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31 March 2011

“Yesterday, Out of Joint was told it would have its Arts Council England (ACE) funding cut by 27.9%, which means we will have £138,218 less from 2012. Liz Forgan says there is a clear intellectual framework and rationale behind the cuts. I must say it is hard to see that from our perspective. We are commended for excellence, yet condemned to mediocrity by removing the structure that makes excellence possible.

“We are determined to survive, and not to substantially change the work we do. What makes Out of Joint’s work special is the ambition and scope of the plays we produce, by some of the country’s leading and most exciting writers, and the resources we have been able to focus on creating them.

“We pay our writers fairly (we guarantee a minimum of £20,000 for a produced play). We pay our actors slightly over the equity minimum, which enables us to attract established actors to tour with us, to deepen and dignify the work.

“If the Arts Council is genuinely committed to touring it needs to support tours of this scale and ambition. Our own cut, combined with cuts to the theatres to which we tour (such as the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds, and Exeter’s Northcott Theatre), will restrict the reach of our work.

“This has provoked a crisis for Out of Joint, but it’s also a crucial point for the Arts Council itself. Does it really wish to destroy one of the few companies which can create important new plays that find a place in the national – and international – repertoire, and which performs that work at the same high quality in venues ranging from major London theatres to playhouses and community centres throughout the UK?”

 Max Stafford-Clark, Director, Out of Joint 
Out of Joint
7 Thane Works, Thane Villas, London N7 7NU
020 7609 0207
ojo@outofjoint.co.uk

Press enquiries: Jon Bradfield
020 7609 0207  |  07968 762 339  |  jon@outofjoint.co.uk

 

 

 

Out of Joint is a theatre company acclaimed for producing and touring the UK’s sharpest new writing. Founded and directed by Max Stafford-Clark following his artistic directorship of the Royal Court, it has premiered plays by David Hare, Caryl Churchill, Sebastian Barry, Timberlake Wertenbaker and many more, and launched the careers of such talents as Mark Ravenhill and Stella Feehily.

Out of Joint’s projects for the first half of 2011 include

  • A Dish of Tea with Dr Johnson, adapted from the writings of James Boswell, currently on tour.
  • The return of Richard Bean’s 2010 play The Big Fellah which will tour to Dublin, Cork, Liverpool and Newcastle in April and May. This reprisal of Out of Joint and the Lyric Hammersmith’s world premiere will again feature Finbar Lynch in the role of Costello, the ‘big fellah’.
  • A co-production of Top Girls by Caryl Churchill with Chichester Festival Theatre
  • A new play by Stella Feehily about humanitarian aid workers
  • Supporting a new play to be directed by Des Kennedy, the recipient of Out of Joint’s Arts Council-funded Associate Director bursary scheme