New Works, New Audiences

How many times over the years have I heard theatre types telling me "We don't 'do' new works. Our audiences aren't interested in them, our company members aren't and we can't sell them."

I'm not disputing the difficulties historically, but everything you stage was, at some point, 'new'.

Be it a musical, a play or a pantomime, theatre repertoire started somewhere, gained recognition, notoriety, was chosen as worthy of performing and the rest is history.

The big issue for me is not that 'new works' per se are not popular.

The big issue is the way theatre companies go about selecting them, casting them, publicising them, staging them and selling them. It's not about it just being 'new'. It's about how you approach 'new'.

The real issue is companies don't like 'new'.

It scares them.

It's unknown and we don't like the unknown.

We see the unknown as risk and potential failure. 

We see risk as unacceptable, costly.

We don't see the potential that unknown - new- can bring.

You see risk, I see potential.

You see potential failure, I see opportunity.

You see your existing audience not liking 'new', I see a new audience being drawn in by 'new'.

Theatre isn't easy!

Audiences don't just turn up any longer in the numbers they did just because a company they always support is presenting their next production.

The following and patronage that non-professional theatre have enjoyed, has changed, as has the demographic of their audiences and their expectations. I believe their expectations are higher in respect of entertainment value, quality and value for money. Added to which that 'traditional' following who want to see 'traditional' repertoire are getting older. In 5 to 10 years time - and be very honest with ourselves - many of that ageing patronage will not be here. And if you insist on performing to the demands of an ever-decreasing, ever ageing clientele, neither will your company or theatre. 

Harsh? Yes. 

Honest? Yes.

The truth - admit it. Yes.

A potential theatre-goer wants to be engaged enough by the idea of seeing a show sufficiently to buy a ticket. Overly simple maybe, but we often forget that is where it all starts.

And consider this simple point: there is a potential audience out there bigger than your existing one.

Fact.

So, if we accept that there is a bigger potential audience out there that don't currently see your productions for whatever reason, do we really think it is solely down to the fact that you stage 'new' repertoire? They have never heard of you! Is it just possible that it is your existing repertoire that is keeping that huge potential audience away? And have you ever genuinely drilled down into the well-worn adage that many trip out about that their audience don't like coming to see things they don't know? I'm a bit boring. I like facts supported by data, not adages, rumour, gossip, hand-me-down logic. How we acquire useful, quality data to inform our approach is a conversation/article for another day, so if accepting for a moment it is not all about just the repertoire, what else is in play?

On their own, leaflets, posters, adverts, social media posts, websites or people do not sell theatre. But a savvy and well-timed combination of them all does. 

A positive, structured and well-planned approach will sell a production. The mindset and attitude of the whole company is essential. Appealing to a new audience will sell a production. A fabulous new work from an exciting new writer, being premiered by your talented company at your local venue is the mindset to sell a new production. Telling your friends you're doing a new play won't.

And if your company's approach is simply "It's seven years since we've done Annie and we know it's bums on seats" you will not exist for much longer. You will probably get an audience. But you will get the audience you deserve, the audience you have always had and standing still in any business - and this is a business no matter which way you look at it - does not survive. And I get bored with it. You get bored with it. And bored people eventually walk. They just go elsewhere to look for that future which excites and engages.

So what do we do about it?

I suggest you chuck the comfort blanket away.

I suggest you start investing in new talent for your company who will be excited by the prospect of a new repertoire that just might also reinvigorate the loyal members you've had for years and who might just enjoy change if they gave it a whirl.

I suggest you engage those new members who will be expert users of social media, to use that expertise and extensive friends network, to create a buzz about your next production in a structured, directed way.

I suggest you take a look at the huge range of new writers, new works that are out there.

New isn't wrong, new is an opportunity.

New is scary, but it can also be exciting.

And new is hard work. But new can be used to create a motivational team ethos.

New needs leadership, an open mind, commitment.

And it also means a chance to try new things and vitally, to implement a gentle, unthreatening process of change; making your theatre current, relevant, sustainable and if not future-proof, then resilient and not frightened of evolution. So, where might evolution begin?

• A marketing strategy for every show, not just the season
• A Social Media strategy which has a planned and themed message which evolves through the preparation, the rehearsals and the run up to the production. This is vital. I call  it 'spinning the message'. Every time you put anything out, give it a click on the dial. Add a new fact. Give it a new interest, angle. Give it another reason to come and see it. Keep it fresh, relevant, evolving. 
• Simply posting the same graphic, the same plea to watch a show on every social media feed you can get access to isn't marketing. It's social media spam. "For god's sake, not another post about that play!" Blanket posts don't grab attention. They turn your production posts into the leaflets that we all tip into the bin in the supermarket when we buy the TV guide, because the leaflets are all trying to sell us something we are bored being told about.
• Have an agreed message and key points for your members to communicate to their network about the amazing new work you have chosen
• I'm not engaged by a cast photo in the local rag the week before the show - so why do we still think a potential (and new) audience member might be? So use the local press with intelligence. Speak to them first. Engage them. Work on the human interest angle of the story of this new piece of theatre. What would interest you? Then tell them that and bin the thoughtfully posed photo of the two principals in costume. It was old hat thirty years ago and it doesn't float anybody's boat
• Get a piece of quality footage of a rehearsal on Social Media. And if it isn't quality, well, just don't even consider it otherwise, you will sink that boat!
• Get what I call a 'Rehearsal Review' out there. It gives the chance to include human interest and show that potential audience what an objective, respected third party thinks of what's in store for them weeks before the production.
• Publishers of new works such as Stagescripts, will undoubtedly be able to grant you a filming licence - so check out if the filming can be used for pre-production publicity. How hard is that?
• Using business speak, 'sweat your assets.' Find out the skills of new members and utilise their professional abilities if they are happy to. So many young people have a great skill set. Let them do what they are good at and learn to let go of what you have always done. It's not about losing loyalty, it's about supporting it.

And I'm not suggesting you sweep away what you have always done. Nobody bins a successful brand, but we need to service it, respect it, maintain it, update it. So why not simply make one play in a season of plays, a regular spot as a new work, a new writer and sell it as that? Or one new musical every few years? A rehearsed reading in your theatre with an invited audience of your loyal patrons to ease them into 'new'? If it is a new writer and they are local, bring them down to meet that audience, the performers, the media. If you let your innovation loose, so much is possible.
We've got to bin the urban myths.

New isn't bad, it's just the unknown.

New doesn't mean failure. 

But it does afford the opportunity to seize new opportunities.

That theatrical glass is half full folks and picking a new piece to invigorate your players, your performance and your public has got to be worth a try.

A late friend of mine used to say "If you always do what you've always done, you'll  always get what you always got." Go figure.

Professional theatre is publishing some exceptional profits at the moment - and it is on the back of some new and exciting works. Well I want some of that, don't you?

Come on board and see what a fantastic place could be at the other end of your journey to somewhere new.

Visit www.stagescripts.com or get in touch with me to find out what possibilities there are.

Copyright Martin Paul Roche (2015)