When Pitlochry Festival
Theatre's artistic director John Durnin arrived at the Perthshire
based producing house ten years ago, he had transformation on his
mind. Here was a theatre, after all, which, while situated well out
of the central belt, had developed a repertoire and production
standards on a par with London's west end. This in itself was a major
step forward from the theatre in the hills' beginnings in 1951 when
John Stewart opened it in a tent. Once PFT's purpose-built premises
opened for business, under Clive Perry and others it developed a
reputation for producing calculatedly commercial fare personified by
the work of Alan Ayckbourn.
While Durnin's tenure
has not been averse to producing the odd Ayckbourn over the years, he
has broadened the repertoire considerably, so it now includes more
contemporary plays in the programme alongside familiar classics.
Durnin has also introduced a musical play that forms a major part of
PFT's in-house season, while all-year round programming has seen the
institution of an annual Christmas play into the programme.
With this year's
programme already up and running with a typically lavish production
of Hello Dolly!, Durnin is already looking forward to the rest of the
programme, even as he reflects on his achievements with PFT over a
decade which he never doubted he'd stick around for its duration.
“The task we'd set
ourselves and the objectives we wanted to achieve weren't going to be
achieved overnight,£ he admits. “The big objective was to make PFT
not just a seasonal operation, but an all year round one. That was
going to take time in terms of raising audience awareness of what we
were doing, and only now is that starting to bed in. Now we're able
to include not just work from other organisations, but are able to
produce our own shows as well so they form a significant part of our
programme, and that's very satisfying.
“In terms of
broadening the repertoire, since my first season at PFT in 2004,
we've been able to incorporate musical theatre using an
actor/musician model, and we've been able to put on plays which ten
years ago people might have said, my God, that's not a PFT sort of
play! Now we can put on contemporary Scottish plays like Outlying
Islands by David Greig or Passing Places by Stephen Greenhorn, and
we've started to see different sorts of audiences coming in. That's
been a big mountain to climb, but we're now some way along it.”
“In a lot of ways
things haven't changed at all, in that we've been able to keep on
doing plays that have the broadest appeal, but we're also now able to
do things which are slightly more niche. Now, if you look at the
socio-economic base of our audience, it's very similar to the
audience that goes to the royal Lyceum in Edinburgh and the Citizens
in Glasgow rather than some funny place up a hill.”
If there is a theme
running throughout Durnin's tenth anniversary season, it is an all
too appropriate one of theatricality, and attempting to lead private
lives while being in full public view. Following the opening of Hello
Dolly!, the season continues with Alan Ayckbourn’s A Chorus of
Disapproval, about the travails of an amateur theatre company's
attempts to put on a production of The Beggar's Opera. This is
followed by Noel Coward's Present Laughter, Alan Bennett's double
bill, Single Spies and Oscar Wilde's Lady Windemere's Fan. While the
summer rep season concludes with Jim Cartwright's pub-set play, Two,
a new production of The Steamie – PFT's third – will grace the
autumn schedule. After last year's hit production of White Christmas,
this year PFT follow-up with a rarely seen stage musical version of
the ultimate feelgood festive flick, It's A Wonderful Life.
While Durnin remains
buoyant about Pitlochry's successes, there have of course been
setbacks. One of these was the proposed use of the theatre's grounds
and gardens, used so spectacularly in a production of Judith Adams'
audacious play, Sweet Fanny Adams in Eden. With funds already limited
to allow this initiative to develop any further, things weren't
helped when the then Scottish Arts Council withdrew all funding from
PFT. Despite such setbacks, Durnin remains philosophical about his
theatre's economic state.
“We're not immune to
what is happening to everybody else,” he says. “and ever since
the SAC took that decision, we've been living hand to mouth. As a
result, we had to look at things in a different way.”
With a long-term
feasibility study already underway, Durnin is confident about PFT's
relationship with Creative Scotland, the funding body who replaced
the old SAC.
“We have a much
better relationship with Creative Scotland than we did with the
Scottish Arts Council,” he says, “and we're looking to strengthen
that position.”
Whatever happens,
Durnin remains confident about PFT's continuing expansion.
“People said musicals
wouldn't work in rep,” he says, “but we've proved that they can.
We've also shown we can do adventurous contemporary plays, even as
there have been some strange reactions to things that we thought
would be hugely popular. So there are no certainties. In terms of
developing things, we've still an awful long way to go, but there are
still some big things ahead for PFT. We're exploring the possibility
of touring work, and there are a lot of other possibilities on the
horizon, so I think there's enough to keep me occupied for a while
yet.”
Pitlochry Festival
Theatre's 2013 season features Hello Dolly! Already in rep. A Chorus
of Disapproval opens on Thursday, with the rest of the season to
follow.
Pitlochry Festival
Theatre's 2013 Season At A Glance
Hello Dolly! - Michael
Stewart and Jerry Herman's hit musical about a legendary matchmaker
continues PFT's focus on large-scale musicals.
A Chorus of Disapproval
– Alan Ayckbourn's look at a local am-dram outfit's attempts to
stage The Beggar's Opera returns to PFT for the first time since
1985.
Present Laughter –
Noel Coward's all too knowing look at the travails of a celebrity
lifestyle puts matinee idol Garry Essedine squarely centre-stage.
Single Spies – Two
plays by Alan Bennett look at two very English spies, as An
Englishman Abroad finds Guy Burgess turning up at actress Coral
Browne's Moscow dressing-room door, while A question of Attribution
finds Sir Anthony Blunt bumping into the Queen.
Lady Windemere's Fan –
Oscar Wilde dissects London society and marital misadventure in his
first major success.
Two – Jim Cartwright
looks at British pub life in an epic in which two actors play all the
customers.
Beyond the Summer
Season
The Steamie – Tony
Roper's much loved comedy set in a public laundry in 1950s Glasgow
returns to PFT for an autumn run in its first outing there since
2003.
It's A Wonderful Life –
For Christmas, Frank Capra's ultimate feelgood film is brought to
life in this Scottish premiere of Thomas M Sharkey's musical take on
the story.
The Herald, May 28th 2013
ends
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