Honest Feedback wanted

Sat, 13 June 2009, 12:33 pm

After a heated discussion with a theatre colleague about Acorn Theatres reputation in Perth I would like to throw it out there to the Theatre family " What do people really think of Acorn" or If you've never been to the actual theatre "What have you heard about Acorn Theatre". I would be really interested in some honest feedback. Acorn is in danger of closing as our council is no longer going to renew our lease. We have to find new premises (with storage space) or we will fold. We would love to come back stronger and better than before. Lots of feedback please.

Thread (46 posts)

Threaded Flat

Sharon MobiliaSat, 13 June 2009, 12:33 pm

jeffhansenSat, 13 June 2009, 12:40 pm

Whilst I haven't been to

Whilst I haven't been to Acorn, I have heard of it. Off the top of my head, I think it's in the Gosnells area, and is the smallest theatre in the southern hemisphere, seating about 20ish. Seasons seem to be fairly irregular. I don't see posts on here too often saying what's on. Good luck with the future of the theatre. Are you a member club of the ITA? Have you approached the ITA for help in your dealings with the council? That's one of the reasons the ITA are there - to help out member clubs in time of need. www.meltheco.org.au

KimberleySat, 13 June 2009, 03:38 pm

Acorn

I have been to Acorn quite a few times, but not for years, as it is rare to hear what is on. The little theatre is a little gem. It is unfortunate that Gosnells Council does not appreciate what they have. Acorn are not currently members of the ITA, but if you give us a call we'd be happy to help you.

Walter PlingeSat, 13 June 2009, 07:01 pm

Isn't Acorn Theatre in the

Isn't Acorn Theatre in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's smallest theatre? And the City of Gosnells wants to shut down something that has that claim to fame?

Walter PlingeSat, 13 June 2009, 07:26 pm

Your website doesn't appear

Your website doesn't appear to work any more: http://www.acorntheatre.asn.au/

Walter PlingeSun, 14 June 2009, 11:22 am

Out of interest, what was

Out of interest, what was the latest production at Acorn? Can't recall hearing or seeing anything about it.

Sharon MobiliaSun, 14 June 2009, 02:47 pm

Acorn Theatre

Acorn Theatre is indead in the Guiness Book of records as the smallest theatre in the southern Hemisphere. We seat 28 in the audience. I don't know why we are no longer members of the ITA, I have been in and out of the theatre for the past 6 years and there has been many committee changes. The next production is a panto called " The Witch and Fairytale Schools" to be put on in the July school holidays. The new Acorn blogsite is acorntheatre.blogsite.com As with all clubs Acorn is struggling for members to keep up the body of work needed to keep the theatre viable, and the council deems the building not worthy of of the cost of upkeep and will probably sell off the land

Walter PlingeSun, 14 June 2009, 03:16 pm

What sort of things do you

What sort of things do you do to publicise your shows? And that new website didn't work, either, incidentally.

Sharon MobiliaSun, 14 June 2009, 03:36 pm

Acorn Thetre Blog

I'm an idiot acorntheatre.blogspot.com

Sharon MobiliaSun, 14 June 2009, 03:41 pm

What publicity!!

The only publicity i've ever seen are bits in the comment news and examiner (which are usually run too late) and the cast are armed with flyers to hand out to family and friends. We work with nonexistant budgets and should really be using the Internet more. If we can find ourselves some new premises we really need to get ontop of publicity, it really is our downfall by the sounds of the feedback. Many thanks by the way it is much appreciated.

Walter PlingeSun, 14 June 2009, 03:54 pm

If you've got a show on in

If you've got a show on in the July school holidays, you really need to get on to the publicity NOW. If you go to this thread (http://www.theatre.asn.au/billboard_bulletins/joe_egg_in_todays_west) and scroll down, there are some interesting links that might be able to help you.

Walter PlingeSun, 14 June 2009, 04:55 pm

No it WAS the World's

No it WAS the World's smaller theatre but was superseded by a theatre in Britain some years back. The staging of plays at Acorn is so infrequent that no one knows anything about the place any more.

Walter PlingeSun, 14 June 2009, 04:58 pm

The only publicity you've

The only publicity you've ever seen? That sort of implies no one at Acorn Theatre is doing any publicity work? You know, pushing and promoting the show at every opportunity, making use of the media and so on.

Walter PlingeSun, 14 June 2009, 05:06 pm

What you got to start doing

What you got to start doing Sharon, is advertising and promoting shows on this website more often. It seems Acorn only do two plays a year. The last one was Blithe Spirit in 2008 - according to the view company link. I wouldn't mind appearing in plays at Acorn, as the theatre is only 20 minutes drive from where I live. But we never hear anything from Acorn.

Walter PlingeSun, 14 June 2009, 05:10 pm

Is this the theatre you

Is this the theatre you mean? http://www.wctheatre.co.uk/

Walter PlingeSun, 14 June 2009, 05:18 pm

Running a theatre is

Running a theatre is serious business - whether it be Community or Professional theatre - and whatever business model the committee at Acorn is using is seriously flawed. With only 20 seats in your theatre you should, theoretically, get a full house in any play you do. If not something must be seriously wrong. Have you ever asked your committee members why then aren't promoting productions enough?

Walter PlingeSun, 14 June 2009, 05:21 pm

That the one! The

That the one! The Worcestershire Toilet. Wouldn't that look good on your acting resume...

Walter PlingeSun, 14 June 2009, 05:34 pm

One final note. Try and do

One final note. Try and do more serious quality dramas or comedies that may attract more audiences and members. Don't do musicals because you'll never recoup costs and the theatre is too small. Try and put on productions from playwrights that have been dead for more than 50 years. You won't have to pay for copyright royalties saving you about a thousand bucks per season. There are plenty of quality playwrights to choose from (Ibsen, Strindberg, Pirandello, O'Neill, Shakepeare, Wilde to name but a few). When you return a healthy profit, you can start putting on more recent plays. Then promote the hell out of it! Do that and you can't go wrong.

JustSuseSun, 14 June 2009, 05:54 pm

I was told by someone

I was told by someone involved in Acorn - just last year - that Acorn's only, and regular, audience were members of a nearby retirement home. There was seen as being no need to publicise the performances in any way because this audience was loyal and devoted, and plays were selected and staged purely to appeal to this group. Is this no longer the case? I would hope not, as this struck me as being a rather insular and self-limiting way of going about things. If you are forced to find a new venue, it could result in a major overhaul of the entire club - perhaps a new beginning - which could be a very exciting challenge.

JustSuseSun, 14 June 2009, 05:55 pm

I was told by someone

I was told by someone involved in Acorn - just last year - that Acorn's only, and regular, audience were members of a nearby retirement village. There was seen as being no need to publicise the performances in any way because this audience was loyal and devoted, and plays were selected and staged purely to appeal to this group. Is this no longer the case? I would hope not, as this struck me as being a rather insular and self-limiting way of going about things. If you are forced to find a new venue, it could result in a major overhaul of the entire club - perhaps a new beginning - which could be a very exciting challenge.

NormaSun, 14 June 2009, 06:43 pm

What sort of things do you

I couldn't get it to work either!

We - that is the ITA will do our best for Acorn, but "Economics " seems to be tha name of the game these days.

Acorn are a very small company, with a fairly small dedicated and very hard-working membership. as such their budget for publicity is almost certainly equally small.

I have not seen any advertising for any of their shows for- I don't know how long- and "bums on seats" is what it's all about.

Advertising on this site is FREELY available- BUT it needs someone with the necessary time and dedication to keep up the information.

ACORN- PLEASE contact the ITA

Walter PlingeSun, 14 June 2009, 10:43 pm

Actually the period of

Actually the period of copyright in Australia is life of the author plus 70 years, not 50 - anyone who died prior to June 1939 is fair game.

jeffhansenMon, 15 June 2009, 07:59 am

Translation

What if you do a translation of, say, Ibsen. Are rights payable to the "translator"? Or if it is an adaptation? For example - the 'adaptation' of Ghosts at Marloo this (last?) year. www.meltheco.org.au

KimberleyMon, 15 June 2009, 08:18 am

In those cases you pay

In those cases you pay rights.

Paul TreasureMon, 15 June 2009, 09:11 am

Australian Copyright Duration

Copyright in Australia lasts for 70 years after the end of the year in which the author died. HOWEVER Works written by authors who died BEFORE 1 January 1955 are in the Public Domain, because copyright was extended from 50 years to 70 years on 1 January 2005, but Australia took the view that once a work enters the Public Domain it cannot be recovered by copyright. Any work of more than one author is covered until the copyright for ALL the authors has expired. This means for translations copyright must have expired for both the original author AND the translator. ALSO adaptations are covered by the writers of the adaption AND the original source material, e.g. "South Pacific" will enter the public domain when Michener's copyright expires, even though that is something like twenty years after the majority of Rodgers and Hammerstein's works. ALSO If a work is posthumous, its copyright protection starts from the year of its first becoming public (either performance or publishing) not the year of the authors death, e.g. the 3 Act version of "The Importance of Being Earnest" is Public Domain, the 4 Act version is still covered. Here endeth the lesson Paul Treasure :-)

Paul TreasureMon, 15 June 2009, 09:40 am

Honest view from up the hill

As a member of Acorn's closest neighbour, Roleystone, and someone who actually lives closer to Acorn than Roleystone (by a couple of minutes). Acorn seems very insular and something of an anomaly. Not being a member of the ITA, their productions seem to slip by without being noticed. The last time I went to Acorn was because a friend of mine was cast in the show (because they were desperate for males) Also Acorn is hampered by a council that don't know their arse from their elbow! Just look at the dogs breakfasts that are the Agonis and DRPAC! It would be a shame to lose Acorn, but to survive they need to become part of the greater theatre community, they need to drastically rethink their marketing, and unfortunately they need to [gulp] find friends on their local council.

Walter PlingeMon, 15 June 2009, 10:38 am

So exciting in fact that

So exciting in fact that you took it upon yourself to post it twice!

Sharon MobiliaMon, 15 June 2009, 10:49 am

Royalties are killing us

The quality of work performed by acorn can be somewhat questionable. The committee try to persue scripts online that are free or low in royalty cost. Whilst there is nothing wrong with that, some seriously wrong choises have been made and that can make potential audiences think twice about giving us another go. Yes Riverside gardens is a large part of the audience base but we still find it hard to fill 28 seats and we only do 6 night runs. Serious marketing needs to be done, but spirits are pretty low with the pending closure (hopefully moving and reopening).

Sharon MobiliaMon, 15 June 2009, 10:51 am

Public Domain works

How do you find out what plays are in the public domain, is there a website dedicated to this?

Walter PlingeMon, 15 June 2009, 11:10 am

You could also try new

You could also try new works by local authors, perhaps.

LabrugMon, 15 June 2009, 12:05 pm

One place to look...

is the Gurenburg Project which is a collective effort to transfer a large amount of Public Material into Electronic Format. It will not have everything, but I got the script for my next show from there.

http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

Absit invidia (and DFT :nono:)

Jeff Watkins

Home Page
Yahoo Blog Page

SN Profile

Walter PlingeMon, 15 June 2009, 12:50 pm

No don't do that! You never

No don't do that! You never know what your getting.

LabrugMon, 15 June 2009, 12:54 pm

Review

Which is why you review your scripts BEFORE you put them on. Most theatres ask for submissions and then a Committee will then REVIEW the scripts and make a judgement on what to do.

Simple.

Absit invidia (and DFT :nono:)

Jeff Watkins

Home Page
Yahoo Blog Page

SN Profile

LogosMon, 15 June 2009, 01:03 pm

Gutenberg Project

Not picking on you. Probably a typo. You spelt it right in the link. Is that all there is? Well if that's all there is my friend, then let's keep dancing. www.tonymoore.id.au

LabrugMon, 15 June 2009, 01:07 pm

Cut and Paste

:rofl: That would be because I copied the link. Thanks Logos. ;-)

Absit invidia (and DFT :nono:)

Jeff Watkins

Home Page
Yahoo Blog Page

SN Profile

Walter PlingeMon, 15 June 2009, 01:09 pm

Or Acorn Theatre could

Or Acorn Theatre could approach a writer to write to a specific brief.

LogosMon, 15 June 2009, 01:10 pm

I can understand your

I can understand your problems re royalties. In a venue seating 28 you would have to charge close to $10 a seat on a full house simply to pay the royalties charged per night by Dominie's for most of their shows. Despite the comment above from Walter Plingess (another troll I suspect) I feel you really should try some new plays. Most playwrights are willing to do deals for new works. I am happy to discuss percentage of door deals for my work although most of what I write is rather dark. I hope you manage to waken the theatre up and remember Publicity should be a major spend in your budget. If I lived in Perth I would be very interested in trying to help you out. Good luck for the future. Is that all there is? Well if that's all there is my friend, then let's keep dancing. www.tonymoore.id.au

Walter PlingeMon, 15 June 2009, 04:41 pm

Thanks for the troll bit

Thanks for the troll bit Tony. Obviously you have a vested interest in getting some of your junk performed.

Walter PlingeMon, 15 June 2009, 04:46 pm

Don't all playwrights have

Don't all playwrights have a vested interested in getting their work performed, you moron?

LogosMon, 15 June 2009, 08:52 pm

Thanks

Of course I have a vested interest in having my plays performed. Other wise there would be no point in writing them. As for describing them as junk. I have had plays performed in Australia Greece the UK and in New York. I am a published playwright with some 6 full length plays and about 8 short plays to my credit. Some of them probably are junk, but most of them aren't. Is that all there is? Well if that's all there is my friend, then let's keep dancing. www.tonymoore.id.au

Walter PlingeTue, 16 June 2009, 10:56 am

Which publisher did you

Which publisher did you manage to get to publish your plays?

LogosTue, 16 June 2009, 11:14 am

I am with a UK publisher

I am with a UK publisher called New Theatre Publications. Is that all there is? Well if that's all there is my friend, then let's keep dancing. www.tonymoore.id.au

Paul TreasureTue, 16 June 2009, 11:57 am

Public Domain authors

There is no website dedicated to this... Probably because copyright is (slightly) different from one country to the next. Here is a list of SOME playwrights whose work is in the Public Domain in Australia J.M. Barrie Philip Barry David Belasco John Galsworthy Eugene O’Neill Arthur Wing Pinero William Shakespeare George Bernard Shaw Brandon Thomas Dylan Thomas Oscar Wilde W.B. Yeats The Gutenberg Project has some of these available What you need to do is a little bit of research into the author (wikipedia, IMDB or IBDB are good starting points) to see when they died.

Sharon MobiliaTue, 16 June 2009, 05:14 pm

Junk

I'm glad you posted your website Logos as I would never have known that you existed and plan on reading one of your plays.

LogosTue, 16 June 2009, 05:59 pm

Thankyou

My website contains examples of my work. Synopsis' of the rest of my work are available at www.plays4theatre.com. I am on that site as Anthony or Tony Moore Yes this is more self advertising. Is that all there is? Well if that's all there is my friend, then let's keep dancing. www.tonymoore.id.au

Walter PlingeTue, 16 June 2009, 06:27 pm

If you're looking for West

If you're looking for West Australian plays, you can also check out Taz Playwrights. Go to www.tazentertainment.com.au and click the Taz Playwrights logo (between the Entertainment and Tix ones).

← Back to Green Room Gossip