"What future for English Rep?"

Back in the July/August 00 issue of Stage Screen and Radio a two-page article with this heading ran, much of it bemoaning the lack of skills now available in many of the repertory houses in England, in all back-stage departments. Much like successive governments who peddle the lie that if you cut financial support by 50% and the workforce by 45% then the business will run better, the article said this drought of skills was mainly brought about by cost cutting exercises and hidden agendas that relied for their success on staff reductions and a plethora of 'buying in' and 'off the peg' production solutions; seeing things from the inside, I can vouch for the fact that things haven’t got any better. So, allow your mind to drift as I take you back in time. Whoooeeeooo! Once upon a time………………"
On leaving school the young people of this country were taken on by the employers and once in employment in the various media and entertainment operations, were dispatched to all corners of the workplace to locate left-handed spanners, sacks of holes and tubes of smoke. During these searches, which could sometimes last for years (I know mine for a 'box of sparks' did) they were gradually educated in all the technical disciplines, health and safety demands and design skills that their chosen field of employment required.
They were taught by consummate professionals in the business, and they, in turn became those consummate professionals (alright, not all of them, but you get the gist). Gradually the wheat was sifted from the chaff and a core-staff team was built up.
Throughout it all these new-comers were capable of moving from place to place because, notwithstanding each individual department manager's little peccadilloes (I have the video rights for these by the way) much of the essential training and requirements were standardised throughout the industry, so a skills base was already in place for much of the product.
‘Macbeth’ needed a dagger for Act Two-Scene One, not a rubber chicken and a Spiderman suit (oh, I don't know though) Cyrano de Bergerac a large nose and even larger sword, absolute deadlines had to be met (Your motivation for that line? Try, “We open at 8.00”) Peter Pan needed to fly safely, spectacularly and preferably not in a blackout, and every other experimental youth theatre group needed twenty large broomsticks, a lot of shouting and a red wash. Alterations needed to make the theatre production side run safer, smoother, look better? Department heads and the staff knew exactly what had to be done, where the bars needed to hang, the doors to be placed, the cable runs to go, after all they worked in it every day so they knew by use and default. The beauty of this system was that, each year, a new batch of young and eager talent came through to learn, all over again, those exact same disciplines! Through this scheme these not-so-new-boys and girls were enabled, in their turn, to pass on to others the same skills, and so the cycle continued. A guaranteed steady supply of emerging, dedicated professionals that stuck to the industry like pooh to a pillowcase and moved the arts forward at a pace where they, and in turn we, could all walk before we were expected to run; it was called, "An Apprenticeship"!