Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 1987 - 18

THE ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY'S SWAN THEATRE

It's like our brand-new spanking beautiful rehearsal
room upstairs, above the Swan. We're rehearsing
Richard II up there now; and we daren't move a chair!
We're afraid to scuff it up. Of course, it must be looked
after and it will be looked after, but then again, it's got to
be lived in. After a few seasons we'll all start to live in
the Swan and do things to make it ours. At the moment
it's the architect's still.
J.S.: What's the production budget, typically, in the
Royal Shakespeare Theatre, in The Other Place, and in
the Swan?
M.D.: In the main house on the whole, the production
budget [which doesn't include wages) is about £80,000
($120,000). In the Swan, this year, the complete budget is
£20,000 [$30,000), and The Other Place gets about
£5,000 or £6,000 ($9,000).
Most of our budget on The Rover, after costumes and
the rest, was spent on things that were originally designed but aren't there now; because we cut them; things
like a vast chandelier, and a vast picture. Those all cost
money, and they went. But it wasn't waste, because all
productions are /lone-ofs./I And if you find that this chandelier doesn't work, if the show will benefit from it not
being there, then it might as well go. But it's fair enough
that somebody thought the show would benefit from
that item being there.
I'm sure that if you want to niggle and pinpoint, you
can say there's wastage but it's negligible compared to
the overall running costs. There will always be critics
who can find places where we could do better, and we're
always striving to do better. But £20,000 in the Swan
isn't a lot of money. I think on the whole our production
costs are being kept down. But again, we need more. You
can't create vast and wonderful things that the audience
likes to see without spending money.
I think we're in a time when audiences like to see
elaborate sets. You've just got to look at the West End at
the moment with Mutiny on the Bounty and Chess.
They've got vast, amazing, magic sets with lasers and

things' We can't do that yet because we don't have the
money. We can do some pretty interesting things, but on
the whole, compared to other productions that cost millions, we're in a different ball game.
J.S.: On the basis of what you've seen in the past several
months, do you think the Swan is going to be successful
as an alternative device to help audiences discover that
there were people other than Shakespeare writing plays
400 years ago?
M.D.: We don't have to look to just the last several
months. If we look to the last several years or actually to
this company as a whole and gauge its spirit, and using
that spirit, look hence with the Swan, we've got a way of
seeing.
The Swan is a beautiful theatre, a very workable theatre. I think that over the years, we are going to have a
good time in there. We are going to see a lot of wonderful
old plays. I've no reason to believe that the Swan won't be
hugely successful. It will find its level and adjust to each
season and turn corners and maybe have to make the odd
U-turn. But on the whole, if we carry the spirit of the
RSC that exists in the rest of the organization through
into the Swan, I think we're going to hear a lot about the
work that comes out.
What will be interesting to see will be if we dig out
these works and play them successfully, will other theatres then pick them up? That's what I'll be looking for;
will the reps and other studio theatres say to us /lah, we
like that, what a lovely version of The Rover that is, can
we please do it?/I That will be a great step forward.
We don't have many new theatres opening in England.
They are few and far things. The Swan can make a very
big impression on theatre in this country if it continues
on this Elizabethan contemporary course. I've no reason
to believe it won't do that for a good many years.*

James I. Schempp is an Associate Professor of Theatre at
Murray State University in Kentucky.

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