The Playgoer: Inside the RNT

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Friday, July 18, 2008

Inside the RNT

Nice little 2-minute interview with the National's Nick Hytner embedded into Michael Riedel's column today.





Money quotes:

Asked if the RNT's £10 ticket initiative was meant as a youth recruiting tool:
It wasn't even just young people. A lot of people had been priced out of the market. We wanted people to come more than once or twice a year, and to be able to afford to come more than once or twice a year.
On Brits vs Yanks:
There's no shortage of talent in the American theatre, of course there isn't! Imagine! Giving the equivalent amount [as the RNT government subsidy] to those people in the American theatre, there would be an explosion. Nobody would come shopping [i.e. for talent & product] here.
For the record: that RNT subsidy? If I'm reading their most recent Annual Report (2007) correctly: £18,029,000

Translation: a little over 36 million bucks.

Other notable stats:
-That subsidy consists of only 40% of all income (for instance, they raked in over £14 million at the box office, almost equal)
-they ended 2007 decently in the black; a £187,000 surplus

Yeah, yeah Mike Daisey, I know we can't wait around for the US to become more like the UK (or "Sweden!" as I believe you put it) and "shit money into our mouths." But still, one can dream.

Plus, it may just be that our nonprofits could learn something just from how the RNT runs a business!

And to see what they're up to at RNT these days, check out their site:

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