British Theatre News

News Index

Dateline: 18th March, 2001

Scottish theatre endangered by ACE extra money for England

Chairman of the Federation of Scottish Theatre, Hamish Glen, claims that the extra £25m awarded by the Arts Council of England to regional producing theatres and companies could signal the death knell for Scottish theatre, as actors and stage crew will head south where prospects and pay will be better.

"What we fear," said Glen, who is also director of Dundee Rep, "is that the extra money in England could add 10%-15% on the wages of actors and technicians in England. That would put me out of business in Dundee. The deeper fear is that there won't be any theatre companies left in Scotland at all in three years' time."

Glen fears that this could affect the chances of ever getting a Scottish National Theatre off the ground.

Ian Charleson Awards nominees

The nominees have been announced for the annual Ian Charleson Awards, which are given to actors under thirty for their performance in a classical role. The Award defines a "classical role" as being one in a play written before 1904. The Awards were created by the Sunday Times and the RNT.

This year's finalists are:

The Awards will be presented on Friday, 23rd March.

RNT poll results

The results of the poll organised by the RNT to find its most popular productions for the last 25 years are as follows: