Repertoire Theatre: Past, Present and Future?

By Laura Darrall.

When I broke the news to my beloved Grandma, a stalwart devotee of The Bill, Coronation Street and the like, that I would be spending seven months of the year being a part of Theatre by the Lake’s repertory season, her answer was not what I would have expected. (The expected being “That’s nice dear, but when are you going to be on The Bill?”)

What happened was this, my wonderfully cantankerous Grandma’s face lit up as she settled back into her armchair, surrounded by a cornucopia of hot water bottles and smiled as she whispered two words: ‘The rep’. Repertory theatre, or ‘rep’ as we've coined it, is where a theatre, usually regional, employs a resident company of actors to perform a selection or ‘repertoire’ of plays.

In the past a repertory company would perform a different play every week using the same group of actors continuously until such a time as they moved on and a fresh crop arrived. However, this glorious way of working has been dying out over the past twenty years so that rep theatre now appears to be seasonal rather than residential with theatres such as Pitlochry and Theatre by the Lake flying the repertory flag.

Exposition inserted, I shall return to my Grandma, who by this point was reaching for her fourth custard cream. ‘The rep’, she whispered, ‘Your Grandpa and I would meet every week at Wolverhampton rep in seats G7 and G8. It was where we courted. We met your Auntie Sheila and Uncle Geoff who sat in G5 and 6 and have stayed friends ever since." Weekly rep theatre was so much more than entertainment, the routine and regularity of performances allowed people to form friendships, have a common interest and clichéd as it may seem: fall in love.

My grandparents had their favourite actors within the ensemble and it was their joy to pick them out each week, championing them in their various roles. Many of the greats cut their teeth at weekly rep, Olivier, Dench and Jacobi to name a few; unlike in commercial theatre nowadays, they were able to play an array of roles, challenging their range and breaking out of their perceived casting bracket.

Due to the nature of weekly rep with short rehearsal periods and a different role (or roles!) each week, I’m sure the performances were never as polished as a seven month run of The Importance of Being Ernest, but I’m certain they would have been replete with the magic that goes hand in hand with flying by the seat of your pants. And if I had the choice, I know which sort of show I would rather see. (The magic and the pants one, obviously).

Rep theatre is often spoken of as a thing of the past, a tradition and training that young actors covet with the ‘green-eyed monster’, that older audiences miss and that my generation needs. If this writer won the lottery (she has everything crossed) then in the top five purchases, amongst the campervan, the castle and the pet elephant, would be a theatre. Rep should be a thing of the now and the future; it brings actors and audiences together with an immediacy like no other. But more to the point, if my Grandma hadn’t sat in G7 at the Wolverhampton rep I might not be writing this today.

@LauraDarrall

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