Benchtours 2002
| Organisation |
Benchtours |
| Project |
Pilot project to tour two short Chekhov plays as a taster for a subsequent production of The Cherry Orchard |
| Artform |
Theatre |
| Location |
Touring across Scotland |
| Application type |
Project development |
| Date |
2002 |
| Status |
Completed |
| Grant |
£5,000 |
| Total project cost |
£12,875 |
Benchtours is a Scottish-based international ensemble that combines touring small and medium scale productions with community and education work for a range of ages, abilities and social backgrounds, across Scotland and further afield.
Pilot project touring The Bear and The Proposal, two short Chekhov farces, with accompanying workshops and discussions to community venues and schools in several towns and cities across Scotland as a taster for a subsequent larger-scale tour of The Cherry Orchard.
- To develop initiatives that would encourage more people, particularly non-traditional theatregoers, to attend performances through making the experience more accessible
- To be able to assess more accurately why people are reluctant to attend theatre
- To improve collaboration with educational and community institutions
- Audience members/workshop participants at The Bear and The Proposal were offered a 2 for 1 ticket voucher for performances of The Cherry Orchard.
- All venues receiving The Cherry Orchard were kept fully briefed and supplied with promotional materials.
- Questionnaires were issued to all audience members attending performances of The Cherry Orchard.
- Educationalists and community leaders were consulted.
- Community leaders and educationalists consulted in advance of the project were enthusiastic about the opportunities offered to their groups to experience theatre/workshop activity in their own environment and the concessionary ticket offer.
- The Bear and The Proposal attracted over 1,000 people across 13 participating venues to the initial phase. The Cherry Orchard played in eight venues, six of which were in Scotland, and attracted nearly 4,000 people.
- 7% took up the 2 for 1 ticket offer, resulting in 146 people attending performances (73 vouchers). While lower than the original target of 25%, this was recognised as being a high estimate. A number of programming factors may also have contributed to a lower than anticipated figure
- 8% answered the questionnaire and while a small proportion of the audience, Benchtours have found the responses informative. They validated the company’s perception that many of their audiences had seen previous productions, thereby supporting the value of developing follow-through promotion from one production to the next.
- The company found it virtually impossible to track those who attended the initial performance/workshop programme to assess why they did not use the 2 for 1 offer. In future they intend to distribute a questionnaire with space for contact details thus enabling them to follow up participants.
- Benchtours found the pilot very informative in tracking audience response to the company and its work, and would like to develop this further. They anticipate the need to take on a project manager to fully concentrate on this work in future, given the demands it made on the company’s personnel.
Benchtours Productions
Bonnington Mill
72 Newhaven Road
Edinburgh EH6 5QG
Tel: 0131 555 3585
Fax: 0131 555 1595
E-mail: info@benchtours.com
Web: www.benchtours.com |