Thanet Council’s Big Plan for Theatre
Thanet Council have moved quickly after their acquisition of the Theatre Royal, now its been saved for the nation, the council have shown there commitment and determination to succeed.If proof were needed, the council have announced their programme, first things first, a consultant has been appointed, second its been announced that it will close as soon as possible (April 10), so if you were looking forward to being entertained then think again.
In future strict controls will be in place, entertainment will be allowed to take place in September and the first two weeks in October.
After that nothing! Hurray for Mr Ezekiel well done!!!!!
When are those local elections, not a moment to soon.
To pervert the words of the song: 'Another closing of another show.'
ReplyDeleteWell the Council are being a bit previous with the facts. They have not yet aquired the Theatre Royal, no price has been agreed and nothing has yet been signed. They have however got the new interim manager in place setting up their view of the theatres future, even though nothing was supposed to put into place until the sale was completed. So much for the council keeping to agreements!
ReplyDeleteThe current staff are still there and still working and have not yet been given their redundancy notices. All shows up to and including the Gang Show are still on and reserves are still be taken for the later April shows in their brochure.
It ain't over until the Fat Lady sings and she is currently still in the dressing room.
It appears from the latest letter from his highness S. Ezekial, that the council will be running the theatre in future. He bleats on about "we" obviously meaning the council, when, unless I'm going mad, it will be the Theatre's Board of Trustees who will be in charge, because the council are buying the building, not the business. And is not the Pratley plan written to that effect? Did not Mr. Samuel state that the Trust would lease the theatre? Oh and by the way Mr. E., Robert Sanderson, according to the Pratley business plan, must be employed by the Trust, not the council, so where are you getting the money from to pay him? And if you had bothered to read the plan, it has an arithmetical error of £10,000!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your input on this one Chris clearly Thanet council has responded in maybe a timely way, as you say it was broken in financial terms, but had the trust seen more generous support over the last few years, things may well have been different.
ReplyDeleteJust think when the local council was allegedly bunging Cosmos £40,000 grand for package holidays to Virginia via the planet Thanet, or indeed writing off a million or more on uncollected rates what this money sprinkled on the Theatre Royalmight have acheived.
Perhaps the chocolate fountain fund could have been raided or even you could stop giving away free parking to staff and save £300,000 and use that to subsidise some entertainment at the Royal .
Locals might appreciate some money squandered on real entertainment instead of the seemingly endless parade of third rate rubbish at the Winter Gardens take this as possible example “An evening with Gordon Smith (who he)? Gordon Smith is one of the top psychic mediums and spiritual teachers in the UK . Presumably, he’s just what the Winter Gardens needs, some one who can actually connect with dead and dying that presumably makes up the audience.
Raid the council’s fat cat consultant’s fund and entertain us!
Quite right Tony, I'm sure Ezikiel/Samuels said recently that they couldn't afford to go on (occasionally) subsidising the Royal but then find the money ti give the new (ridiculous) community plan 75 grand for five years.
ReplyDeleteAnd who was responsible for that appalingly insensative press release this week? Discos for the over 60's? It's a theatre for gods sake with raked stage and auditaurium (that means sloping Mr E!)not a village hall has he actually been and looked at the Royal? And giving the impression that the new man was already running the theatre when the current staff are still hard at work there is an insult to their dedication.
Oh and I see the new plan seems to call for more opportunities for young people to get involved in learning about theatre craft and performing on a real stage, so what is one of the first things he wants to do? It's to cancel the Stargazers Easter Theatre School which gives kids the opportunity to do just that. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.
Perhaps with election time here the people of Thanet, those that elected Sandy Ezekiel, Chris Wells, and co, should put their votes where their mouths are and kick them out.
ReplyDeleteThere must be someone out there who is:
a-sensible
b-non corrutible
c-not incompetent
or d-not deaf, who can stand up and say, "I listen to what the people say, I shall do what they ask".
We all know that Sandy Ezekiel treats Thanet as his personal fiefdom and we, the electorate, are his serfs. Perhaps there is someone out there who doesn't accept brown paper bags with his official post?