Spicer News & GST

The following courtesy of David Spicer:********David Spicer Productions Update 3.In this edition the GST and amateur theatre.And Australian Premiere of Pride and Prejudice the Musical.SLAMS OPENS BEST EVER PRODUCTION OF PRIDE AND PREJUDICE.SUMPTUOUS SETS AVAILABLE FOR HIRE.I had great pleasure in attending the Australian premiere of Bernard JTaylors Pride and Prejudice the Musical last Saturday night in RingwoodMelbourne. A bumper audience of more than 300 laughed and clappedthrough an evening of terrific entertainment. What made this productionwere gorgeous sets and superb characterisation. This is a fantasticamateur production, because the music is first rate, and there are somany different parts - , each thanks to the genius of Jane Austen, havea unique character of their own.Take Mr COLLINS, the loathsome obsequious Reverend, played by KelvinBetts. I fell apart laughing every time he came onto the stage. Hes myhot tip for a Music Theatre Guild Award at the end of 98. Mrs BENNETplayed by Gail Betts, was also first rate and milked every laugh. Butwhen you go through the cast, at every turn there was a terrificperformance. Each and every one of five daughters was a unique portraitas painted by Jane Austen.. Elizabeth Bennet.. by Nicole Green, a studyof beauty and intelligence, Jane Bennet by Erini Thompson..modest andgrace, Kitty Bennet by Kelly Garland, so cheeky, Lydia Bennet by NatalieVaughan.. was like a silky pussycat and Mary Bennet by Anna Kavanaugh sosquare! Another superb female performer was by Peggy Lynch as CharlotteLucas ... what a terrific little bitch she was.The men were also first rate, with Warren Davies as Darcy the stand outsinger in this production. Andrew Edwards as Charles Bingley, BrettDonohue as George Wickham and Brian Coleman as Mr Bennet brought theirroles to life with great skill.The costumes and sets were sumptuous. The sets are now available forhire across Australia and New Zealand. From Longbourne, to Netherfield,to the street scenes, they were a treat for the eye, with gorgeousgrandeur and detail. Email me, if you would like to hire the set for afuture production.What I was really impressed with as well, were the chorus scenes. Thechoreography was very crisp, and the musical director , FranMandergeddes, has done a superb job in developing the score, as itstands now.So congratulations to SLAMS, for a great night of entertainment. Bravoto Renee Palmer the Director. David Purdon and the whole productionteam. Bernard J Taylor , sitting in the audience, had no qualms indeclaring this the best ever production of Pride and Prejudice.If you are in Melbourne. Book Now on. 03 9789 4591.VISIT MY WEB-PAGE on www.ozemail.com.au/~dspice*************************************************************************THE GST AND THEATRE.By DAVID SPICER.The Howard Governments proposed Goods And Services Tax is set toradically change the administration of Australian theatre for bothprofessionals and amateurs.Doomsayers in professional ranks are predicting it will put greatpressure on ticket sales, and some amateur groups are concerned that thepaper work will scare the wits out of volunteer Treasurers. Howeverfollowing an exclusive briefing with the Federal Ministry of the Arts Ican reveal a clearer picture of the changes.The first issue to realise is that non-profit organisations such asamateur theatre, if their turnover is under $100,000 a year are entitledto NOT charge a GST, on their ticket sales. This means most amateurtheatre companies across Australia have the option of opting out of thewhole system. This will mean that amateur theatre ticket priceswill be even more competitive against their professional counterparts.However, as I will explain later, in some cases, amateur theatres ,will apply a GST to their ticket prices .The second issue is, will the public continue attending the arts forsteeper prices. According to the GST paper released by the FederalGovernment the cost of attending museums, libraries and the arts willrise by 7.7 percent. This is higher than any other good or service,apart from Tobacco or Government Administration. The reason is that thearts has never been taxed before and is entitled to as many rebates asother industries.The professional world is very worried. Take Opera Australia, italready costs more than $100 for an A reserve seat, and last year thecompany still lost 4.6 million dollars.The Artistic Director Mophat Oxenbould says . We are in an extremelycompetitive area. There is an enormous amount on offer. So anything thathas the potential to increase prices has the potential to impact ussignificantly in a negative way, he said.So what will they do cut costs? We already have cut costs. You cantcut half the violin section, you cant not have the wind instruments.This is incredibly labour intensive, he said.The Executive Producer of the Sydney Theatre Company Wayne Harrison. What we do in this industry is something very fragile. Even when aFederal election is in the air, we see a drop on in casual ticket sales,the mark softens. Six months after, people are still apprehensive, themarket we work in is subject to allot of forces so anything thatincreases ticket prices is of great concern to us, he said.The Minister for the Arts disagrees. Senator Richard Alston says afterthe GST was introduced into Canada, there was a boost to the artsbecause people had more disposable income. If you talk about theincrease of tickets, yes ticket prices will increase, but so will theamount that people have in their pockets by a much higher proportion.So it does become a judgment about what people will do with theirdiscretionary income. And I think at the end of the day people willstill continue to patronise the arts, because they enjoy them. No-onegoes to the theatre, even to an amateur company performance because thisis $11 , but if it was $11.50 I would not go. They go because theywant to go. At the end of the day if they have more money in theirpockets, why would they be less inclined to patronise a whole range ofart forms. he told Radio Nationals Arts Today.Then there is the issue of administration. As I explained beforeorganisations with budgets under $100,000 can opt out. If you put onshows for a few thousand dollars and the most of the inputs, labour,sets, equipment are donated then dont bother. But most medium to largegroups, and that would include just about all musical societiesshould go through the process of applying a GST.Here is why. The cost of many inputs that go into a production willincrease. For instance hiring a venue,Building material for sets, printing costs, hiring costumes and possiblyalso royalties. * Other costs such as make upwill go down. What your club has the option of doing is applying a GSTto your ticket costs, and being able to keepsome of this increase. Here is how. The new system allows you to add up,all the GST you have paid on inputs to thebusiness and deduct this from the GST you apply to the outputs. So letssay your show costs $30,000 to stage. Thecosts for the production includes the payment in total of $1400 in GST.You apply a GST to your ticket costs andraise $3000. At the end of the year you send a tax to Canberra of only$1600.There is another option still. Lift your ticket prices to cover theincreased cost of your inputs, but dontdeclare it is a GST, because you dont have to. This protects your cluband saves your Treasurer some bother. So liftyour ticket prices from say $16 to $17.50 and not many people willnotice the difference.A spokesman for the Minister for Arts, told the GST will not be anadministrative nightmare, but rather will only involve a few keystrokeson a computer every three months. That remains to be seen, but certainlythe role of Treasurer will be more complex. This has not stopped amateurtheatre from flourishing in New Zealand, and shouldnot do so in Australia.* I am will expand on the issue of GST on royalties in the next issue.