.
Stop treating theatre as a monolith: in which I reflect on two thoughts from SOLT’s most recent state of theatre report.
Putting it Together: some clifffnotes on the first two parts of PVP’s roadmap; a follow up about dividing profit more fairly; and a six month check-in on how this whole endeavour is going.
A reflection on the rise of Greek-origin theatre on Western stages, and how the exclusion of Greek artists from the making of those has become problematic.
Off the back of the dynamic pricing wars, seven principles for doing it better.
Miscellany #07 for March and Miscellany #08 for April.
Thanks as always for subscribing, and see you next week when I will have, I hope, caught my tail.
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