For the past 25 years Nottingham Arts Theatre has been serving the city with a programme of local and touring indie stage shows in their iconic 200 year old Hockley building. We spoke to poet, and theatre Chair director Campbell Kay about the theatre’s journey, its role as an educational charity nurturing theatrical talent in Nottingham and their diverse range of shows…
What does the theatre look like now compared to when it reopened in 2001 – how has its role in the community evolved?
We inherited a very tired building from CWS (Co-operative Wholesale Society), with some structural problems, a drab auditorium, down-at-heel dressing rooms and perfunctory front of house facilities. Over the past 25 years, despite receiving no regular public subsidy, we have refurbished the auditorium with new seating, carpets and decoration; improved the bar area and foyer; modernised the dressing rooms and repainted the façade. We have also created a flexible fifty seat studio theatre, served by the Studio Bar, and a large meeting, rehearsal, exhibition area – The Space Upstairs – at the back of this building.
The theatre offers lots of volunteer opportunities for people to get involved in things like wardrobe, props, and acting. What's the theatre's relationship with the wider Nottingham arts scene like these days?
Since its early days it has been part of the theatre's mission to fulfil our role as a complementary venue to other arts provision in Nottingham. To this effect we maintain working relationships with the Playhouse, the Theatre Royal, the Lace Market Theatre and other arts organisations in the city.
Our commitment to the wider community is demonstrated by providing Nottingham Pride studio and office space for Pride Week and this year housing the LGBTQ+ community pantomime The Wizard of Nottz. Nottingham's Polish and Irish communities enjoyed various comedy and music productions. We marked Black History Month with Jah Makin It Happen – the Windrush Musical and welcomed the Voice of Vision Community Project and 2 FunkyArts who work with performers of Black, African and Caribbean backgrounds to showcase their talents. Our large Chinese community was catered for with a Cantonese opera production. We also hosted an evening of Japanese performers, stalls and food and a performance by the Warsi Brothers Qawwali music group from Hyderabad in the Indian sub-continent.
In October you have a diverse programme of shows, from Animal Farm and An Evening With Jack the Ripper to Arabs & Asians Stand-up Comedy Show – who is in charge of booking the shows and how do they go about it?
With advice from myself as Artistic Director, and a fellow trustee as Finance Director, we have a strong and very able theatre management team, led by Julian Phillips as Theatre Manager. Our aim is to provide diverse programming, and we strive to book productions that accord with this aim. Production companies thus make initial enquiries which are followed up by the team, and bookings are made. There then follows liaison as regards box office and technical requirements.
Knowing myself what it is like arriving with a show at a theatre you’ve never performed in before, we make sure there is a designated member of staff to meet and greet visiting companies. Our aim is to make their visit as professional and pleasant as possible, in the hope of receiving repeat bookings, which, I'm glad to say, we invariably do.
Last year's production of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd was a standout production. It seemed to epitomise what we'd hoped for when the charity was formed to create a community theatre
Is there a recent production or moment at the theatre that's stuck with you as proof of what it's achieved?
Our annual youth musical production, which is available to all young people in the city and county through open auditions, has in recent years produced some memorable shows, e.g. Les Misérables, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, among them. However, last year's production of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd was a standout production. A difficult score sung with enthusiasm, élan and expression, superb acting which resonated with the audience, and costume, staging and lighting of a high standard. It seemed to epitomise what we'd hoped for when the charity was formed to create a community theatre.
Looking ahead, what would you like to see for Nottingham Arts Theatre over the next few years?
Whilst we have a diverse programme at the moment, I make no bones about the fact I would like us to attract more plays to the venue, and the team are working hard to encourage this to happen. Thus as part of this season’s programme we have the plays Lady in the Bay Window based on a ghost story, Have I Got Time For More?, a play about Tommy Cooper, plus the talks Pleasure and Pain by Simon Yates and An Evening With Jack the Ripper.
As an educational charity, how does the theatre support young people or newcomers getting into theatre and writing?
Much of NAT's educational provision is delivered through a successful and over-subscribed term-time Youth Theatre, school holiday theatre schools, and the annual open-audition Youth Musical Theatre production. It also welcomes students from Nottingham's two universities, who mount several productions at the venue each year. Our ambition for the future is to provide post-eighteen provision for young people and adults as actors, directors and playwrights.
How involved are you with the theatre today, and how has your own work as a poet and playwright fed into what happens there?
When I'm in Nottingham, I go into the theatre each day to discuss ideas and help in whatever admin activities I can. I have been fortunate to have been able to create original pieces for past members of the theatre to perform. In some instances these also reflected the life of the city, e.g. Phoenix Rising – D.H. Lawrence, Son and Lover and Divine Mountebank – Sir Donald Wolfit, Last of the Great Actor-Managers. I also dramatised Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford, which was twice performed at the theatre, and created Fatal Friendship – Lord Alfred Douglas and Oscar Wilde for performance there.
Because of this, all proceeds from the sales of my recent publications – poems and plays – go to support the work of the charity.
What does this anniversary mean to you, not just as a milestone, but as a marker of what the theatre has become?
I am pleased that we have survived the vicissitudes of the past 25 years and proved the naysayers of 2001, who predicted our demise, wrong. It is also heartening to have demonstrated that an independent community theatre has a valid place in the city's arts scene and can offer educational and entertainment opportunities to a wide circle of our population.
Find Nottingham Arts Theatre at 12 George St, Nottingham NG1 3BE.
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