THERE are not enough arts productions in Western Australia to create a ‘theatre-going culture’, according to Black Swan Theatre Company artistic director Tom Gutteridge.
His frustration with this state of play was such that Mr Gutteridge used it as the catalyst for a new partnership between the Black Swan Theatre Company and emerging arts organisation Steamworks Arts Productions.
Mr Gutteridge believes the collaboration has the potential to generate more performances over time, helping to develop the State’s theatre-going culture.
“It’s about artistic vitality and development and ways of working. I hope that we end up doing genuine collaborative works into the future,” he told WA Business News.
The three-year deal provides Steamworks with significant financial assistance, including public liability insurance cover, workers’ compensation cover, technical advice and access to a formidable list of sponsors.
For Steamworks artistic director Sally Richardson, the deal ensures a long-term future for her company.
“Big companies tend to support one-off shows but this agreement is quite different for us,” Ms Richardson said.
“The aim of this is so that in three years time we will be an ongoing privately funded, independent arts organisation.
“We get the opportunity to meet their [Black Swan] sponsors and that is something that is really hard to do as a young company. People don’t know whether you’re going to last five minutes.”
Mr Gutteridge said supporting an emerging organisation was likely to result in the production of more works, which inevitably would help create a culture in which more people attend theatre productions.
“Competition is a myth in the arts because we’re all subsidised. My attitude to work has always been a collaborative one. If you think you’re in competition then you’re heading toward a path of being irrelevant,” he said.
“The more work there is the more density there is and the better it is for everyone.
“It will build audiences for both of us. It’s about creating local culture so it generates numbers.”
Mr Gutteridge said the partnership would help Black Swan Theatre Company grow artistically.
“We’re getting just as much out of it as they are. Maybe not in direct dollars and cents, but my real interest is to do with the idea of our theatre company, which is the largest in the State, having a really strong relationship that’s more in a research and development area,” he said.
“As companies get more established there is the danger that you lose touch with the initial spark that drives what you do.”
Mr Gutteridge said Ms Richardson and her company would provide Black Swan Theatre Company with new approaches to theatre production.
“Sally [Richardson] has a strong focus on physical theatre and I come from very much a story teller end. She has a strong focus on the actor and space and she has a dance background,” he said.
Steamworks’ most recent success was its production, Savage Grace, which won the Best Production 2001 at the Blue Room Awards.
Its 2004 production, Drovers Wives, is scheduled to open nationally next year.
