RSC deal and Lloyd Webber theatre sale alters ecology of Theatreland
The landscape of the West End has shifted over the past two weeks with news of two major deals. The future of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) in London has been secured in a five-year deal that will see the company present its annual London Season in one of three Delfont Mackintosh-owned theatres in the West End. At the same time, Andrew Lloyd Webber has begun the long mooted sale of his Really Useful Theatre empire with a reported £12m deal to sell four of his theatres to an American producer.
This winter, the RSC?s Comedies Season will be presented at the newly named and refurbished Novello Theatre (previously the Strand Theatre). Thereafter, Delfont Mackintosh will make available either the Novello, the Albery Theatre (which will be re-named the Noel Coward Theatre by the end of 2006) or the Gielgud Theatre for a sixteen-week season each winter. In 2002, the RSC?s previous Artistic Director, Adrian Noble, controversially severed the company?s relationship with the Barbican. Since then, the lack of a permanent London base for the company has jeopardised its funding and led to criticism from the Mayor of London?s office. Last year, the RSC presented a major season at the Albery Theatre to an audience of over 75,000 with box office exceeding £1.6m. However, Vikki Heywood, Executive Director of the RSC, indicated that the search would continue for a permanent London base: ?We proved at the Albery that we can bring a distinctive RSC personality to the West End? [this] deal secures the Company?s future in London while we continue our search for a long-term home for the RSC in the capital.?
Meanwhile, Andrew Lloyd Webber?s attempts to sell off four of the smaller playhouse theatres from his twelve-strong portfolio of West End venues appear to have paid off, with suggestions that the American producer Max Weitzenhoffer, who already owns the Vaudeville Theatre, will be the likely buyer. The purported £12m deal will see the Apollo, Duchess, Lyric and Garrick Theatres change hands this summer. In 2000, Weitzenhoffer was among the bidders who lost out to Lloyd Webber when, together with capital investment firm Bridgepoint Capital, he took over Stoll Moss Theatres. Bridgepoint, which retained a 50% stake in the theatres, valued that deal at e224m (about £150m). While his office was unable to confirm that the deal had gone ahead, Lloyd Webber released a statement saying, ?I have always been keenly aware of the responsibility that comes with ownership of such valuable national assets and throughout this process have taken great pains to persuade my partner, Bridgepoint Capital, that we must sell only to someone who understands the particular nature of theatre and who will protect and preserve these very special buildings. I would stress that I intend to maintain a significant, if not all my current stake in the music houses.?
The price tag was highlighted by West End insiders as being indicative of the difficulties that theatre owners are facing in the current economic climate. Richard Pulford, Chief Executive of the Society of London Theatres (SOLT) said, ?The reported price of £12m is a very low figure for four prime sites in London.? Two years ago, an investigation by the Theatres Trust into the state of the West End?s theatre stock estimated that £250m was required to preserve and modernise the buildings over the next fifteen years. Negotiations are ongoing, with SOLT confident that a significant proportion of this £250m figure will be made available by public funding bodies. In the meanwhile, Cameron Mackintosh has begun a self-financed £35m programme of refurbishment and modernisation on some of his seven West End theatres.