EXETER CIVIC SOCIETY | My own personal thoughts from their recent meeting

Many people have expressed their views on  a new city centre theatre for Exeter on the site of Bus and Coach Station in the pages of the Express & Echo over several months.

In a move the bring the issue to the fore, towards the end of last week the Exeter Civic Society hosted a meeting attended by over 50 people. It was the Society's intention to stay neutral in the debate, being merely the facilitators of the discussion, which allowed various people to express their views on the feasibility and practicality of this idea with passion.

I will declare my interests here. 

I am a freelance theatre sound designer and as such have experience of working in a wide range of venues from the London and Edinburgh fringe to West End theatres and large scale tours.

In my view the economics of a theatre the size of Plymouth Theatre Royal [approx 1200] cannot - for a whole host of reasons - be made to work. If a theatre of that size was delivered in Exeter, the viability of both venues would be put at risk. 

I am also a city councillor, and pragmatically the Council does not have the financial resources - in either the capital to build the venue in the first place, or the revenue to run the venue once built - to make this happen now. That is not to say that as and when the economic climate changes, that view might shift.

Many of the arguments supporting these views have been advanced in an earlier blog of mine - see #Theatre4Exeter

The following points are my observations of the debate, and contain my own personal views rather than those of either Exeter Labour Party or Exeter City Council.

The letters pages in the E&E have given a flavour of what residents seem to want - a city centre theatre to compete directly with the Theatre Royal in Plymouth, a 1200 seater bringing in the big blockbuster shows.

However the meeting threw up at least FOUR differing models.

1) A model based around a repertory company, with a theatre director, producing its own shows. 
Its a model that has almost fallen into extinction here in the UK, and the ones that still survive do not exist by solely producing it's own work. Certainly this couldn't be sustained without a huge investment of subsidy, and I can't see Arts Council England likely to face an additional1% cut to its already tight - and previously cut - budget from 2014/15, and another 2% the year after.

2) A theatre seating around 750. Someone mentioned to me the Theatre Severn in Shrewsbury
Built at a cost of £21million. Annual subsidy appears to be in the region of £400K. It was mentioned that there is an unwritten rule that relates to a capacity of 500 seats - some touring companies feel that they wouldn't get the financial return they need to play in auditoria with a capacity of less than 500. This point is probably reflected in the award of £3670K over 3 years by Arts Council England [ACE] to Exeter Northcott [with its 460 or so seats] from its Strategic Investment in Exeter {SITE] fund earlier this year.

3) A 1200 seater theatre to rival Plymouth Theatre Royal
My estimated costs for this are  in the region of £47million to build and at least £300K annual revenue costs per year to run it once built. Is is viable? Is it sustainable?
The new Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury was mentioned - this is a £23.5 million pound redevelopment of the theatre, this being cheaper than developing an entirely new theatre.

4) A multi-functional venue - of undisclosed capacity.
 A venue with a theatre, concert hall, conference facilities, exhibition space, meeting rooms and rehearsal facilities.  I'm currently struggling to put some figures on this vision, but it is an intriguing one nonetheless.

So what were the views and feelings of the meeting on Exeter's current venues.

The Exeter Northcott was seen as 'not our theatre" that seems "only interested in putting on Chekov and other avant garde productions". The perception was that it is still difficult to get to, summed it in the quote "the position of, not what goes on in, the theatre is a waste of time". Someone suggested that the City Council should sell it off the the University to raise capital for the city centre theatre, difficult when the University already own the site.

This was followed up by a suggestion that Exeter City Council should sell off its assets in both the Barnfield Theatre and the Corn Exchange to fund the new venture. 

This was countered by an eloquent defence of the Barnfield from a member of St David's Players who said "selling the Barnfield would be an enormous loss to the city" and highlighted the delightful acoustics of the venue. 

He concluded that they were more than adequately hosted at the Barnfield and they would find the costs of hiring a larger venue prohibitively expensive.

There were encouraging comments about the Bike Shed Theatre - "sustainable on a small scale" and "transforming the theatre culture in Exeter."

Others mentioned Cygnet's New Theatre and the productions put on in the basement of the Hour Glass Inn in nearby Melbourne Street. 

There was a lot of discussion about what the venue should be - but very little about the programme that was seen on the stage. 

And it took an intervention from Fin Irwin, one of the artistic directors of the Bike Shed to say "raising the capital to build the theatre is probably the easy part - how are the on-going revenue costs going to be funded?" 

A representative for the Exeter Business and Traders Association suggested that what the Bus and Coach Station site doesn't need is another Princesshay" and that the initial plans for the site suggested it be designated as "for entertainment use". 

I dispute that - the Development  Principles for the redevelopment of the site state: 
"Principle B - The development will be a retail and leisure led mixed use development incorporating a new bus station." 

The same person also pointed out that advice should be sought from NATO - the National Association of THEATER Owners [an organisation I had never heard of and a quick internet search on the night revealed that it was an American association on MOVIE THEATER owners, or as we know them cinemas].

"Why a swimming pool and not a theatre?" was a frequent question.

In the run-up to the local city council elections  In May 2012, Exeter Labour Party published a manifesto for the local city council elections - one that outlined a strong vision for the future of Exeter and stated:


Exeter: A City of Growth and Business

It was a Labour-run Council which had the vision to deliver Princesshay for Exeter.
We will continue this vision as we redevelop the Bus Station site to include a swimming pool and new open spaces.

Probably the dilemma facing the city was summed up by a member of the Exeter Civic Society. "The city really needs both a theatre and a swimming pool, but the site will only support one. if push comes to shove, I would be inclined to favour the swimming pool option". He added a caveat that I could agree with, that it should be designed by a world renowned architect such Zara Hadid - although I add the note of caution that Leicester's Curve, designed by the respected architect Rafael Vinoly was not without problems.

There was mention of Danny Boyle's comments at a meeting of the leaders of 22 of the UK's regional theatres where he voiced regional theatre concerns.

He said: "The return that you get from it is incalculable. Theatre sustains local communities and does very positive things for local economies. But it also gives a sense of belonging that can result in big expressions like the opening ceremony... What they provide is something else to believe in, and we must believe as well otherwise we'll lose.

Although this passionate defence of local theatre was to preserve what already exists, and asking for  meeting with the Prime Minister to make the case for regional theatre, with venues at risk of closure from budget cuts.

The view that culture is essential to the local community in Exeter echoed by both the City Council and Exeter Cultural Partnership who are working on a Cultural Strategy for the city [see minute 46 on the recent Scrutiny - Economy Committee meeting] over the coming months.

This won't be about delivering a big theatre for the city but more about putting arts, leisure and culture in its widest sense at the centre Exeter's economic developments

I was challenged on a specific issue by Dick Passmore who asked " if there has been any consideration about a Plymouth Drum style venue on the site of the current Pyramids?" I was able to confirm that there had been NO discussions - either official or unofficial - on that matter.

The issue of Land Securities involvement in the development of the Bus and Coach Station were raised, and many attendees wondered why the City Council were being driven by their ideas on the development site. 

Up until March 2010, Exeter City Council was the freehold owner of the land but at a  meeting on 23 March 2010  [Agenda item 10, p21], the Executive Committee agreed to the following recommendation:

7.0 RECOMMENDATION 
7.1 It is recommended that Executive resolves:

to enter into an Exclusivity Agreement with Land Securities/Crown Estate in order to work with the developer to bring forward a Master Plan for the bus and coach station site, work up an acceptable scheme of development and agree the provisional terms for the property transaction

It is now up to Land Securites to draw up a feasibility plan to pay for the redevelopment and lease units to retailers, but the City Council will retain the final say on any proposals.

As the meeting drew to a close,  a number of those present agreed to form a working party/pressure group to discuss any further plans for a new theatre for Exeter, either on the Bus and Coach Station site or elsewhere in the city. They were all well aware that this would probably not be funded by the City Council.