Bold, brave and ambitious changes are taking shape at Exeter Northcott Theatre since the appointment of its new artistic and executive director Paul Jepson.
With 20 years experience as a as a freelancer and director, his vision will see the theatre returning to producing some of its own shows from this Christmas.
The shake up at the Northcott will also see a new emphasise on nurturing local talent and giving the theatre a new identity that will set it apart from another, appealing to the different and the many.
Paul moved to South West five years ago and lives by the seaside in the South Hams. He set up Windswept Productions with writer Murray Lachlan Young and producer Matthew Linley, and is working on a new project.
Paul's impressive CV includes producing and directing for the Manchester Library Theatre, and West End credits include the award-winning Telstar by Nick Moran, subsequently made into a movie.
He was formerly appointed as the theatre's new artistic and executive at the beginning of the year, but has been working as the acting artistic and executive director since September.
What is your vision for the Northcott?
I have a series of plans which are firming up across the next three years. Broadly speaking, what I would like to do is move the theatre towards producing five of its own pieces of work a year.
That might take more than three years; It could take four years to get there.
This theatre is also here to originate and to identify talent, and support that talent. Then it becomes a wonderful vibrant centre for the city and the university.
Our relationship with the university is important. There's an awful lot we can do together, and we've moved quite quickly about how that can happen, such as expanding the programme of events at the university's Great Hall.
There is a director back in the building, which there hasn't been for quite some time. That probably has resulted in a certain lack of identity, and that's inevitable if you don't have a director.
When can audiences expect to see the first in house production staged?
We will work with a locally based company to produce a Christmas show this year for the first time in many years. I will announce more details in three weeks times because we've almost signed the deal with them.
It will be the first time we can say, 'You can see it here first'. Next year there will be shows that open here and tour.
Whilst there is a lot of good productions on the touring circuit, and a lot of theatres thrive merely on that work and sell it very well, I haven't got a lot of respect for that. It is a lot harder to do than people think , but if you want a place that attracts people, young practitioners and a place with a real buzz about it, you need to make your own stuff.
What show will be your biggest risk?
There's a show I'm planing to direct in autumn 2016 which has a named actor in it. It's a big famous play by a famous playwright that people would not normally see in a heavily subsidised theatre, and that's why I'm doing it. Because of what it is, it's a risk. Potentially it's something very beneficial to this theatre, as you will see.
We will be making stuff that people well want to see and you're going to have to book up otherwise you will have to travel elsewhere to see it. I don't think it's a feeling the theatre has had for quite a long time.
Will you be directing all the shows produced by the Northcott?
Sometimes we might produce work outright ourselves which I will direct or employ someone else to do. Longer term, I will publish a set of associates, they might be companies, individuals, creative teams, actors ir theatres. I want to build a mixture of relationships. It won't just be collaborations with people near Devon but other cities too. I want to encourage the process of identifying talent.
What do you think about criticisms that the Northcott shows lack broad appeal?
I think to some extent that has been a problem and will no longer be a problem. We are going to do a very broad range of work. We will get the best commercial touring productions on the circuit that are suitable to this venue. We will continue to collaborate with subsidised theatre companies such as English Touring Theatre. We will also continue to present dance and flagship companies, but also do our own work.
We will work with a smaller number of people and do fewer things but which are bigger and bolder, and have shows on for longer here.
How well is the Northcott doing financially?
We turn over something like about £1m. We get £325,000 from various forms of revenue support, and we've started to raise significant funds. It costs about £11,000 to £12,000 just to open the theatre every week before anything even happens. You can't mess up!
We have a very good finance department. In some ways, the department in the theatre is what I'm most proud of because they have to get us through an audit. It makes me very confident about this building and it means you know where you can take a risk.
What have been the Northcott's most successful shows recently?
George's Marvellous Medicine did about three time better than any Christmas show has done here for several years. We sold 12,000 tickets, but it could have sold about 70,000.
It had broad appeal and was on for long enough. That's why we have chosen this year's Christmas show as our first co-producing slot.
Another successful show was 1984. We could have sold it for three weeks running. The gala performance, our fundraising show just before Christmas, which had a list of very named actors, raised £20,000 in one night.
What influence does the Arts Council England have over the Northcott?
They have a lot of involvement. People, particularly in the city, are misnomer about the art council and its unhelpful. The art council doesn't turn up and tell me what to do. I make a case by submitting a business plan saying if I have this money I will do this and that. Frankly that process is helpful and has to be clearly articulated, detailed and robust. You can't run this sort of organisation with a light touch and hope it will be all right anymore.
Do you think Exeter needs a new theatre?
I'm very new on the scene here so in a way I'm the wrong person to ask. The energy the Northcott can provide to creative life in the city could increase quite considerably and could help the case for building a new theatre.
A vibrant Northcott is a win, win, and it will increase the city's commitment to theatre and performance in Exeter. It will only happen if this place is properly working ambitiously and collaboratively with the university and the city.
What do you think is one of the theatre's greatest strengths?
We are able to attract a very broad range of audience. Providing you're clever about it that becomes an advantage. What other theatre can sell a lot of tickets for George's Marvellous Medicine and also for 1984? We also sell commercial shows which you would expect to see at a number one receiving house.
One of our strongest audience groups is families which has been worked at very hard over the last five years.
Will the Northcott be taking productions out of the theatre?
I want to go back in the city in the summer. I don't think we will do an open air production. I don't want to do a sit down Shakespeare production but some sort of site specific show. I want that to happen, if possible, next summer.
I also want to be out in a transit van touring to the most distant places are audience comes from such as Torquay, Totnes and Taunton. We will take theatre to them such as village halls.
You've got to be bold, and confident about running a mid- scale theatre otherwise what's the point of them?
