Moderator: Yong-Ping Lee (Taiwan)/Chairman, Taipei Culture Foundation Chairman
Panelists : John Faulkner (UK)/ International Cultural Consultant
Bert Determann(The Netherlands)/ Co-Director in charge of management, Rotterdam Drama Theatre
Maria Chiu (Taiwan)/ Deputy Director, National Chiang Kai-Shek Cultural Center
Richard Chang (Taiwan)/ Director, Chiayi Performing Arts Center
by Bert Determann(the Netherlands)
Co-Director in Charge of management, Rotterdam drama Theatre
Ladies and gentlemen, although we make theatre productions in theaters all over the world, which mostly consist of performers on stage and an audience in the auditorium, the way we handle this is quite different when you look at it from country to country.
Holland, the Netherlands, are quite particular in this respect.
Although the Netherlands are not much bigger than Taiwan (41.000 sq km’s where Taiwan has 32.000) the amount of Dutch theatres is impressive: over 200. Some are small theatres, but 50 of them are fully equipped and capable of hosting a professional show. This is quite unique.
Why are there so many? Of course one of the main reasons is that every city wants a theatre of its own. We have to look into the Dutch subsidizing system to understand that better.
Most of what goes around in theatre in the Netherlands is subsidized.
Only a few bigger musical theatres are privately owned and managed. Theatres themselves are mostly city property and the capacity is in average about 800 to 1000 people. All personnel is contracted by the city. There is a tendency to privatize these theatres: mine is one of those privatized ones: it is a foundation, subsidized by the city of Rotterdam for about 6 million euro’s a year, with around 100 people involved. Costs of personnel: € 2.500.000,-
Whereas the own income on sales is € 1.000.000,- on a turnover of € 7.700.000,- Therefore about € 700.000,- is found at funds and sponsors.
So, the city (mostly) pays for the theatre and everything in it.
That is different for the theatre groups, dance companies and opera houses. They are subsidized by both the city and the national government.
This creates a system of two masters: the City wants the companies to perform in their home town, and the national government wants them to perform all over the country.
Now THIS is the situation (let’s call it a challenge) that has led to the Dutch travelling system. Every theatre group, ballet- or opera company has to tour around
Holland. That usually means: a show in one town and the next day a show in a city 50 kilometers further on.
In other words: the audience does not travel – the show does.
To be able to make this system a success, over the years, several practical measures had to be taken.
First let me say: it is not only in the Netherlands that this system of travelling exists (in Germany, Belgium and the UK for instance, the system is used as well) but Holland specializes in it. I personally even think it originates from the middle ages, where theatre companies, often invited, travelled by horse and carriage from city to city, even with foldable stages and curtains. In those days there were theatre battles and one would be the winner. Nowadays that is common with film, but not with theatre.
Anyway, the Dutch theatres are trained and equipped to quickly change shows.
A normal day in a Dutch theatre starts at 9.30am, when the truck of the visiting company arrives. They bring their own set and gear: most of the time they bring their own lamps, computers and sound equipment.
Of course that is not always the case and therefore all theatres have equipment of their own as well. In many cases the equipment is combined, to save money.
Nevertheless, the average day starts with an empty space. Because the show will start at 8.00pm this means that it is necessary for our personnel to be flexible and well practiced. Everything has to be done in one take: no second chances. When the show is done, the whole set is wrapped up and put into the trucks again, ready to go on to the next theatre in the next city on the next day.
This is, in my theatre, the case in most of the 550 events in our three venues each season. Needless to say that the costs have to be kept as little as possible. As personnel (as we have seen) is an important part of the expenses, the amount of personnel should be kept as small and flexible as possible.
With as little chances on failure as possible.
How do we do that?
I will take my own theatre, the City Theatre of Rotterdam, as an example.
First, let’s look into the infrastructure.
The stage needs to be fully equipped and pleasant to work on. As we have 550 events in two venues and a studio, a comfortable workspace is a necessity.
The loading docks have to be close to the stage and have to provide an easy way of loading and unloading. This seems an easy statement, but it is really not so common. Long hallways, even staircases and difficult corners, can be in the way. Our theatre has an elevator to bring the trucks up to the second floor.
A compatible sound- and light system is obligatory. In our case it’s all digitalized. All cables are glass, both for sound and light, and the system can be operated from a laptop anywhere in the building.
The flybar system in Dutch theatres is a case of its own. Because of the travelling system it is necessary to have relatively compatible flybar systems in every theatre.
Of course they are not all exactly the same, but it is possible to design your travelling show in a way it fits in every theatre. Software is mostly compatible, at least simply reproducible
Because of the ‘one day only performances’ it is obligatory to have an automated flybar system in every Dutch theatre. The system with ropes and counterweights is, (because of health and safety reasons) no longer allowed: this was declared law in 2007.
The investments, mostly done by the municipal governments, was immense: over 100 million euro’s.
A certified operator is in charge of programming and operating. We work on the shows (in our great auditorium, 900 seats) with 6 specialists and two overlapping shifts. The visiting companies bring an equal amount of technicians. I must say that is (for Dutch standards) a luxury situation.
The level of education is very important. Specialized schools and even high schools are providing for that. They educate designers and production leaders as well as specialized technicians. Our technicians are all educated specialists.
Second, the way of planning. That goes for the management of the work (how to plan the shifts, teams, and workload) as well as for touring. A complex system of working together in planning and performing is needed between theatres and companies.
To be even more flexible, in my theatre an investment of 2,5 million €‘s was recently done to get the best possible view-angle for the audience to appreciate the great variety of performances with the best possible sightlines: we now have an auditorium that can be put in any position we like: from flat with an orchestra pit to raked up to the first balcony.
This makes it possible to be even more flexible: opera or ballet benefit by different sightlines than drama does, where you want a more intimate setting.
As a side effect al chairs can be easily taken out of the lower part of the auditorium, making it more fit for for instance pop concerts.
Most of our planning systems are automated.
Of course there is always a thorough need for people management, as the system demands for a lot of flexibility. People management is your best tool to get the job done.
The secret is in the balance.
Improvisation is always needed. It is therefore necessary that our specialists (although they are divided in sound, light and fly system operator) can and must work on every aspect of the show. A sound technician can also work on the set or on the lights.
Or can even change over to our black box venue.
This requires a very practical, not very hierarchy based way of working, which is also quite unique and stands a long way from the union way which is common in other countries.
This may however never lead to neglecting formal rules and regulations. As was said earlier, health and safety regulations for instance, are to be taken very seriously. Penalties can be imposed. National and European rules are strictly followed. This is in contradiction to the need for flexibility.
To take care of that, special collective agreements on how to work are made: one for people working IN theatre and the other for people working in theater companies. This makes it possible to create compensating measures in order to be flexible enough.
We were honored to have been able to host an internship for a talented young lady in the Taiwanese theatre field, miss Shu Wen Yang.
Flexibility and professional education, in combination with absence of ‘strict hierarchy’ were amongst her first remarks on the Dutch system.
I was glad to hear it struck her as a good approach to get the Dutch way of working going.
Thank you very much for your attention.
I hope to answer possible questions during the panel discussions.
Thank you.
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Bert Determann (The Netherlands)
Co-Director in charge of management, Rotterdam Drama Theatre
Bert Determann is member of the board of directors of the Rotterdam City Theatre “Rotterdamse Schouwburg,” one of the most important theatres in the Netherlands. He is in charge of general management. This function is combined with his ownership of “VORM & DECOR SCENERY WORKSHOP,” also situated in Rotterdam. He is responsible for and in charge of artistic policy, governing and management. It is the largest independent scenery workshop in the Netherlands. “Vorm & Décor” specializes, due to the Dutch system, in travelling sets and scenery.
Bert was educated a sculptor at the academy of arts in Rotterdam. Already during his studying years the connection to theatre was established. Over 600 decors were made in the workshop over a period of more than 25 years.
Bert was member of the executive committee of VPT, the Dutch OISTAT centre for 10 years and member of the Technical Commission. Bert is involved in several cultural and societal activities and is an accurate organiser. A feel for structure and governing is combined with knowledge of the cultural field and entrepreneurship.
