Exeter Northcott leads national conversation about opportunities in theatre

Exeter Northcott has made a public commitment to advertise a minimum of one creative role on every home-produced show. This announcement has been featured by two industry news outlets – Arts Professional and The Stage – championed by our new Creative Director, Martin Berry.

A photo of Martin Berry, wearing a shirt and jeans, leading a conversation of people seated on chairs in a rehearsal studio, facing him.

Photo by Kyle Carter

Our Commitment

Writing for The Stage, Katie Chambers reported that “Exeter Northcott has pledged to use open calls to recruit at least one creative role per show, in a ‘radical’ move designed to hold it to account around its access work. Positions on a Northcott show including its director, sound designer and lighting designer are set to be publicly advertised, with applications welcomed from ‘new, fresh’ talent.

Martin Berry, the Northcott’s Creative Director, called the formal, public commitment ‘a big change’, departing from a norm in which theatres advertise an open hire for a creative role annually, or ‘every now and again’. ‘The fact that this is a bit radical also tells you something about the industry,’ Berry told The Stage, having previously suggested in an article for Arts Professional that a ‘little-black-book’ approach to recruitment needed rethinking.”

READ MORE FROM THE STAGE READ MARTIN’S ARTS PROFESSIONAL ARTICLE

PUTTING IT INTO PRACTICE BEHIND THE SCENES

This commitment has already been honoured several times over; open call-outs for sound and lighting designers for our 2024 pantomime, Cinderella, are currently accepting applications. These roles each offer an opportunity for enthusiastic and talented people to play a vital part in shaping the biggest show in the Northcott calendar.

In October, we are proud to present the world premiere of Sarah Dickenson’s The Commotion Time, a play which puts collaboration at its heart. A musical director has already joined the team via an open call.

Text reads Exeter Northcott Theatre and Le Navet Bete present: Cinderella. Two little mice are haning out on the letters. On the right, is Cinderella practically floating. We see a poofy blue dress skirt, sparkly boots with one lace trailing behind and orange tights. Sparkles are trailing around her feet and there's a little duckling in her boot.

The Commotion Time artwork: A young woman wearing historical clothing (white shirt under a yellow dress) is seen from neck to waist. In her outstretched hands she holds a miniature Gildhouse, set atop a mound of grassy earth. The earth falls through her fingers. Text reads: 'The Commotion Time', 'The Western Rising and Siege of Exeter: It Takes a Village to raise an Army', 'Made by Exeter Northcott Theatre', 'By Sarah Dickenson, Directed by Martin Berry, Created in Association with Poundstock Gildhouse'.

PUTTING IT INTO PRACTICE ON STAGE

The principle of open opportunity is being actioned on stage as well as behind the scenes; the musical director’s original compositions for The Commotion Time will be sung live by a large choir of local volunteers. Plus, an ensemble of local performers will work alongside a cast of seven professional actors to bring the landmark production to life. Both the choir and ensemble will be chosen through an open call. We invite anyone interested in getting involved to audition.

The deadline for signing up is Thu 30 May, just a day before applications close for our open calls for sound and lighting designers for Cinderella. With even more open calls on the horizon, one of which Martin told The Stage is ‘”99%” certain to be for a director’, these are exciting times for the Northcott.

Our public pledge to offer a minimum of one open call-out on every one of our home-produced shows puts us at the vanguard of a national conversation about access to careers in the arts. Even more excitingly, it also throws open our doors and invites fresh voices to join our team and enrich the work on our stages.