Gisli Orn Garddarsson in A Matter of Life and Death, a co-production between Kneehigh and the National Theatre. Photograph: Tristram Kenton
Co-productions have become big business - both artistically and economically. A production made in Nottingham will now pop up in Ipswich; one staged at Birmingham could travel to Leeds and London. When Bristol Old Vic suddenly closed its doors, it mattered not just locally but nationally because it put so many co-productions in jeopardy. Co-production makes economic sense and often artistic sense too and it has become the buzz word in regional theatre since the theatre review offered buildings more money to engage in such activity. But when the money was allocated I was under the impression that it would be the whole of the theatre sector that would benefit because much of it would be used to create co-productions between touring companies and buildings.
With some excellent exceptions - such as the ongoing strong relationship between Pilot and the Theatre Royal in York, or the kind of co-productions forged between an on a roll company such as Kneehigh with many theatres - that simply hasn't happened to the extent that was envisaged. Instead of teaming up with touring companies, theatres have been teaming up with each other. The result is that not only have touring companies missed out on the funding and opportunity to make work, but regional theatre actually has fewer slots to offer to touring theatre because they are filling them with their own co-produced work. This is hardly what was envisaged by the Theatre Review. Touring is facing a crisis and something is very wrong when companies often find it easier to make co-productions with companies and theatres in Europe than in this country.
In fact the whole infrastructure of touring needs close attention from the Arts Council because even established companies with reputations riding high say that they are finding it harder and harder to book tours. The reality in British theatre is that the power is always where the money is - and that often means with the bricks and mortar. When they do succeed in booking a tour companies often find it can only be done on a deal that is advantageous to the theatre but not to the company and that the absence of marketing support means that tickets are not sold. The result: it's even harder to book a tour next time round.
Clearly the current model for touring is out of date and isn't working, and it's time for the Arts Council and companies to work in partnership and look at the whole situation and start again from scratch. A major bugbear is the inflexibility of the funding system that likes to pigeonhole companies into working only on one scale and which doesn't recognize the ambition of companies who want to tour to spaces other than theatres and arts centres. The current models simply don't encourage that. Touring is the lifeblood of theatre, but it is in danger of seeping away. One thought, maybe a daft one: Maybe touring companies need to stop eyeing each other up as competition and instead start forging new creative partnerships with each other and turning themselves into consortia so that they can have more clout and control, and maybe we need to see more of the kind of funding initative that allowed the This Way Up tours a couple of years back.
