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| Adam Spreadbury-Maher |
I have been the artistic director of the King’s Head Theatre, a leading off-west end fringe theatre in Islington, for three years. Sometimes it’s assumed that my job is inherently different to that of an artistic director of a subsidised theatre – and in one or two ways, it is.
Working at an unfunded theatre can give you a certain artistic freedom, allowing me to seek out exciting and inspiring work to be staged at the King’s Head. New writing is a huge part of the future of British theatre and, at the King’s Head, I have the freedom to support such work. Of course on the other hand, receiving no public funding does mean I constantly have to think of the theatre’s financial future. This is something especially important at the King’s Head, at which we have a bespoke Equity agreement to ensure all our performers receive a legal and union approved wage. It’s something that we are very proud of, but it does have a huge financial impact on the company, that the vast majority of fringe theatres simply don’t have.
However, I think there are a lot of myths about the fringe and its differences from subsidised theatre. A lot of people see the fringe as a means to an end – directors hoping for a transfer to the West End, actors hoping to be spotted by a casting director and whisked off to grander stages. This can be the case but, for me, it isn't for the fringe's primary role. As artistic director of the King’s Head I do all I can to support the idea that the fringe is an end in itself – not just a springboard for those who want to work elsewhere, but a place to produce exciting, daring work that probably couldn’t be produced in most larger subsidised or commercial theatres.
Another myth is that the fringe is for young professionals just starting out and who don’t quite know what they’re doing yet. My experience of the fringe is very different to this. A great number of the professionals who I work with are internationally recognised, highly skilled performers, writers, directors, designers and producers; many of whom have worked in much larger and richer theatres.
Nicholas Bishop and Jennie Gruner, photo credit: David Green
Working on the fringe presents a lot of challenges you wouldn’t encounter elsewhere. I’ve just opened John Gielgud and Terence Rattigan’s adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities, originally written in 1935. In a larger venue with a bigger budget we could easily have built sets (of boats, courtrooms, chateaux and more) to match the grand scale of the play. However, producing an ambitious script on a shoestring budget can be hugely rewarding creatively – and so we have eight actors playing 40 roles, a white catwalk that’s transformed by LED lighting, beautiful costumes, and props and sound design being inventively used to tell this epic tale. When it presents you with challenges like that, the fringe definitely doesn't let you get away with 'not knowing what you’re doing'.
I haven’t delved too far into the day-to-day job of being an artistic director, partially because (especially with the upcoming opening of The Hope Theatre, a new writing venue I’m opening just down the road from the King’s Head Theatre on Upper Street) I’ve been preoccupied by larger questions lately. I’m aware that, as the artistic director of the oldest pub theatre in London, and soon the newest, I’m in a position of responsibility. I’m responsible for creating a positive environment for inspiring work to be made, for supporting the people who collaborate on the productions staged at the theatre, and for ensuring the King’s Head promotes the kind of work that shows theatre, not simply fringe theatre, at its best.
Adam Spreadbury-Maher
Adam Spreadbury-Maher is the artistic director of the King’s Head Theatre and director of Terence Rattigan and John Gielgud’s stage adaptation of Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities. The production runs at the King's Head Theatre until 19th October 2013.
Please visit www.kingsheadtheatre.com for further information.
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