Industry News: Society of London Theatre and UK Theatre to work closer together

The joint Chief Executives of industry trade bodies the Society of London Theatre (SOLT) and UK Theatre, Claire Walker and Hannah Essex, are overseeing a restructuring of the two organisations.

The membership organisations represent theatre producers, managers, owners and operators in the West End (SOLT) and around the UK (UK Theatre).

The new structure will result in a 10% cut in staff, and a move to focus the trade bodies more on delivering advocacy, audiences and services to its members.

As part of the changes, Walker and Essex are set to actively lead UK Theatre – which will be the first time that UK Theatre hasn’t had its own distinct head.

Until recently Sebastian Cater was in that post, but he left in November 2023 and his role will not be replaced. Cater joined in 2020, and is currently Interim CEO at Creative Folkestone.

However, the changes won’t mean that the two bodies are being merged, and both will continue to retain individual boards. West End producer Eleanor Lloyd (Witness For The Prosecution) is currently President of the Society of London Theatre, with Birmingham Hippodrome Artistic Director and CEO Jon Gilchrist , and Chief Executive of Nottingham Playhouse Stephanie Sirr as Joint Presidents of UK Theatre.

This news was first reported in The Stage industry newspaper.

Hannah Essex told The Stage that, “We have some amazingly talented people here and are trying to retain as many as possible, but we have to focus on what we think the organisations need to look like to be successful against our goals”, and that, “We came in just over a year ago and had permission to do a ’root and branch’ look at who are we and what we are here for. We have clarified that both organisations are here for people who produce, manage, own and operate theatre, and our priorities are based around supporting our members to be successful through the services we provide: engaging audiences, including looking at future audiences in theatre, and advocating to government, funders and others as much as possible with one voice.”

The pair also plan to streamline the commercial operations within the two bodies, such as the UK-wide gift voucher scheme Theatre Tokens and their ticketing operations, including the Half Price Ticket Booth and website sales, to make them more cost-effective; and to do more membership engagement, and consolidate activities between the two bodies, including events.

The Society of London Theatre organise the annual Olivier Awards, with UK Theatre run the UK Theatre Awards.

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Main photo: The Society of London Theatre - Claire Walker and Hannah Essex. Photo courtesy of SOLT