Bristol Old Vic - actors unite
Letter to the Times, July 30, 2007
Actors unite behind threatened theatre company
Sir, From tomorrow the Theatre Royal Bristol, home of the Bristol Old Vic Company, closes for 18 months. There is apparently no plan for the company to produce work during the closure period and, more importantly, no guarantee it will have a future at the Theatre Royal when it reopens in 2009.
The announcement last May that the Theatre Royal would close for refurbishment on August 1, 2007, came as a surprise to the theatre world and to the theatre's audience as a programme of plays had already been announced for the autumn. At the same time as news of the closure was released, it was revealed that the Bristol Old Vic's artistic director, Simon Reade, was leaving; the circumstances remain unclear.
What is clear is that the Bristol Old Vic Company is in danger of being allowed to fade away.
The refurbishment of the Theatre Royal is, of course, welcome. Audiences and actors know that it is sorely needed, but what is most important is the work that is produced on stage. At the moment, all decisions appear to be in the hands of Arts Council officials and board members, few of whom seem ever to have worked on a stage.
Most of us have appeared with the company and all are members of Equity. We call for the immediate appointment of an artistic team, in particular an artistic director, so a programme of work can be planned for the period of closure. We further call on the Bristol Old Vic board, having consulted fully with audiences and performers, to make a public statement that the Bristol Old Vic remains a producing company.
ROGER ALLAM, BARRY AIRD, DAME EILEEN ATKINS, MARCIA ASHTON, CHRIS BALSTROP, FRANCES BARBER, SAMUEL BARNETT, IAN BARRITT, SAMANTHA BOND, MATHEW BOSE, LINDA BROUGHTON, MARK BUFFERY, NIALL BUGGY, TOM BURKE, SELINA CADELL, JOHN CAIRD, DAVID CALDER, BRIAN CAPRON, RICHENDA CAREY, TIMOTHY CARLTON, JIM CARTER, JEREMY CHILDS, RICHARD CLIFFORD, GEORGE COLE, STEPHANIE COLE, NIGEL COOKE, JAMES CORDEN, ALLAN CORDUNER, CHARLIE COVELL, ALAN COVENY, ALAN COX, GEMMA CRAVEN, BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH, SIMON CURTIS, SORCHA CUSACK, JOANNA DAVID, ANDY DE LA TOUR, DAME JUDI DENCH, LISA DILLON, GREG DORAN, HILARY DRAKE, NICHOLAS FARRELL, DEBORAH FINDLAY, EDWARD FOX, DAVID FOXXE, JOHN FRANKLYN ROBBINS, JENNY GALLOWAY, IAN GELDER, STELLA GONET, JENNI GOOSSENS, RICHARD GRIFFITHS, SELINA GRIFFITHS, BOB GWILYM, MICHAEL HADLEY, CHRIS HARRIS, DANIEL HILL, DOUGLAS HODGE, ANTHONY HOLLAND, JONATHAN HOWELL, CLAIRE HUCKLE, LLOYD HUTCHINSON, CAROLINE HUNT, GEOFFREY HUTCHINGS, JEREMY IRONS, GEORGE IRVING, SIR DEREK JACOBI, ALEX JENNINGS, RUTH JONES, CHARLES KAY, PETER KOSTA, HARRY LANDIS, BELINDA LANG, JANE LAPOTAIRE, PHYLLIDA LAW, BARBARA LEIGH HUNT, CHARLOTTE LUCAS, PATRICK MALAHIDE, PHILIP MANIKUM, ANGUS MACKAY, SIR IAN MCKELLEN, JULIA MCKENZIE, PAMELA MILES, IAIN MITCHELL, JOHN NETTLES, ERIKA NEUMANN, JOHN NEWTON, PETER NICHOLS, ADRIAN NOBLE, RICHARD PASCO, BILL PATERSON, TESSA PEAKE-JONES, JOANNE PEARCE, SIAN PHILLIPS, TIM PIGGOTT SMITH, DONALD PICKERING, DAME JOAN PLOWRIGHT, PETER PRENTICE, FREDERICK PYNE, ROY RADFORD, AMANDA REDMAN, MIRANDA RICHARDSON, ALAN RICKMAN, KATH ROGERS, HUGH ROSS, PENNY RYDER, JAN SARGENT, JULIA SAWALLHA, GRETA SCACCHI, JENNY SEAGROVE, GEOFFREY SERLE, MARTIN SHAW, MALCOLM SINCLAIR, SIR DONALD SINDEN, DAME MAGGIE SMITH, IMELDA STAUNTON, PATRICK STEWART, MICHAEL STROUD, MICHAEL THOMAS, EMMA THOMPSON, SOPHIE THOMPSON, RUSSELL TOVEY, WANDA VENTHAM, MATTHEW WARCHUS, JOHN WEBB, PENELOPE WILTON, ANDREW WOODALL, JANE WYMARK