The Royal Opera House troubles are now beginning to affect the Royal Ballet. It is reported in The Stage that Lord Sainsbury has commissioned a report into the situation of the RB and that he may be reviewing the donations he makes to the House. It is also announced that dancer Tetsuya Kumakawa has left the RB company because of the continuing uncertainty.
Trouble with the unions is also looming. They have called the 23rd October deadline to agree a new deal on pay and conditions unrealistic and initial offers made so far by the management are regarded as "derisory". The offer of £8000 for members of the corps de ballet is being compared to the £150,000 design budget for next year, which is more than ten times the figure for 1996-7. The main reason for the increase is that the in-house designer was made redundant and the work given to M&C Saatchi. Projected box office returns are £5m, a quarter of what they were in '96-7.
The National Theatre's deficit has increased four-fold in 1997-98 and now stands at £424,000. As a result staff have been told that there will have to be job losses if they do not agree to changes. BECTU's pay claim of 4% is not acceptable, the theatre says. Although houses are now up to 83% capacity, the company has still had to make use of its reserves which now stand at under £40,000. The company blames standstill grants since 1992 which, it says, is the equivalent of a cut of £1.9m.
Use Lottery to rescue companies, Smith says
Culture Secretary Chris Smith has said that the Arts Council should use Lottery money to mount rescue bids for companies which are deeply in debt.
The 1998 Peggy Ramsay Play Award, named after the late playwrights' agent, has been jointly awarded to the Bush Theatre for Yard by Katie O'Reilly and the Soho Theatre Company for Angels and Saints by Jessica Townsend. Each company will receive £25,000.This year's winners of the Vivian Ellis Awards for music theatre are: