By Grace Hatchell
There’s a rather obvious thing you can do at a theatre. You buy a ticket, find your seat, hope the person in front hasn’t brought their tallest hairdo, and watch whatever happens on stage.
But Derby Theatre has been doing rather a lot with the bits that come before, after and sometimes entirely without the ticket.
The venue has been named a finalist for the Great Community Connection award at the inaugural Great British Theatres Awards, organised by Theatres Trust as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations.
And while awards news can sometimes involve a lot of polishing trophies before anyone has actually won one, this nomination has caught my attention because of what Derby Theatre has been doing beyond its auditorium.
Its community work includes a monthly programme for people living with dementia and their carers, while performances have also been taken directly into care homes to reach people who might otherwise find a trip to the theatre difficult.
There has been a particular focus on Derby’s Deaf community too. The theatre runs a free Deaf Youth Theatre and regular BSL Café, alongside accessible and integrated productions and its annual Sign Sing BSL Community event.
Perhaps most impressively, 24 members of the Derby Theatre team have received funded BSL Level 1 training.
That matters. Accessibility isn’t only about putting an interpreted performance into the diary. Sometimes it is about what happens when somebody walks through the front door and discovers that the person welcoming them can communicate with them in their own language.
Then there’s what happened when Derby Theatre celebrated its 50th anniversary.
Rather than simply throwing itself a birthday party and finding an unnecessarily large cake, the theatre handed the keys over to local people, who planned and programmed a day of activity themselves.
Around 300 people attended.
And here’s the number I particularly like: 80% of them had never visited Derby Theatre before.
There is something rather wonderful about that. Theatre spends an awful lot of time discussing how to attract new audiences, but sometimes perhaps the first step isn’t persuading somebody to buy a ticket. It is simply giving them a reason to come through the doors.
Derby Theatre also runs its CANVAS programme, Community Hub and locally led activities, creating opportunities for people to develop skills, explore creativity and meet others.
Sarah Brigham, Artistic Director and CEO of Derby Theatre, said the nomination recognised the theatre’s belief that “theatre belongs to everyone”, describing the venue as somewhere people should be able to meet others, find their voice, be creative and feel that they belong.
And perhaps that is the most interesting thing about this particular award category.
The Great Community Connection award isn’t asking which theatre has the fanciest auditorium or the biggest production. It recognises venues going beyond their traditional role to welcome their communities through their buildings, programming and outreach.
Derby faces some impressive competition. Fellow finalists include Cast in Doncaster, Citizens Theatre in Glasgow, Eden Court in Inverness, Hoxton Hall and Polka Children’s Theatre in London, The Theatre Chipping Norton and Wolverhampton Grand.
The winner will be announced at the Great British Theatres Awards at Central Hall Westminster on 2 November.
Whether Derby takes the trophy home or not, though, I rather like the idea behind all this.
A theatre shouldn’t only belong to the people sitting in Row F on a Saturday night.
Sometimes the most important audience might be the people who haven’t bought a ticket yet.
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