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More than half of the staff at the Royal Shakespeare Company are being urged to apply for voluntary redundancy in a bid to make ‘urgent’ savings.
The theatre company is grappling with a ‘challenging’ financial situation and is reported to have a shortfall of between £5m and £6m.
It has encouraged 420 out of its 835 full-time staff members to take voluntary redundancy as part of a programme running until October 5.
A statement from RSC pointed towards the cost of living crisis, increasing staffing costs after the pandemic and a decline in public investment.
It has also begun to repay a £20 million loan in February of this year, according to the RSC’s most recent annual report, which has had a significant impact.
Alongside the redundancy scheme, the RSC added it is also ‘seeking to make operational efficiencies and to generate additional forms of income’.
In a joint statement, Andrew Leveson the RSC’s executive director, and the co-artistic directors Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey, said: ‘To thrive – and to survive – we need to be more agile, resilient and sustainable.
‘Our structure must enable our ambition, not impede it; we must be relentless in our pursuit of working as effectively and efficiently as possible; and we need to generate additional forms of income to invest in the creation of theatre and learning through theatre, which are our founding purpose.
The Royal Shakespeare Company is grappling with a ‘challenging’ financial situation and is reported to have a shortfall of between £5m and £6m
The theatre company has encouraged 420 out of its 835 full-time staff members to take voluntary redundancy as part of a programme running until October 5.
David Tennant as Hamlet, performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company at The Courtyard Theatre, London in 2008
‘This means big challenges and difficult decisions.
‘The need to reduce our cost base is real and urgent.
‘We have held vacancies for some months and wherever possible will continue to do so; and we are now offering as many of our staff as possible the opportunity to apply for voluntary redundancy.’
It is understood that if insufficient people take up the voluntary offer, then a compulsory scheme would begin.
Speaking to The Stage, Mr Leveson blamed the redundancies on a ‘year-on-year gap between what it costs to run the organisation and what we are capable of generating in income to support that’.
The theatre company director added that the West End show Matilda had been a ‘gift’ with it generating £30 million for the theatre company.
And while those funds had slowed down the need for redundancies, profit from the show had slowed down in the past year.
He also said there is alot of ‘duplication that exists as structures have accrued’
‘There is a lot of inefficiency there, so we are looking at income and the way we work – and costs as well,’ he said.
‘It’s difficult to give one nugget – one thing that has led to this happening – but there are a range of factors that have been building for some time,’ he said.
