— read write play

Nearly 200 arts organisations in England have been told that their Arts Council funding will end from next April:

The National Student Drama Festival, for example, founded in 1956 and with starry alumni that include Simon Russell Beale, Pete Postlethwaite and Meera Syal, has been told to expect to lose its £52,000 annual grant, which could jeopardise its annual festival in Scarborough, taking place in three months.

Holly Kendrick, the festival’s director, said: “We think that this decision is unreasonable, but it is particularly serious for us because of the timing. We have commitments three months ahead. We now have to find a third of our funding at impossibly short notice.” The group said it had recently been discussing plans with the council that carried up to 2010. [...]

The Exeter Northcott Theatre has been told to expect to lose its £547,000-a-year grant from April 2009. It received the news as it reopened after a £2.1m redevelopment programme that had seen it closed for nearly a year.Steve Gratton, chairman of the Northcott, said: “I simply cannot understand why the Arts Council would … allow public money to be spent on its redevelopment, and then pull the plug just as the theatre reopens.”

The BBC reports that the blasphemy case against Jerry Springer: The Opera has been dismissed:

[T]he two senior judges at the High Court said the 1968 Theatres Act prevented any prosecution for blasphemy in relation to public performances of plays – and the 1990 Broadcasting Act prevented any prosecution in relation to broadcasts.

They said it was reasonable to conclude Jerry Springer – The Opera “in context” could not be considered as blasphemous, as it was not aimed at Christianity, but was a parody of the chat show genre.

Those are two separate arguments: first, that the Theatres Act effectively prevents any prosecution for blasphemy for public performances, and secondly, that this particular instance was not in any case blasphemic.

This week’s installment of the attempt to sue the producers of Jerry Springer: The Musical for blasphemy neatly illustrates the impact of British law on the stage since the closure of the Lord Chamberlain’s Office, and the introduction of the Theatres Act (1968).

In dismissing permission to issue summons in the original case – now under appeal at the High Court – District Judge Miss Caroline Tubbs argued prosecution was prevented because of s2(4) of the Theatres Act 1968:

 ”No person shall be proceeded against in respect of a performance of a play, or anything said or done in the course of such a performance – (a) for an offence at common law where it is of the essence of the offence that the performance or, as the case may be, what was said or done was obscene, indecent, offensive, disgusting or injurious to morality.”

A few overdue thoughts, post-Fringe 2007:

1. The narrative in the media that there was “too much comedy” at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival was both strange and unexamined. In actuality, theatre and comedy represent roughly equal proportions of the Fringe – theatre has slightly more shows, in fact.

It’s never been clear why comedy should have to represent a smaller proportion of the total shows; if the argument is that they take a larger proportion of ticket shares and that this impacts directly on theatre sales.. well, we’re just admitting that the public doesn’t actually want to cram into converted cupboards to watch theatre. Comedy? Maybe it doesn’t matter what the venue is like if the bar is open.