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MAY 9 2024
NEWS
Scratch night closures leave early career artists in ‘crisis’
GIVERNY MASSO
A loss of scratch nights in the UK since the Covid-19 pandemic is having a “huge impact” on emerging artists, theatre leaders and producers have warned.
It comes amid claims that the number of scratch nights across the UK has reduced by 80% since the pandemic, as artist development has been overtaken by “the more urgent need to keep doors open”.
Sarah Brigham, artistic director and chief executive at Derby Theatre, told The Stage that there appeared to be a loss of scratch nights nationally and that this was having a “huge impact on emerging artists being able to test work at an early stage”.
“A well-run scratch night where genuine debate and discussion are involved can be crucial to the development of a piece of work and a democratic way to get more eyes on your work early on,” Brigham said. However, she argued that artists involved in scratch nights should be paid.
Brigham highlighted Derby Theatre’s own scratch nights, which includes one specifically for people seeking sanctuary in the UK, and said the theatre also supports In Good Company’s From Scratch event, which is in partnership with Leicester’s Attenborough Arts Centre.
Rafia Hussain, who is strategic producer for In Good Company, believes that the UK “probably has 10-20% of the scratch nights it had before the pandemic”.
She said: “Scratch nights dropped off the radar because artist development in general as a priority was overtaken by the more urgent need to keep the doors open and organisations afloat.”
Hussain said it was “even harder for early career artists to get a foot in the door, develop a relationship with venues and get artistic feedback on work-in-development”.
She argued that more funding bodies and funded organisations had to “understand the urgent need to invest in the independent sector and value the artistic process as much as the product”.
London’s Cockpit Theatre has been running a monthly scratch night for more than 15 years, including via Zoom during Covid.
The theatre’s director, Dave Wybrow, said there was a “crying need” for more early career development opportunities.
“Signposting in our industry is downright inadequate and career routes are shrouded in mystery,” he said.
“Filling that gap is where scratch nights have a vital role, which is why fringe theatre in London is vital too, because only smaller places can really run a viable, buzzy night on a human scale where companies and public really stand a chance of a chat in the bar afterwards.”
Wybrow labelled cuts to opportunities for early career artists, such as the Vault Festival, as “grievously mistaken and shortsighted”.
The Jack Studio Theatre in south-east London has been running a scratch night since 2009, which was paused in 2020 and returned with a new team in 2024.
Joseph Lidster and Tristan White, who run the event, said: “For a long time now,
we’ve noticed a decline in scratch nights and in events and schemes that champion new writing.”
Lidster and White said Vault Festival, which announced its closure in March, was “an essential springboard” for creators and warned that the arts industry was in “crisis” due to a lack of opportunities for emerging artists.
They added: “Scratch is important for emerging artists first and foremost as a learning experience.”
Ellie Peers, Writers’ Guild of Great Britain general secretary, said: “Recent cuts in both Arts Council England and local authority funding are doubtless having an effect and hitting grassroots development.
“The best scratch nights can be a useful way for writers to get feedback on their work and share ideas with other creatives.”
However, Peers warned that playwrights should never be “placed under pressure to offer the use of their work for free at scratch nights where other artists and practitioners are being paid” and called for more paid development opportunities for writers.
Stage-door security
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Commenting on the debate sparked by her social media post, La Barrie added: “I want us to move away from the discourse of: ‘Why can’t people learn how to behave?’ It’s just a handful of people who maybe behaved inappropriately, and now know better.
“My stopping it was less about them and more about me. I wanted to make sure that the love that I have for my fans and fans of the show continued unscathed and unhindered by these few-and-far-between incidents that happened to me. I know I will be back stage dooring. I know it, because I miss everybody.”
Montague, who is currently playing King George III in Hamilton at London’s Victoria Palace Theatre, told The Stage that stage-door etiquette “and theatre etiquette in general, needs to change”.
“I think theatre owners and theatre managers need to be a lot more strict. We shouldn’t be waiting for something bad to happen so we can clamp down on the rules,” he added.
Montague described effective security at Hamilton’s stage door including barriers, and added that it was “ridiculous” that some theatres did not use them.
Although the actor emphasised that his “uncomfortable” encounters with fans at the stage door had been “very, very rare”, he highlighted an alarming “overfamiliarity” experienced particularly by high-profile performers, including his wife Carrie Hope Fletcher.
“People have had stalkers in theatre who turn up to the stage door, wanting their attention,” Montague said. “I don’t think people understand the gravitas of it.”
La Barrie’s social media post prompted a number of other West End actors to share their negative experiences online, including The Book of Mormon star Steven Webb, who described being “grabbed, followed and kissed without consent”.
Webb added: “Please respect boundaries. The [ticket] is for the show only.”
Layton Williams, who starred in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie and reached the final of Strictly Come Dancing last year, responded to these accounts online by saying: “Let’s normalise security, a nice, formed line and a barrier for peace and respect to everyone involved.”
Wicked’s Carl Man also advocated for barriers, writing on Twitter/X: “I think stage doors in London need to copy Broadway, where there are barriers so performers can walk down the line and sign and move on (if they wish).”
The stars’ comments represent wider concern that fans and autograph hunters are posing an increasing danger, with chair of the drama section of the Critics’ Circle Kate Maltby citing security staff ’s accounts of facing “a tougher challenge every year”.
Maltby argued in a piece for The Stage that “most autograph hunters at these events are commercial”, motivated by the potential profits to be made by selling signed programmes online.
The “first step is to remove the economic impulses driving this behaviour”, she said.
She added: “Fans should know better than to buy online from people who harass their heroes and put the rest of us at risk.”
However, La Barrie defended the vast majority of fans as “extraordinary”, while Montague called them “respectful”.
Royal Court associates
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In addition, a nationwide search is being undertaken by the Royal Court to find a sixth playwright to join the team.
“This team of associate playwrights puts writers at the very heart of the Royal Court.
“Working closely with the wider artistic leadership, they will help develop the theatre’s mission, artistic programme, support of fellow writers and see the writers’ theatre placed in the hands of playwrights,” the Royal Court said.
The associate playwrights will spend one day a week at the Royal Court, “feeding into a collective approach to the leadership of the theatre”, it added.
Artistic director David Byrne said: “One of my first acts as artistic director is to bring some exceptional fellow playwrights with me into the artistic leadership behind a simple vision: the writers’ theatre run by playwrights for the benefit of writers everywhere.
“Even from our electric early conversations, I know that this gamechanging team of associates are going to help rewrite the rules of what it means to support writers, creating the culture for a new generation of playwrights to thrive.”
He added: “And we have left one chair at the table empty, to allow us to find someone new, not directly appointed by me but found through an open call.
“Fellow playwrights – if you want to be a part of making the Royal Court a beacon for new-writing nationally and internationally, come and join us.
“It is going to be the adventure of a lifetime – and it is the best distraction from your latest draft that you will ever find.”
Bartlett said: “The Royal Court Theatre staged my first professional play, and gave me the support and encouragement to become a writer.
“It is the most important theatre for playwrights in the world, and I cannot wait to join David, Will Young [executive director] and the other associates in helping to find and support new playwrights and new plays that will entertain, inform, shock and provoke us.”
Calais Cameron added: “Joining the Royal Court Theatre as an associate is an incredible honour and responsibility.
“It means I have the opportunity to contribute to a legacy of bold, thoughtprovoking storytelling that challenges norms and inspires change.
“I am excited to collaborate with such an esteemed institution that has had such a huge impact on my life as an audience member and as an artist.”
Applicants for the sixth position can be based anywhere in the country and have worked in any part of the sector, but must have experience of playwriting and a track record championing the work of fellow writers or artists.
The deadline for submissions is May 27.
