Wyvern needs help (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Wyvern needs help

9:04am Friday 30th May 2008 in Swindon By Hayley Court

STAGE Struck producer Geoff Marsh says the Wyvern will continue to flounder until more is done to advertise its shows.

Mr Marsh, who has been with the amateur dramatic company for 10 years, says there just isn't the medium to advertise smaller productions.

Already this year he has spent more than £2,000 on newspaper advertisements to get bums on seats.

"There just isn't the means out there to let people know what's going on," he said.

"The Wyvern has posters outside but we can't get any space in shop windows or bus stop billboards.

"We only had a little page in the Wyvern programme listed under local events but, apart from that, not many people will have known what was on."

Despite the lack of street advertising, Stage Struck filled 2,000 seats on the week of the production in April.

But, because he had to pay for advertising in the papers, Mr Marsh didn't make a profit and instead made a slight loss.

"It's very difficult for amateur drama and theatre groups to survive as it is," he said. "But we are all really struggling at the moment."

Yesterday the Advertiser revealed that tickets for shows at the Wyvern Theatre were not selling.

Of 100 events being run at the Wyvern until January, just a handful of performances have sold out and many shows have not sold a single ticket.

The figures came from documents leaked to the Advertiser in an anonymous letter.

The numbers revealed that during the Swindon Comedy Festival next month, only performances by the three headline acts, Sean Lock, Lee Evans and Jimmy Carr, had sold more than 100 tickets.

"Unfortunately the amateurs miss out because even when the Wyvern is publicised it is always about the headlining acts, the big names," said Mr Marsh.

"It's not the Wyvern's fault, it's just that big names are big news whereas a local group isn't.

"I just wish people would realise there are some fantastic things on at the theatre and they don't always have to be famous to be good."