Stage is set for theatres' golden future

Norwich Theatre Royal has high hopes for new venture.

Monday 29th November 2010

New plans to benefit those looking for a career on and behind the stage have been unveiled by Norwich Theatre Royal, as part of a package to aid further and higher education in the area.  The plans were revealed at the theatres' annual general meeting on Friday.  The revelation coincides with the recent success of a campaign to secure funds for a £10m development and refurbishment venture.

Partnered with Norwich City College, the theatre aims to keep up with the rest of the live entertainment industry.  Mr. Wilson said that in an estimated 15 years, the industry will have created 30,000 new backstage jobs on a national scale.  

The two organisations have been investigating the creation of a further eduction diploma in Technical Theatre.  The Theatre Royal now hopes that a similar partnership can move on in the creation of a higher education Technical Theatre course.

According to the Chief Executive of Norwich Theatre Royal, Peter Wilson, the theatre has been in discussion with Norwich University College of the Arts (NUCA), and also the University of East Anglia.  The use of Norwich Playhouse for such a higher diploma course is a subject of conversation.

Mr. Wilson spoke of the plans.

“We have dealt with the bricks and mortar," he said. "Now we want to deal with the soul and spirit.  We have been examining a collaborative project to create a theatrical technical skills training course to teach our own and further education students the rudiments of lighting, sound, rigging, stage management and other skills.”

The creation of the new course is likely to involve new construction requirements - the theatre has been said to be 'looking positively' at a potential area to site a training facility close to the main theatre.  Further details concerning the new building are set to be released by June.

Mr. Wilson went on:

"It will be a big project, as befits the largest and most ambitious theatre in the eastern region.”

Friday also saw the proposal of an initiative to provide financial backing to first year drama school students.  The Cleminson initiative, named after past theatre Chairman Sir James Cleminson, will provide around £3,000 of a £9,000 fund to certain students of the theatres' arts courses that have been offered places at acclaimed drama schools across the country.

 

 

Comments

You must be logged in to make comments.

No comments posted yet.