DRAMATIC ENTRANCE

IT'S sad to see the Old Vic, the grand old lady of London theatre, lying dark for months at a time, as it has since the departure of Ed Mirvish in 1997. But a new initiative, designed to bring fresh blood into British theatre, may revive the old girl yet.

Called Old Vic New Voices, it was established early last year by Kate Pakenham, granddaughter of the late Lord Longford and once a director/producer on the BBC's successful fly-on-thewall series, Paddington Green.

"I was brought in to reenliven this marvellous space, to get people thinking about and looking at it anew, while helping new writers find a place to develop their work," she says.

New Voices has three main themes: to encourage new writers to find a voice, even if they may not have anything more than an idea and a desire to see it realised in the theatre; to attract a new generation of artists to the Old Vic; and to develop writing specifically for a proscenium-arch theatre such as the Old Vic.

BUILT in 1818, it was home to the National Theatre between 1963 and 1976, when such stars as Laurence Olivier, Peggy Ashcroft and John Gielgud trod its boards.

More recently, the Old Vic has struggled to find both productions and audiences for them, despite people such as Hollywood actor Kevin Spacey, Sir Elton John and London's most prodigious fundraiser, Sally Greene, being on its board (it receives no public subsidy).

The trend towards multiuse, multi-space, more intimate theatres - such as the Royal Court's late-1990s West End sojourn and the National Theatre's current (temporary) reconfiguration of the Lyttelton - leaves the Old Vic's 1,000-seater looking staid and old- fashioned.

Rumour has it that the super-trendy Almeida considered the Old Vic as its temporary home during its refurbishment in Islington, but preferred to set up shop in a converted bus station in King's Cross.

There is no shortage of theatre spaces in which new work can be produced, from rooms above pubs right through to the West End, but few of these venues actively seek to develop writers.

Schemes run by theatres such as the Bush or the National Theatre Studio are the exception.

Almost all new writing in this country is written for small spaces, so many writers, directors and technicians have no experience of the proscenium arch, the most imposing and demanding of theatre spaces.

Pakenham says: "Young writers that we have spoken to have ideas for bigger spaces but are just not encouraged to write for them.

is now enjoying its first month-long season using the Old Vic stage itself.

Last week there was a proscenium arch forum, in which (among others) directors John Caird, Michael Grandage and Richard Eyre took part; this week the best new play to come out of the Tuesday evening sessions is being workshopped; and over the next fortnight there will be a series of masterclasses for others in the scheme.

At the moment, these We are in the position to facilitate that."

New Voices was launched last summer and dozens of writers, directors and actors took an immediate interest in its programme of readings, workshops and discussions about the latest work, which can be just an idea or a complete script.

Approximately 200 people have taken part in regular get-togethers (and more than 2,000 have seen their work in performance) and the project activities are restricted to mailing-list members (anyone can join), but if more money becomes available, tickets to New Voices events may go on sale.

The best work selected from the Tuesday-evening forums from the past year is The Mushroom Pickers, the first play by 34-year-old Jacqueline McCarrick.

London-born of Irish parents, McCarrick has benefited from another New Voices' avowed aim - to attract people who may not necessarily have track records or even backgrounds as playwrights.

She started as a music journalist and then became a theatre director. "I always wanted to write, always knew I'd write, and New Voices has enabled me to run with an idea."

THE Mushroom Pickers will receive a rehearsed reading on the Old Vic's stage tomorrow.

"New writers don't normally visualise their work on a proscenium arch and I'm terrified and exhilarated at the thought," she says. "It has a cast of only six, but because of its subject matter (it is set in Ireland's border country of County Monaghan), it lends itself to the epic sweep of this space."

She is hopeful that The Mushroom Pickers will be produced commercially, but, ironically, that's unlikely to happen at the Old Vic; the theatre is a "receiving house" and does not commission new productions of its own.

But, insists Pakenham: "I'm determined that a new generation of artists will think of this space as their natural home. We're sowing the seeds of that."

_Anyone wishing to participate should contact: newvoices@oldvictheatre.com

Copyright 2002
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