Annual Report 2009/10

Welcome A theatre company is more than the work it produces,

it is also about the impact it has on those who share in it.

The Nuffield’s work takes place not just on stage, in the

street, in schools, but in the head and in the heart.

It is characterised by variety, inventiveness, imagination

and skill. And it is growing – both the programme and

the audience for it – as this report admirably attests.

How is this possible in a recession? Because we have

creative and resourceful people working for us and with us,

because we are adaptable and always determined to provide

our community with the best we can offer, and because we

are supported by enlightened and committed funders.

We know we face a challenging time ahead as public funding

reduces. We know we may have to be even more enterprising

in our approach. Nevertheless, we remain dedicated to

providing a diverse programme of quality theatre, on the

Highfield campus, in the city centre and further afield.

We are wholeheartedly behind Southampton City

Council’s plans for a revitalised and expanded cultural

quarter and we are committed to continuing to work in

partnership with other arts organisations and artists.

It is a pleasure to present this report which reflects

the vitality at the heart of The Nuffield.

Highlights of 2009/10

Key role in the cultural development of Southampton

Development of Southampton's New Arts Complex (SNAC) •

with Southampton City Council and the SNAC arts partners

Co-creation of • Art at the Heart, the City Animation Project

Production of • Midsummer Dreams, the first ZEPA/

Art at the Heart project attracting 7,000 people

Influential role in Southampton Heritage and Arts People (SHAPe), •

and development of the City’s Cultural Olympiad plans

Delivery of a Southampton Cultural Olympiad event, •

and two PUSH4Culture (Hampshire, Southampton, and

Portsmouth’s Find Your Talent programme) projects

National and international collaborations

Southampton’s artistic partner in ZEPA – a partnership of •

four French and five English outdoor arts companies

British Council funded artistic exchange project with •

Wan Smol Bag Theatre in Vanuatu, Massive Theatre

in Auckland and Conch Theatre in Wellington NZ

Circus audience/programme development relationship with Crying •

Out Loud including involvement from Jeunes Talents Cirque Europe

Host organisation for Apples & Snakes South •

East office, and sold out launch event

Co-production of • The Winter’s Tale with Headlong and Schtanhaus

and collaboration with Platform 4 on Starlight Picture Palace

Collaboration with Hampshire Constabulary to produce Peeler, •

an educational production about honour based violence

Acclaimed artistic and educational work

Excellent critical acclaim: The Guardian’s Pick of the Week, 4 stars •

in The Times – The House of Bernada Alba, The Independent’s

top 5 Christmas shows – Wind in the Willows, The Guardian

4 star review and Pick of the Week – The Winter’s Tale

Nuffield Writers Group 2009 ‘graduates’ early success including •

two with fringe productions, another as runner up for the BBC’s

prestigious Alfred Bradley Award, a fourth developing a sitcom

Forces, Forces, Everywhere• and Blood on the Library Floor – two

ground breaking education projects delivered with the University

of Southampton’s ISVR department and local schools

Apprenticeships for 3 theatre trainees under the InterACT •

scheme and one young director on the ITV Director scheme

More facts and figures for 2009/10

Year end surplus of £29,850•

Total audience up by 4.7% and adult theatre audience up by 7.4%•

Nuffield audience development project set up new links with •

164 local groups

Arts Council commendation as one of the country’s most •

successful theatres for the delivery of the Free Theatre scheme

325 professional performances at the theatre, 98 •

performances on tour, and 526 participation opportunities

13 Nuffield Theatre productions, including 4 new plays •

68 visiting productions at The Nuffield Theatre•

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Stephen Boyce

Chair, Board of Trustees

Patrick Sandford

Artistic Director

Kate Anderson

Executive Director

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Box O f f i ce: 023 8067 1771

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This Annual Report is sponsored by Carswell Gould. Supporting the arts since 1996. www.carswellgould.co.uk

Strategic Developments 2009/10 was a challenging year for the arts. The recession

affected income, and at year-end changes in government policy

and funding levels were anticipated as the country awaited the

elections. In Southampton, this position of uncertainty was

further impacted by Southampton City Council’s major review of

its grants and Arts Council’s awaited decision about its funding

of the Southampton New Arts Complex (SNAC). For The Nuffield

this unstable external environment has come at a time of

significant strategic growth, requiring an intelligent, flexible and

creative approach to ensure our ongoing healthy development.

The cultural growth of the city and the cultural confidence of its

people are vital to our long term artistic strategy and audience

development plans, and therefore as we look forward, it is encouraging

that despite the funding challenges Southampton City Council has

remained determined in its vision to develop a cultural quarter

with an arts complex at its heart. Throughout the year we worked

closely with Southampton City Council and the SNAC arts partners

(John Hansard Gallery, Art Asia and City Eye) on this project and

significant achievements have been made in the areas of design,

governance, vision, audience development and fundraising. Most

crucially, Grosvenor was appointed as the preferred developer

and Southampton City Council raised its financial commitment to

ensure that the arts complex could be achieved. The Arts Council’s

decision on funding is anticipated as this report goes to print.

The development of outdoor arts and audience development activities

has become a significant part of our work this year. The Nuffield is

working with the other SNAC arts partners as co-curators of Art at the

Heart, an audience development and City Animation Project which

launched in spring 2009. We are leading Southampton’s artistic work as

part of ZEPA, an Interreg funded Anglo-French outdoor arts project. Our

first ZEPA project, Midsummer Dreams, involving Transe Express and

Walk the Plank took place on 27 June 2009 and attracted an estimated

7,000 people. We were also involved with other key projects in the city

this year including the Cultural Olympiad and PUSH4Culture. The Nuffield

was appointed as one of the theatres to deliver A Night Less Ordinary,

the Free Theatre scheme for under 26 year olds. This project fitted well

with our audience development strategy, and it has proved extremely

successful with 2,728 members signed up to the scheme at The Nuffield.

We recruited for a new role of Audience Development Officer and

developed an audience development strategy for the Free Theatre

scheme, SNAC and The Nuffield’s core work. Through this work,

we have made links with 164 local groups new to the Nuffield,

including 74 groups supporting disabled people in the region and

36 youth service projects. We are also delighted to report that

our total audience has increased by a further 4.7% this year.

We refurbished our offices in the summer, to better accommodate our

staff including the new Audience Development Officer, and Apples &

Snakes South East office (see Collaborations and Visiting Companies

below). We also invested in coaching, mentoring and training for

our staff, and development opportunities for our Board. Finally,

despite being a difficult year financially we are delighted to report

that we managed to achieve a small surplus of £29k at year end.

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Apples & Snakes

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Midsummer Dreams

“ Katherine Tozer is outstanding as the crippled Martirio, so eaten up by longing it is as if she is being consumed from the inside out. Best of all, though, is Ann Mitchell’s superb Bernarda Alba, who presides over her daughters like a malevolent mother superior” The Guardian on The House of Bernarda Alba

The House of Bernarda Alba

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Nuffield Productions and Tours

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Our own productions continued to focus on new writing

and emotionally rich classics and we produced a total of 13

new productions including 7 shows on the main stage (2

more than in recent years). Production highlights included

The House of Bernada Alba with Ann Mitchell in the leading

role (Guardian Pick of the Week, 4 stars in The Times),

Wind in the Willows (one of the top 5 Christmas shows,

The Independent), Peeler, a new play by Maggie Neville

funded by Hampshire Constabulary (their first foray into

using the arts to help in crime education), and our critically

acclaimed co-production (with Headlong and Schtanhaus)

of The Winter’s Tale which received a 4 star review and Pick

of the Week in The Guardian, and which toured nationally.

This was part of an ongoing collaboration with

Headlong to give young gifted directors a chance

to work on major classics. This project continues

in 2011 with The Gate’s Natalie Abrahami

directing A Midsummer Night’s Dream for us.

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Alice in Wonderland

Peeler

Bloodshot

“ Simon Slater’s storytelling is superb... Bloodshot combines outstanding acting and a gripping plot, resulting in one of the best plays I have ever watched” The Daily Echo on Bloodshot

“ Relentlessly gripping and intensely thought-provoking... an outstanding example of how theatre can make an important statement about a volatile issue, while simultaneously entertaining an audience” The Daily Echo on Peeler

All of our work aspires to excellence, our challenge is to develop

audiences for the more demanding end of the spectrum and

the delicate balance of excellence and accessibility is an

ongoing and rigorous focus of our programme. This year, with

the recession affecting the box office we programmed a number

of more immediately popular titles such as Wind in the Willows,

Alice in Wonderland and a new one-man thriller. This work

helped support our more ‘challenging’ productions and was

complemented by our significant audience development activities.

We were delighted that again this year our audience numbers

rose and our attendance for adult theatre increased by 7.4%.

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The Wind in the Willows

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“ This is a really terrific touring production: uncluttered, good at storytelling, neatly designed with a nod to the 1930s, and full of nifty touches” The Guardian on The Winter’s Tale

In response to the recession, we also adapted our touring

strategy and undertook a trial short tour of a midscale children’s

piece at Easter. Alice in Wonderland played at The Haymarket

Theatre, Basingstoke and Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford. The

production was well received and next year we plan to develop

this model further. Our touring also took us abroad this year

when we received British Council funding to take The Rime of the

Ancient Mariner to Wan Smol Bag Theatre in Vanuatu, Massive

Theatre in Auckland and Conch Theatre in Wellington, NZ.

The Winters Tale

Betrayal

Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Artistic collaborations are increasingly important to our strategic

development, and stimulating to our staff and audiences.

We rigorously choose companies whose voices, production styles,

and audience appeal are different from our own and we have long term

relationships with a number of specialist companies such as Crying

Out Loud and The Comedy Bar in order to develop our programme

and audiences for key areas of work such as circus and comedy.

We also have excellent co-production relationships with, for instance,

Schtanhaus, Headlong and Forest Forge, as well as international

artistic relationships. Our ZEPA partnership of four French and five

English outdoor arts companies has been a rich area of development

for our artistic, production and administrative teams this year.

Collaborations and Visiting Productions

Art at the Heart, the City Animation Project (ACE funded) is curated

by The Nuffield together with the other SNAC arts partners, and

has provided more opportunities for the development of our

artistic partnership and work with other Southampton artists.

This year we also became the host organisation for Apples

& Snakes’ South East office. Pete Hunter, a highly respected

performance poet, was appointed as Apples & Snakes co-

ordinator and the company’s South East base launched

in October with a two day event at the theatre.

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1110 Hansel and Gretel

Spymonkey’s Moby Dick

Circo de la Sombra

“ There is an eccentric playfulness to proceedings... the show may not be Grimm, but it is full of merry grotesquerie” The Guardian on Hansel and Gretel

“ Brilliant, slippery, deliciously sharp and witty” The Guardian on If That’s All There Is

“ Must be the funniest show on any stage in Britain at the moment” Birmingham Post on Spymonkey’s Moby Dick

“ Sharp, witty and poignant... a beautiful pipe dream of a show” The Guardian on A Western

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During the year, we presented 30 adult theatre companies whose

work included new writing, physical, aerial, circus, site-specific

and puppet work, as well as performance poetry and live art. We

choose visiting companies carefully and include the best national

and international work (including this year Circo de la Sombra,

Kneehigh, Out of Joint and English Touring Theatre), together

with smaller-scale and emerging companies/artists (including

Stan’s Café, Shunt artist Layla Rosa, Claire Dowie, Look Left Look

Right, Action Hero, Jon Haynes (Ridiculumus), Inspector Sands,

You Need Me and Publick Transport, plus South East based Still

Point Theatre, Other Place Productions and The Maydays).

The Asian strand of our programme, presented with Art Asia, is an

important ongoing part of this work and is in constant development.

As well as Peeler, this year we programmed Tamasha’s Wuthering

Heights, Hathi Productions’ Kahani Sapnon Ki and Out of Joint’s

Mixed Up North. We now have a regular and highly successful

programme of stand up comedy which attracts young people, adds

to our income and extends our reach to non-theatre-going audiences.

This year the comedy programme achieved 89% capacity. We also

programmed 20 children’s productions playing on a Saturday morning.

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What if...?

The Caravan

Midsummer Dreams

“ Look Left Look Right’s The Caravan makes small beautiful... bursting with warmth, charm and honesty” Time Out on The Caravan

“ We were absolutely gobsmacked – it was quite the most amazing spectacle. I felt very proud to be a resident of Southampton. It was lovely to see so many people, both young and old, enjoying themselves.” Audience member – Midsummer Dreams

Artist Development, Education and Community

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Development and learning are at the heart of The Nuffield’s ethos

and activities. The more visible aspect of this work includes The

Nuffield’s acclaimed Writers Group, a two year course for professional

writers. Eleven members completed the course in December 2009,

and 13 new members, chosen from a field of 90 candidates started

in January 2010. The outgoing group has already started to make its

mark – two with fringe productions, another as runner up for the BBC’s

prestigious Alfred Bradley Award and a fourth developing a sitcom.

In 2009/10 we also mentored two actors and a theatre

director on the InterACT scheme and Jack McNamara, a

new theatre director, completed his one year placement

with us under the ITV Director scheme, directing his first

main stage production of Betrayal by Harold Pinter.

Alice in Wonderland

Betrayal in rehearsal

“ A wonderful cast of eight are superbly augmented by an abundance of talented youngsters and the mix is a joy to behold. Matthew Cullum is an exuberant and energetic toad and his antics delight the audience” The Stage on The Wind in the Willows

We continued to produce a prolific education and community

programme in 2009/10 including four educational touring shows,

Nuffield youth theatre groups and Saturday drama groups, regular

workshops and a number of significant educational and community

projects. During the year there were some key changes to the

department staffing. After 15 years our Youth and Community

Director, Fran Morley, left in September and Tim Ford, our new

Participation Director replaced her in March 2010. We also

extended the hours of our Producer of Community and Education

Projects, who now also produces the ZEPA outdoor work.

Box O f f i ce: 023 8067 1771

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The Lost HourTitus Andronicus

Key work in the year included two PUSH4Culture (Find Your Talent)

projects. The first involved 30 young people from Thornhill Plus You

and Hampshire Youth Options IMPACT and the second project was part

of The Lost Hour which took place simultaneously in Southampton,

Gosport and Portsmouth. We undertook two collaborations with

the University of Southampton, Forces, Forces, Everywhere – an

arts and science project involving teachers and students from

Salisbury High School, and Blood on the Library Floor, part of

National Science and Engineering Week. We also ran Hampshire

Drama Conference, a day-long workshop for 30 Hampshire drama

teachers, the Nuffield Teachers Focus Group, Website Challenge for

local schools, regular schools workshops and INSET sessions.

For a second year we were awarded a grant by Children and the Arts,

to work with Vermont School for children with challenging behaviour,

Bassett Green Primary School and Newlands Primary School in

Millbrook (both serving areas of significant need/deprivation).

Other work in the year included Medical Humanities, a project

we have pioneered with the University of Southampton whereby

a unit of drama work is incorporated in the first-year for

medical students, and Starlight Picture Palace, a collaboration

with Platform 4, to help them deliver a creative project with

Southampton’s Alzheimer’s Society and The Connections Club.

Nuffield Theatre Company Productions The House of Bernarda Alba by Federico García Lorca,

directed by Patrick Sandford

The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare,

directed by Simon Godwin – The Nuffield Theatre Company and

Schtanhaus in association with Headlong

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner adapted and directed by Russ Tunney

Betrayal by Harold Pinter, directed by Jack McNamara

Peeler by Maggie Nevill, directed by Patrick Sandford

Coral written and directed by Russ Tunney

Great Bleak Expectations written and directed by Russ Tunney

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, directed by Patrick

Sandford

Bloodshot by Douglas Post, directed by Patrick Sandford

Alice in Wonderland adapted from Lewis

Carroll and directed by Russ Tunney

Nuffield Education Projects Nuffield Writers Group

InterACT and ITV director’s scheme

Nuffield Teachers Focus Group

Forces, Forces, Everywhere – an arts and science project

Website Challenge for local schools

Blood on the Library Floor – project for National Science and

Engineering week

Regional centre for Artsplan

Schools workshops and INSET sessions

Hampshire Drama Conference

Two PUSH4Culture projects

One Creative campus project

Four youth theatre and four drama groups

Hampshire Youth Theatre

Medical Humanities – University medical students project

Starlight Picture Palace collaboration with Platform 4,

Children and the Arts project

Half-Term Workshops for 3-15 year olds

Adult workshop programme

Visiting Company ProductionsCirco de la Sombra | Produced by Crying Out Loud

Hansel and Gretel | Kneehigh and Bristol Old Vic

Home of the Wriggler | Stan’s Cafe

Spymonkey’s Moby Dick | Spymonkey and The

Royal & Dearngate, Northampton

Mixed up North | Out of Joint and Octagon Theatre Bolton

Paperweight | Top of the World

Voodoo Vaudeville

The Art of Catastrophe | Still Point Theatre

Wuthering Heights | Tamasha and Coliseum Theatre

in association with Lyric Hammersmith

The Caravan | Look Left Look Right

Dreams of Violence | Out of Joint and Soho Theatre

We Can Be Heroes | Company F Z

Viva Voce | Apples & Snakes

How it Ended | You Need Me

What If..? | Layla Rose presented by Crying Out Loud

The Family | Rogue Theatre

Kahani Sapnon Ki (Our Dream Story) | Hathi Productions

Buy Little Buy Less | Claire Dowie

The Hypochondriac | English Touring Theatre

and Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse

Daily Echo! The Musical! | The Maydays

The Haunted Moustache | Other Place Productions

451 | Apples & Snakes

Andersen’s English | Out of Joint and Hampstead Theatre

The Department of Smelling Pistakes | Publick Transport

If That’s All There Is | Inspector Sands

A Western | Action Hero

The Poof Downstairs | John Haynes

In the Shadow of Picture Frames | Green Eyed Zero

23 Saturday Children’s productions 17 Stand-up Comedy performances

Funded by Supported By

Nuffield Theatre Trust Board Hemi Bhatt

Stephen Boyce (Chair)

Richard Cutler

Alex Darbyshire

Cllr Edward Daunt (SCC)

Fiona Dorman-Jackson

Jo Doyle (University of Southampton)

Cllr Peter Edgar (HCC)

Christopher Gordon

Lynne Lockyer (Vice Chair)

Cllr Jeremy Moulton (SCC)

Jenny Palmer

Pam Robertson (Vice Chair)

The Nuffield Theatre gratefully acknowledges the support received from: ADAPT

Ernest Cook Trust

Ford Britain Trust

Garfield Weston Foundation

John Lewis Partnership

Prince’s Foundation for Children and the Arts

Ronald Duncan Literary Foundation

The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust

The Foundation for Sports and the Arts

Artistic & Administration Artistic Director Patrick Sandford

Executive Director Kate Anderson

Assistant to the Directors Alison Thurley

Theatre Administrator Samantha Potts

Script Executive John Burgess

Accountant John Auger

Accounts Manager Julia Jaggard

Marketing & Development Marketing Manager Gillian Allmark

Development Officer Deborah Edgington

Audience Development Officer Tracey Woolmer

Marketing & Press Officer Tamsin Withers

Marketing Assistant Katie Topp

Box Office Manager Rhiannon Hewitt

Box Office Staff Charlotte Aughey

Vic Fabian

Eileen Harding

David Hurlock

Patricia McCoy

Lizzie Pollard

Vanessa Taylor

Production Production Manager Graeme Whiteside

Technical Manager Stuart Harrison

Company Manager Julie Bisco

Chief Electrician Greg Head

Theatre Technicians David Fancett

Rob Jones

Joseph Kennion

Technical Associate Chip Mead

Wardrobe Mistress Aly Fielden

(Seasonal)

Casual Technicians Sam Baker

Carl Chandler

Mike Frost

Lara Henry

Andrew Jaggard

James Mitchell

Dan Moore

Clayton Peters

Ben Wilkinson

Darren Willis

Touring & Projects Associate Director Russ Tunney

Participation Director Tim Ford

Touring & Projects

Administrator Annie Reilly

Producer – Community

and Education Sharon Lawless

Front Of House Front of House Manager Claire Griffin

Assistant Front of

House Manager Clare White

Catering Manager Alex McPherson

Front of House Staff Charlotte Aughey

Kate Aughey

Julia Baker

Toby Bakare

Rebecca Ball

Kathryn Booy

Sarah Booy

Peggy Churcher

Glyn Eves

Bethany Hickton

Shaun Hobbs

Alice Jaggard

Chris Lawrence

John MacFadyen

Alex Matthews

Sophie Napleton

Emma Nias

Anne-Marie Mendonca

Harriet Oughton

Judy Paddock

Jess Pearce

Luke Pollard

Marilyn Ramsden

Beth Ruddock

Raksha Sharma

Alex Smith

Vanessa Taylor

Imogen Tong

Duty Firefighter Alex Snook

Sign Language Interpreters Ann McAllister

Tony Oliver

Audio Describers Lesley Kirby

Ken Spencer

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All photographs for The House of Bernarda Alba,

The Wind in The Willows, Rime of the Ancient

Mariner, Alice in Wonderland, Peeler, Great Bleak

Expectations, Betrayal and Bloodshot

by Mike Eddowes (www.theatre-photography.co.uk).

Midsummer Dreams by Laura Hensser; The Winter’s

Tale by Sheila Burnett; Hansel and Gretel by Steve

Tanner; Circo de la Sombra by Richard Haughton;

Spymonkey’s Moby Dick by Corn Van Der Stelt; The

Hypochondriac by Robert Day; What If... by Ludos

des Cognets; Missing Since Monday by Stuart

Allen; Soundscape Workshop by Fang Gleizes; Titus

Andronicus by Ian Morley; The Lost Hour by Ricky Tart.

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18 19

University Road, Southampton SO17 1TR

Tel: 023 8031 5500 | Fax: 023 8031 5511

info@nuffieldtheatre.co.uk | Web: www.nuffieldtheatre.co.uk

Registered in England No. 1711502

Registered Charity No. 286876

VAT Registration No. 631796716

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