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Grand Theatre
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Contact Information
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Basic Information
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St Leonardgate |
Public Theatre |
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Year Ending 31st Aug - 2012 |
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Productions
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Report on Year Another financial year as passed in a volatile economy, yet through the hard work and dedication of the whole team here at Lancaster we have weathered the storm extremely well. Our “New Spaces” Appeal is still going strong and now stands at £126K. This will allow us to build a new front of house alongside the auditorium. Within the auditorium we have updated fixtures and fittings, a couple of which are an electrical upgrade backstage and also an upgrade and refurbishment of our central heating systems which we hope to give us a better energy output and savings in the budget. We have some major refurbishment work planned for 2012/13. There as been a summer school “Act One” run by footlights, and from that we have had a few of the youth who attended the school now have become members. Studio Footlights was set up as additional string to Footlights bow to complement the mainstream Footlights productions at the Grand. It is intended to allow Footlights to offer plays that are better suited to the informal, intimate setting of a studio theatre whilst retaining the high quality support already established at the Grand Theatre. A rolling programme of three plays each year is being planned. The first production planned was The Pillow Man by Martin McDonagh which attracted many new members to be in the cast. We have some new Directors doing shows this year, Lesley Ryan directed Danny the Champion of the World in July. Bedroom Farce was directed by Lynne Thornton which was her second time out at directing and also for Bedroom Farce which was last done by footlights in 1985. Ellie Singleton directed Blood Brothers along with a new Footlight member Marion Cox. All in all, all the show rehearsals went very smoothly and we happen to be blessed with excellent technical, props and wardrobe teams who seem to take a lot of the strain from the shoulders of the Directors and cast. On the whole the performances were well received. The Footlights attendances were up on last year – the pantomime was watched by over 6,00 people and Rebecca and Blood Brothers 1,300 and 1,400 respectively. Since the introduction of internet booking in 2009, the proportion of the internet bookings has increased year on year. The figures for on-line bookings continued on this trend with 32% compared with 16% 2010/11. |
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Year Ending 31st Aug - 2011 |
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Productions
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Report on Year The audience really turned out for Rebecca, which helped the season to a 19% increase in tickets sold. A real disappointment was the lack of support for a fine production of Dancing at Lughnasa which may not be well known to our audience but that surely cannot be the reason when Sailor Beware did only marginally better business! More thought and effort is now being concentrated on the marketing of shows and the distribution of flyers to audiences leaving our many ‘Pro’ shows seems to be helping. Ben Muir’s entertaining Snow White sold about 300 more tickets but the number of performances reduced the % figure. A colourful and bright production of The Twits delighted its mainly young audiences and, hopefully, started in some of them a life-long love of live theatre. Our ‘New Spaces’ fundraising proceeds apace, enabling CarolWilliamson, (Vice Chairman) & leader of the appeal to announce a total to date of £113,000. This will now help us, we hope!, to prove our bona fides to major grant givers. As part of this appeal, a member Ginny Scott, wrote and directed It’s a Grand Life which charted the history of the theatre and its purchase by Lancaster Footlights. Ginny involved members of the local Operatic Societies, dance schools etc in the production and the audiences universally loved it, many comments on the lines of ‘I never knew that’ and ‘Oh! so that’s what happened’ were heard. A super evening. On a more sombre note however our Life President, Ray Langley died in December 2010. He had been a Footlight and the Theatre Engineer since 1951 and will be sorely missed. To honour his magnificent service it has been decided to name one of the recently refurbished boxes ‘The Ray Langley Box’. Plans for 2011/2012: Productions of: Bedroom Farce, Cinderella, Spring and Port Wine and Blood Brothers. |
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Year Ending 31st Aug - 2010 |
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Report on Year The Footlights once again had a good year for productions both Adult and youth groups’ putting on tremendous plays. Dick Barton was a great performance (In my personal opinion) The Agatha Christie estate agreed to an alteration to the ending of And Then There Were None, which took the audience by surprise. The Roger McGough version of Tartuffe drew out the humour of the original and the musical version of Pinocchio was stunning. Once again our talented Youth Theatre successfully put on Pinocchio which as always was a runaway success. It is down to the hard work and dedication of the Youth Management Team that we have a good hearty group of youngsters who love performing. Our audience figures remain steady at which given the present economical climate we think is very good. The Panto was as always a crowd puller and was hugely popular with both cast and audience. Our newly computerised booking system we were intending to install a new system but have gone back to the old one. and when fully functional with This is available now through the website and is proving popular with customers and we hope to aim at higher audience figures. The professional performances we are offering are attracting all age groups as we cater for Drama: Pride & Prejudice; Murder at The Grand; Music: we have Abba Mania; Lets Hang On; One night of Robbie Williams; ELO etc; Musicals: Theo The Mouse musical madhouse; Chess; Snow White etc; Comedy: The comedy week in November was a superb fun filled week, which was topped by Des O’Connor, Adam Hill, and Michael McIntyre to name but a few. We aim to make this a regular event each year. The ‘Canal North Development’ saga continues to rumble on. The Planning enquiry declined part of the planning and yet there are still investors seeking to regenerate the area around the Theatre, so we will see what the year ahead brings. The NEW SPACES appeal is still good we have some hard working members who are always working hard at putting on various events and raffles to help raise money for the new reception area. Plans for 2010/11: Productions of: Dancing at Lughnasa, It’s a Grand Life, Snow White, Sailor Beware and Rebecca. |
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Year Ending 31st Aug - 2009 |
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Report on Year Audience figures remain steady at 10,068 against last years total of 10,182. The figures for The Lady in The Van, the best of the season, justify the organisation and hard work involved in buying and transporting Leicester Little Theatre?s van and Reliant and, combined with solid performances and the pulling power of the Bennett name resulted in a very satisfying piece of drama. How we would manage without the panto we shudder to think! The great thing is that, with a computerised booking system, sales start very early and with on-line booking now available we expect this trend to continue. The Youth Theatre successfully hosted the Bring It On Again festival in March. 14 schools, colleges or associations took part in the week-long event, and over 250 young people were involved performing. A funding bid to ?Lottery Awards For All? enabled a professional DVD to be made of the week?s highlights, offer professional workshops to all participants and throw a cast party each evening after the show. Entries were devised and lasted approximately 30 minutes. A wide range of entertainment covering cutting edge topical drama, musical, choral speaking, and dance was seen throughout the week. As usual the sheer energy 42 and talent of the young people was quite amazing. Our Town, a late substitute in the planned programme, was well received and benefited from an on-site dialogue coach within the cast. Last of the Summer Wine did not do the business that last years TV offering, Dad?s Army did, going to show that a ?bums on seats? play is a very elusive animal! Jungle Book was a bold return to the original story so there were no cartoon characters. This possibly caused some confusion amongst the younger audience but the imaginative staging and movement soon won them over. The saga of the ?Canal North Development? rumbles on. We are now awaiting the report of the Planning Enquiry which will decide whether we get a ?500,000 boost from the developers. Meanwhile, as we are still in planning limbo, we continue to fundraise locally and will return to the big funding trusts when the immediate future is clear. As a temporary measure we are trying to get the use of a council owned and now disused building close to the Grand. This would allow us to move scenery out of a distant industrial unit and provide rehearsal (Oh! Joy!) and costume storage space. The mills grind slowly so watch this space! Plans for 2009/2010: Productions of: And Then There Were None, Aladdin, Tartuffe, Dick Barton- Special Agent and Pinocchio. |
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Year Ending 31st Aug - 2008 |
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Report on Year After a deal of thought and discussion we have dropped the September production. The problems of casting, rehearsing and construction during the summer were just too much. The keen of eye will also note that there is no mention of the ?Bring It On? youth festival this year but, never fear, it will return in the next season hopefully bigger and better! On the whole audience figures for the season have not been brilliant despite a varied offering which was universally well presented and introduced a number of innovations including projection, filming and both shadow and hand puppetry. The major activities away from the stage have all been connected to the ?New Spaces? project. We have gained planning permission for ?Space 2?, the new front of house building to be built alongside the auditorium. The saga of the re-development of the area around the Grand continues with the revised scheme coming before the City Council Planning Committee in October. If it is approved then we will get project management and ?0.5M from the developers to build ?Space 2? and provide foundations and services for the start of ?Space 4? at the side of the fly tower. When the project started, some 3 years ago, the ?0.5M from the developers would have built a lot more but Hey! it?s still a fair wodge of cash. We have taken the decision to go ahead with ?Space 2?, which is on land we own anyway, regardless of the fate of the development scheme though the amount to be raised is formidable in a small town like ours. Part of the fundraising is a revised and updated book on the history of the Grand Theatre which is being worked on right now for publication in September 2008. The publication will coincide with the 100th anniversary of the reopening of the theatre after the fire of 1908 which destroyed the Frank Matcham designed stage and auditorium areas. On the professional front we hosted a two night pre-tour try out for Lee Evans this year and our 4 ft x 10 ft box office managed to sell out both shows (900 seats) in a 5 hour day! What?s more only 2 tickets later appeared on Ebay! At the Grand it pays to be local. Plans for 2008/09: Productions of; The Woman in the Van, Jack & the Beanstalk, Improbable Fiction, Bring it on Again (Youth Festival), Our Town, Jungle Book and another fundraising Gala evening of ?Alternative Adult Pantomime?! |
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Year Ending 31st Aug - 2007 |
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Report on Year Those with good memories will spot that we didn?t doThe 15 Streets. We found we couldn?t fit it into the allocated slot. It was replaced by Anniversary Suite a trio of one acts based around a family celebration. This was 2/3rds of a ?World Premiere? as only one of the three had been performed before, at the Stephen Joseph Theatre no less. Unfortunately the Lancaster audiences don?t seem to respond to unfamiliar plays but that will not deter us, mind we are very curious as to how they will react to Popcorn next season! The star of this season however must be Brassed Off which introduced the Morecambe Band (Brass of course) to the delights of a dramatic production. They, the Band that is, also provided the young leads who delivered superb performances and beautiful Flugelhorn playing! The Youth Festival was a great success with 13 local schools, youth drama groups and theatre groups taking part. We managed to get support from the City Council for this and now hope to repeat the event on a bi-annual basis. As part of the research towards fund raising for the ?New Spaces? project, of which more later, we took a look at what had gone on in the Grand in the last year. 46 community performances (11,970 seats sold), 46 Footlights performances (10,198) and 34 professional performances (7,869). Not bad for an organisation run more or less entirely in people?s spare time! The ?New Spaces? project is designed to create Space 2 alongside the auditorium to provide (space 2 geddit!) improved front of house areas for booking, caf? and bar and Space 4 Scenery, costume and rehearsals attached to the Fly Tower. Whilst Space 4 is dependant on the long awaited re-development of the area around the theatre we have decided in any event to go for Space 2 as this is on land we own and so freestanding in terms of the development. The total cost of the full project is ?1,490,000 and we have ?500,000 already in place from the developers. If however the development does not take place then we will still need to raise c?1,000,000 to realise Space 2 so it doesn?t take Mystic Meg to predict that there will be a lot of work going on here for some time to come. Plans for 2007/2008: Productions of; The Glass Menagerie, Mother Goose, Popcorn, Animal Farm, Dad?s Army, Outside Edge, Alice in Wonderland and a special Gala evening of ?Alternative Pantomime?! |
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Year Ending 31st Aug - 2006 |
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Report on Year A ?curates egg? season! Programmed for everyone with something old, something new and something (slightly) blue! Every show well presented and well received but despite a record spent on marketing, playing to generally poor audience numbers. Show for show against last year only Strangers on a Train and the youth production gained ground. The latter was planned as a joint presentation with The New Everyman Youth Theatre but unfortunately they pulled out which was a great disappointment to all and particularly our young people. One of our local schools, Heysham High, then stepped into the breach at short notice and saved the day with their production of Shut Up by Andrew Payne. Our restoration project for this year has been to refurbish the boxes which have not been in use since the 1920?s. The catalyst for the project, which has been on the ?wish? list for many years, came in the form of a legacy from a former member of the club. Last active on the stage in the 1950?s and 60?s Isabel Johnson became a ?Footie? in the 1930?s when she was encouraged to join by Miss Seward her elocution teacher who, together with Revd. Hastings, formed the club as a branch of the British Drama League in 1920. Plans for 2006/2007 Productions of; Dinner, Brassed Off, Puss in Boots, Funny Money, The Fifteen Streets, Kinder Transport and The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe. We are also planning to get together up to 15 local schools, colleges and drama groups in a Youth Drama Week in May 2007. |
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Year Ending 31st Aug - 2005 |
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Report on Year An enjoyable season where the two biggest sellers were definitely due to TV! A drop in audience numbers reported though the financial results have been quite satisfying due to increased usage of the theatre by touring shows which included a sell out for Jack Dee and a brilliant ?Lord of the Flies? by Pilot Theatre. However, due to the problems in providing daytime technical support a decision has been made to limit professional lets 30. Employing a suitable person would mean increasing professional lets to the point where we would be into Theatre Management rather than operating an amateur drama club plus. It?s easy to look at the percentage figures and feel a little depressed but the number of seats sold ( 11,300) gives a much better feel. Scrutiny of the last couple of LTG Handbooks also helps us to feel better as we probably sell more seats for our panto alone than many other Guild theatres sell during a whole season! The seat refurbishment project is now complete at a cost of some ?39K and we are looking towards the heating system improvement at c?20K during the coming year. Our computerised Box Office is now just a matter of fact. Those hesitating should grasp the nettle now ? you know it makes sense! We have also invested in the equipment and training to enable us to do our own PAT testing (pay back time 12 months, think about it!) We are now looking forward to hosting the Northern Region Conference in September 2005. Plans for 2005/2006 Productions of A Passionate Woman, Into the Woods, Cinderella, Strangers on a Train, We Happy Few and Comic Potential |
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Year Ending 31st Aug - 2004 |
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Report on Year In past years this report has dealt exclusively with club productions and theatre restoration and improvement projects. This year the reports on these two areas can be described as ?same old, same old?. We don?t seem to be making much progress in attracting audiences to club productions and we have again spent large amounts of money on the redecoration of the Front of House and refurbishing the seats. The only major item of note is that we have gone from a smoke free bar to being totally smoke free in all parts of the theatre. Anyone reading the usual report and looking at the year?s production details would, however, get the wrong impression of the activity in the theatre. During this year we have presented 30 professional shows to over 7000 patrons. These shows have ranged from Shakespeare to The Vagina Monologues and from Ballet to a Japanese Drum ensemble, taking in on the way several rock tribute bands. The visiting companies have ranged from regional touring outfits to national players such as Hull Truck and the music from a national touring classical ensemble to a world touring Jazz singer. We have also hosted the annual shows of all six local amateur operatic societies, the combined grammar schools and a local dance school. Altogether we have sold about 29,000 seats over the year. Every show in the theatre needs some effort from our membership be it complete staffing of the theatre, both FOH and backstage, or just the provision of 6 days a week box office facilities. The members of this small amateur dramatic club, with the help of just 5 part time staff, manage to provide all this effort and do so without benefit of subsidy. On second thoughts is subsidy a thing to be coveted? |
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Year Ending 31st Aug - 2003 |
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Report on Year For some time now the practical operation of the theatre has been in the hands of a rapidly dwindling number of volunteers. Fortunately nothing serious has slipped through the cracks though it was becoming clear that unless we did something about it we could seriously jeopardize all the work done in the last 50 years. Several requests not to be re-nominated for office led to the big decision to employ a General Manager for the theatre. Four candidates, selected from those responding to our national advertisement, were interviewed. Kate Noble was appointed and has been in post since the New Year. As the figures show, we have not yet found the answer to the problem of vanishing audiences but feel that we have now got a better grip of marketing following a period of drifting - only time will tell. Romeo & Juliet was an all-female cast production and our younger members staffed all aspects of this show. Everyone tries to interest and develop young actors but it seems that we tend to ignore the need to develop young technicians so we hope that ?complete? show staffing like this will become a regular feature of our season. It is, as Yul Brynner would say ?a puzzlement?, that Oscar attracted nearly twice the audience of Alan Ayckbourn. Any reasonable guesses as to the cause would be welcome! This summer saw the theatre covered in scaffolding to do two jobs we had all been dreading, the re-tiling of the roof and the re-pointing of the stonework. At the time of writing these jobs are not quite finished but we are told that they will not need doing again for about 100 years ? so that?s OK then! The heating boilers finally gave up the ghost and have now been replaced in a new location with their old spot being converted into the manager?s office. The next big job is probably the refurbishment of the seating (always assuming we recover from the roof job!). |
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Year Ending 31st Aug - 2002 |
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Report on Year This year saw the welcome return of a production performed and staffed by the younger Footies. The theme of hatred and intolerance was topical and the production up to the usual high standards but the audience turnout was poor. The fall in audience numbers is concentrating minds in the club as they are now becoming critical to our Restoration and Improvement plans. Some members argue for a total ?bums on seats? programme whilst others see that as an unappealing prospect. Judging from the variety of tastes catered for this year and detecting little support for anything not directed at the very young, perhaps we really need to put some more thought and effort into the marketing of our chosen programme? The number of professional lets has increased and we now offer a selection ranging from Tribute bands to Ballet via Music Hall. The improvement and restoration programme proceeds apace despite the Grand Golden Appeal not reaching its target. This year saw the replacement of our ageing lighting control system together with increasing the number of channels available and generally modernised the lighting rig at a cost of ?20,000. This was possible due to a successful application to a charitable trust. These Trust applications have been hard work with a fair number falling on stony ground but the strike rate has not been too bad. The Circle foyer project has now been completed and is becoming the meeting place of choice as well as attracting favourable comments from our patrons. The redevelopment of the area is still shrouded in mystery but we are making some sort of ?progress? ? campaigns have been launched and the probable ?battle lines? are becoming clearer. Life is never dull around here! |
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Year Ending 31st Aug - 2001 |
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Year Ending 31st Aug - 2000 |
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Report on Year A further drop in audience numbers. When the ?well made? play fails to draw the crowds and works by modern playwrights don?t work does it really mean that well-worn mysteries are the future? All the productions were presented with the expected high production values and the youth production of The Chrysalids again reminded us of the really talented young people we have in the club. On the restoration and improvement front we had a busy, and inevitably expensive year. The dressing rooms now boast two showers with H & C water in all parts. Following problems with blowing the supply fuses (twice during shows!) the power intake has been upgraded and the internal distribution scheme has been rationalised. The license authority insisted on extensions and upgrade to the smoke alarm system, so we squeezed that in between shows. Through the year we have been involved, with others, in consultations on the local arts strategy whilst the later part of the season has seen the Club limbering up for the start of the next (groan!) fund raising exercise to be launched in January 2001. We are hoping that the year 2001 will prove propitious for fund raising as it will be our 50th year of owning the Grand Theatre and the 80th year of the Footlights Club. Other than that, as is said, it has been pretty much business as usual! |
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