Hello, and welcome back to Week in Review, our roundup of industry-wide news. From stage to screens big and small, we’ve got you covered. It’s everything you need to know and all you can’t afford to miss.
Mayor of London launches push for affordable rehearsal space
London mayor Sadiq Khan last week launched a major trust that aims to protect and support affordable rehearsal spaces for dance and theatre. Called The Creative Land Trust, the £6 million initiative will secure 1,000 affordable workspaces across the city in its first five years.
Speaking at the launch, Khan said: “London’s culture is the golden thread that runs through our social fabric. It gives our city a vibrancy and dynamism that is without parallel.” But he warned that cultural sectors were at risk of being “priced out of the communities they call home” due to rising rents and property prices. Last week, Hackney Showroom announced they would be leaving their home in Hackney Downs due to rising rents. Khan said: “It’s clear we are now reaching a crisis point. We need to stem the loss of the workspace they depend on, and fast.” Read more here.
READ: Mayor of London Launches Creative Enterprise Zones
Touring performers make history with shared role
An upcoming stage production of the CBeebies show Twirlywoos is breaking new ground as the first touring show to share a role between actors Lizzie Wort and Ruth Calkin, both with responsibilities to young children.
Charlene Ford became the first West End performer to secure a job share last year; Calkin followed suit and asked for a job share after she feared accepting the role alone “would have been too punishing for us as a family.” She told The Stage: “It took courage to push the issue but to be met with such support from the producers was incredible, and it has been amazingly empowering to know that we, not only as performers but also as mums with young children, have been able to negotiate with honesty and understanding the complex logistics necessary to make this happen.”
Campaign group Parents and Carers in Performing Arts welcomed the job share, with co-founder Cassie Raine saying the model has the “potential to revolutionise the way we approach touring and increase access for so many who may not consider touring as a viable option.”
Leading drama schools join together to offer reduced-rate auditions
Three leading drama schools in London have banded together to offer hopefuls the opportunity to audition for all of them on one day for a reduced rate of £30. Drama Studio, ALRA, and Italia Conti are working together on the initiative, which is designed to target people living in Newcastle upon Tyne and Doncaster. The schools say that Arts Council England research shows these two areas stand to benefit most from reduced audition rates. The auditions are held at Newcastle College on 30 March and Doncaster Little Theatre on 31 March. Applications are open now. Read more here.
READ: Is This the Death of Audition Fees?
Edinburgh Fringe boss causes social media backlash after “living wage” comments
Edinburgh Fringe chief exec Shona McCarthy was at the centre of a backlash from performers, campaigners, and the heads of Edinburgh’s two largest Free Fringe festivals after she claimed fair pay activists were a risk to the festival’s various free fringes. Discussing Fair Fringe, a campaign group fighting for venue staff to receive a living wage, McCarthy reportedly told The Scotsman that paying the living wage would put a stop to the Free Fringe, a festival of pop-up venues that allow performers to use spaces in return for the increased revenue from audiences passing through.
Her comments sparked backlash across social media and forced The Scotsman to publish a reply article. Describing her comments as “invidious,” Peter Buckley Hill, founder of PBH Free Fringe, said: “Demands for venues to pay workers the Living Wage wouldn’t affect us in the slightest. We’ve no box office staff, no front of house staff, no leaflet distributors. No tickets.” Hill confirmed that he supported the idea that volunteer or low pay workers at traditional venues should be paid. Read more here.
READ: How to Survive in London as an Actor
Pulitzer-winning play Sweat transfers to West End
Sweat, the latest production from playwright Lynn Nottage, is to transfer to the West End later this year. Martha Plimpton is reprising her role as Tracey in the story based on Nottage’s experience spending two years in America’s poorest town. Having just closed at the Donmar, the production will open at the Gielgud Theatre from 7 June, directed by Lynette Linton. Further casting for the transfer is yet to be announced.
A screen production initiative gives new opportunity
Five hundred artists will be commissioned to make short films, audio, and interactive works in a new talent development scheme being launched by BBC Arts and Arts Council England. Called New Creatives, the initiative gives artists aged 16–30 the opportunity to develop technical and creative skills and have work commissioned for various BBC platforms. The programme will particularly focus on young artists from backgrounds that are currently underrepresented in the arts and broadcasting. Commissioned artists will be encouraged to push creative boundaries, reach new audiences, and reflect their experiences of living in Britain today. Read more here.