West Yorkshire Playhouse
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Introduction
The West Yorkshire Playhouse opened in March 1990 and is currently largest regional repertory theatre outside of London and Stratford (Leeds City Council, 2007). It is located in Leeds, adjacent to the bus station in the city centre. The Playhouse has established a reputation both nationally and internationally as one of Britain's most exciting producing theatres, winning awards for everything from its productions to its customer service (wyplayhouse.com, 2007).
Outside West Yorkshire Playhouse
Layout
The West Yorkshire Playhouse complex comprises: The Quarry Theatre (750 seats), The Courtyard Theatre (350 seats), a CAMRA award-winning bar, a restaurant, The Newlyn Gallery, two function rooms (The Congreve Room and The Priestley Room), three rehearsal spaces, a recording studio, extensive technical workshops, dressing rooms, a Costume Hire department, a Cyber Café and offices for production, administrative and artistic teams (Leeds City Council, 2007).
Productions
The West Yorkshire Playhouse works regularly with other major regional producing theatres and past collaborations have included The Madness of George III and A View from the Bridge in 2004 and The Wizard of Oz in 2005 and Alice in Wonderland in 2006 with Birmingham Repertory Theatre. Also, in 2006, the Playhouse joined forces with Liverpool Theatres for a co-production of Hedda Gabler and with Big Broad and Shed Productions to create Bad Girls – The Musical (Ents24, 2007).
Levels of Product
The illustration below shows the various levels of products offered by West Yorkshire Playhouse. The core product is shown in the red circle. The blue section is the secondary level and finally the green which is the tertiary level of products.
Primary, Seconday and Tertiary Products.
Marketing
With two theatres (750 & 350 capacities) and an active Arts Development Department the Playhouse reaches an extremely diverse group of consumers, including the very young and those with special needs; hence the varied programme of work that is produced here in Leeds each year (Leeds City Council, 2007).
The West Yorkshire Playhouse sells around ¼ million tickets each year. It produces 16 of its own shows each year in its two auditoria, approximately a third of which are world or British premieres. It stages over 1000 performances, workshops, readings and community events, watched by over 250,000 people (wyplayhouse, 2007).
Funding
Funding for the Playhouse comes from Arts Council England (£1,100,000), Leeds City Council (£820,000), Leeds Education Authority (£84,000) and West Yorkshire Grants (£97,000). The Playhouse has over twenty-five corporate members in its Directors' Club including Evans Property Group, Carlsberg Tetley, Yorkshire Post, ITV Yorkshire and Leeds Metropolitan University(Leeds City Council, 2007).
Other Facilities
The Playhouse offers many facilities for conferences, events and simple room hires. These include catering facilities and a full range of technical equipment. The building has a full access policy enabling full accessibility for people with mobility difficulties. All public areas are fitted with a hearing loop and events can be supported with BSL interpretation, captioning and audio description (Leeds City Council, 2007)
Future Plans
Next year West Yorkshire Playhouse will open a brand new arts space in Leeds dedicated to young people. Facilities will include large visual and performing arts studios. Activities there will encourage young people to discover new talents and interests whilst providing practical support and opportunities for gaining qualifications and careers guidance. The Playhouse already owns the premises for conversion, namely the first floor of St Peter’s Building, which is adjacent to the theatre. Other facilities will comprise of a large reception/meeting area, office space, a green room and changing rooms (wyplayhouse, 2007).
They have also just embarked on a new project working creatively with parents and their babies. Through Whole New Worlds they will be linking with a range of settings and organisations including Surestarts, Women's Prisons, Women's Aid, Early Years Centres and Private Day Nurseries (wyplayhouse, 2007).
References
Leeds City Council. (2007) West Yorkshire Playhouse [Internet] URL available from: <http://www.leeds.gov.uk/page.aspx?pageID=14703af6-1d41-4d97-b631-0a5353b64c44> [Accessed 8th Novemeber, 2007]
Entertainment 24. (2007) WYP Venue [Internet] URL available from: <http://www.ents24.com/web/venue/16364/Leeds/West_Yorkshire_Playhouse.html> [Accessed 10th Novemeber, 2007]
West Yorkshire Playhouse. (2007) Business [Internet] URl available from: <http://www.wyplayhouse.com/content/business/conferences_meetings.asp> [Accessed 8th Novemeber, 2007]
West Yorkshire Playhouse. (2007) About Us [Internet] URl available from: <http://www.wyplayhouse.com/content/the_playhouse/about_us.asp> [Accessed 9th Novemeber, 2007]
West Yorkshire Playhouse. (2007) Introduction [Internet] URl available from: <http://www.wyplayhouse.com/content/creativity/introduction.asp> [Accessed 10th Novemeber, 2007]
