We’ve been doing some Spring Cleaning here at Sydney Theatre Company. We’ve rearranged the cupboards, thrown stuff out and put some new labels on the jars. We’ve blown the dust off and… you get the picture. There will be some new things. Some reworked things with new names and a clearer purpose. The things that weren’t broke, we didn’t fix. Take the time to work out what’s changed and how, what interests you and take your pick. For us the 2009 Season is a beginning. It’s not everything that we hope to do but it is definitely a flavour. Above all what we are really keen to start exploring is simply Great Theatre.
That said we’d like to use this introduction to reacquaint you with the whole Company through all its new names. The major divisions are MAIN STAGE, NEXT STAGE (artists and artform development) and BACK STAGE (readings, forums, tours and more), not to mention our Education Program. There are various offerings and activities associated with each (and there are a lot). If you were really keen, you could probably find something to do here every week – we certainly do! You can learn about the Main Stage Season on this our brand new website. As for what’s going on with Next Stage, Back Stage and the Education Program - we’ll let you know the details later.
While we are on the naming thing – and by way of giving a thumbnail sketch of our long term plans – we’d like to delve into Sydney Theatre Company’s own name:First cab off the rank:
SYDNEY. In our time here, Sydney is going to be our main focus. We are going to encourage the whole city to be aware and very proud of this Company. Theatre isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but they can still be proud of the place and aware that it is serving an invigorating function in a city full of variety and opportunity. We hope to create cheaper and even free events for everyone to engage with the Company, even if they don’t come to one of our shows. We are going to work hard with the other arts companies and festivals along the Harbour Foreshore specifically to make this area a real and rewarding precinct.
We also want to engage with Sydney through stories that relate to our past and our present (but more of that in later seasons). Within the industry we want to connect to other companies to create a gateway and a pathway from Next Stage to the Main Stage for the young and emerging artists trying to make a career in this daunting metropolis, in whatever role or discipline.
THEATRE is the next word in the name to look at. Theatre is a place. A theatre is a structure that houses
a performance for an audience. You can see drama in a theatre, comedy in a theatre, dance in a theatre, even circus in a theatre. Theatre is a broad church full of variety and fantastica. In our time here we hope to push into every nook and cranny of what Theatre might be.
COMPANY can sound a bit corporate. But company has another meaning. Hanging around with other people is company. You can enjoy someone’s company. We hope we enjoy each other’s.
Have a look. There might be more in a name than Shakespeare thought.
Andrew Upton & Cate Blanchett, September 2008
