Posted by Mr. Paul Angel
Everyone (including me) has had a moan about the state of the Mowlem, especially the disgusting mock-victorian bars, so i decided to have a moan to Hall & Woodhouse, who share responsibility with the trustees (as far as I know). Here was their very positive reply:
"PaulGood news!There is a major internal and external upgrade planned for the Mowlem in 2007. I couldn't agree more that it is currently not doing itself justice.Thanks for your feedback.RegardsNick SellickArea Manager".
Now I think that's great, and even better if they consult local people about the new look they could go for. So I thought we could have a conversation here!My opinion: Go for a clean contemporary look with the bar that sticks out clad in oak, the signs modern and maybe backlit, the glass should be cleaned up and left as glass, the lower area where you can sit outside should have some decent benches and lighting, the interior should be white and have local art in it in a changing display, and they should reflect the modern building, the coastal location and the local art scene...What does anybody else think - BE POSITIVE!
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12 comments:
I believe it is very hard for an organisation to change, especially when they need to work with a board of trustees. Presumably they will keep the same demoralised management. Solution, simply put the bar and restaurant separately out to tender. Award the franchise to the best, (not necessarily the highest bidder).
Also clad the outside pillars which support the restaurant above, perhaps with the oak. Put in disabled loos. Make the tunnel area a food court cum gallery. Laminate a colour onto all the glass, I would favour metalic green. Get the cinema manager to advertise his program in the likes of the Guardian (if the REX can be bothered for goodness sake so should the Mowlem). Get rid of the chavs and hoodies that hang around outside and disrupt the films inside. The restaurant bar needs most urgent attention.
soz but two more points:
1) Sort out the website, you can't even get this weeks film details...
2) Other Towns had equally challenging theatre buildings which they can now celebrate. Think of the makeovers at the Lighthouse in Poole and the de La Warre Pavilion in Bexhill.
Would love to be positive. But the only way for fresh thinking is to get new people looking at it. Presumably the present people think what they have and do is wonderful -- so why would they change?
"The man who thinks he can, and the man who thinks he can't, are both right"
To presume that the people running the Mowlem think what they do is wonderful and therefore would never consider change, is to deny them the benefit of your vision!
Why not use this site to make suggestions? I'm sure that they are read by the relevant people at the very least.
The consensus is that they do a very good job but unfortunately its the wrong job.
Hall & Woodhouse have just signed a new lease on the restaurant and Bars apparantly, so there won't be a change of franchise there. The fact that I sent a rather grumpy email about the state of the place and that they replied does strike me as positive, though!
The management of the Mowlem theatre does need a kick up the bum, though... I wonder if the problem is that they make enough money to tick over from the rents and leases on shops and bars, so no real effort to attract theatre and cinema goers. They need a proper plan in place (and publicly in place) to improve the quality of the cinema and theatre experience and the nonexistant PR. At the moment it feels like a visit to a badly run village hall! My father rescued and ran the Tivoli in Wimborne for 10 years, so I speak with some experience of how things can be done well!
Don't know how you discourage the chavs - play classical music in tyhe foyers and the chav-hut outside?
Thinking of the makeovers at Pool and Bexhill, where did the money come from? Where does the money come from that funds the work at the Mowlem and why are they not awarded huge grants like the others? Why is there no financial support from the town council for a facility as important as a theatre? When the water company offered to turn the plant compound of their building site (where the mock amphitheatre now stands) into a leisure centre, why was that blocked? Who owns the leisure centre that is conveniently located near the caravan park? And who owns the caravan park? Who decides what the money is spent on, regardless of where it comes from? How much does it cost to run a public building? What can be done to increase income, so that the suggested improvements can happen? Is there anyone who can see the value of investing in the arts so that the vital facelift can be done? Was it a mistake to knock down the Victorian building in the first place? Until the chavs are kicked into touch, no-one will want to put anything worth having in a public place. Presumably those with all the bright ideas have no clue about any of the above. Put your hand in your pocket and do something useful with it. Lobby funding bodies to support local arts. Ideas and suggestions are worthless without hard bankable cash. Nothing happens without hard bankable cash. There are some very generous people in Swanage but the kind of work that it really needs has many more noughts after it than those generous people are able to afford.
I realise this could be dangereous but I am going to stick my neck out and tell you that I am the Chief Theatre Technician at the Mowlem. I absolutely love my job and it pays my bills. I do not have other jobs I can take at the drop of a hat so bear that in mind when you formulate your questions. I will not sully my name with replies to flames, belligerence or ill-considered comments. I will treat you exactly as I would if I met you in person. I don't bite (often) and if you see me in the bar be nice to me, engage me in conversation and intelligent discussion, or just tell me a decent joke. Drinks are always welcome.
I like some of your ideas and I agree with some comments. Personally, I would like to have some architectural lighting in the foyer area when that gets to the top of the list. I have some very creative ideas on how to spend lots of money. That we don't have.
To Paul Angel. You obviously have seen some great ideas from conception to fruition. I have worked at the Tivoli myself when I took a tour there; it is a fabulous theatre front of house and there have been some admirable technical improvements too. Please share your ideas! Examples of real ideas that have worked, or even failed, are worth ten times the weight of off the cuff remarks.
I agree with all the remarks about the hoodies and chavs. They are the bane of my life and even more so of the life of Brian. He's not the Messiah, he's the theatre's Administrator (we do not have a manager, but I'll save that explanation for some other time).
As regards the facelift, my personal taste in architecture does not accommodate buildings typical of the 1960's style. I might add that the internal design is also dreadful and I do not believe it was designed by someone who had ever even been to a theatre let alone tried to put on a show: a loading bay on the first floor? What on earth were they thinking? Did any of you see us doing the get-in or get-out when "Dead Easy" was on? However, a rebuild that rectifies the biggest gaffs in theatre architecture will cost millions and we have to improve what we have before anyone will see the theatre as worthy of such huge investment.
Before you give me earache about the bar or the foyer, remember that as the Chief Technician, my area of influence is mainly the technical aspects of the theatre. I can sympathise till we all end up in a big sloppy group hug but frankly my time is already overstretched with maintaining and improving the technical aspects of the theatre to a standard I would be proud of.
One of the most important lessons I learned when changing careers from IT to professional theatre was being able to work with what you've got and that imperfect punctuality is always preferred in this business to perfect lateness. There isn't a theatre technician in the world who is happy with the facilities available. At least, not one with whom I wish to be associated. Furthermore, lateness of delivery in both live and recorded entertainment is measured in minutes, seconds and fractions of a second, not months, days and hours as it is in IT.
Well that's my opener. I'll come back when time allows.
Someone asked about funding. There is a very simple reason why the Mowlem does not get lottery or other public funding. A basic condition of public funding is that the people running the organisations it goes to must be accountable. The Mowlem trustees are not accountable and have absolutely no intention of making themselves accountable. They would rather be kings in a threadbare castle than have to stand for election. Its quite obvious they would rather let it fall into the sea then let the people of Swanage decide how our main cultural asset is run.
Hard to be positive. We wanted to plan an evening out for a couple of families, so to be sure of getting seats we tried to book tickets, to be told 'we don't sell tickets in advance'. What sort of blinkered moronic organisation is that?! Certainly doesn't seem like one that actually wants to sell tickets and make money out of running any sort of business. And why will they sell theatre tickets in advance but not film tickets? Time for the trustees to hand over to people with half a commercial brain.
We are not allowed to. We are also obliged to open the box office 45 minutes before a film. No earlier. No later. If there are two customers or more, we are obliged to show the film. If there is only one customer we are obliged to refund the customer and tell them to come back another time. There are mystery customers, though they don't all make good spies and some are recognisable. These obligations are the terms of our contract. If we break the terms of our contract, they stop supplying films and reserve the right not to supply films already arranged.
With theatre, the contact is with the production company, which is usually far less restrictive than commercial film. Why is this do you wonder? It's all about protection of revenue and branding. Throughout the entire supply chain there is far more money to be made per seat from a big multiplex with their computerised automated projectors requiring one projectionist for many films than at a small theatre that runs on two projectors of pre-war design (but post-war manufacture) requiring full-time attendance for the entire film.
Well done Cheesemeister! For far too long the workings of the Mowlem have been shrouded in mystery. Your explanations are most welcome. Have you considered going to a meeting of Swanage's finest, STRATA? Social at the Quarr Gallery this Wednesday 16 August.
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