Go forth well armed
Rupert Christiansen gives ten pieces of advice to the Royal Opera House's new chief executive
Dear Mary Allen, I suppose congratulations are in order, but I can't say I envy you. In unhappy cir- cumstances, much rehearsed and misinter- preted in the press (notably the Sunday Times, which gave a risibly ill-informed account of the matter), you have inherited the job which has just defeated Genista McIntosh, by common consent the most competent and level-headed theatre admin- istrator in the country. I won't go into my own view of this fiasco, but you must realise that to be Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House is to stand in the front-line, if not the pillory, with nobody to call you hero. McIntosh couldn't take it, and at times even her armadillo-skinned predeces- sor Jeremy Isaacs begged for mercy. You have a reputation for being a tough cookie, with a loud, upbeat style, but the sort of hard-bakedness required at Covent Garden is made of steel rather than dough, so I hope you are well armed — a small loaded revolver might come in handy.
Currently you serve as Secretary-General of the Arts Council of England — a domain of positively pastoral tranquillity compared with the hell-hole whither you are bound — but you have little first-hand experience of theatre management. (Your post-Cam- bridge Footlights stint as a musical comedy hoofer being colourful, I dare say, but hard- ly relevant.) Could I then, as a committed but impartial observer of the scene, offer you some words of advice? Since Lord Chadlington, the Royal Opera House's enthusiastic Chairman, has assumed emer- gency executive powers for a few months, you will not take up your new post until September, so I trust you can take some time to reflect. Needless to say, I look for- ward with immense interest to seeing how you fare.
1. At the Arts Council I am told that you were forthright in your views, immensely hard-working, and expect an enormous amount from your staff. Fine: but may I suggest that you enter the Royal Opera House more in the spirit of Florence Nightingale than Margaret Thatcher? Over the closure negotiations, personnel there have taken a terrific battering. Despite the survival of some unreconstructed working practices among members of the backstage union Bectu, the great majority of those who remain after massive redundancies are skilled, committed and grossly under-paid. Listen to them.
2. Under your regime, the Arts Council became ever more obsessed with engineer- ing a strategy and less interested in sup- porting art and artists. Institutions which ticked the politically correct boxes on application forms seemed to do much bet- ter in the grant stakes than those which simply tried to produce the best work they could. Forget all that stuff about providing for underprivileged areas of the community for a while and concentrate on satisfying the existing public for opera and ballet. It's the fans I worry about, not UB40 holders who couldn't care less anyway.
3. On which note: I don't think it matters a toss what you charge the nobs for premium seats in the stalls and boxes. Far more important is ensuring that the upper parts of the auditorium are reasonably priced, so that genuine fans can afford to attend regu- larly.
4. Commentators sometimes forget that half of the Royal Opera House's output is provided by the Royal Ballet. Yet this organisation tends to get bullied and 'God knows how long we've been metric but that casket maker still hasn't got the hang of it.' worsted in the cut-and-thrust of corporate politics, and its imperious sister the Royal Opera walks off with the prizes. Redress that imbalance. Ensure that the Royal Bal- let gets the extra dancers and rehearsal time it needs, and strengthen its senior management.
5. But that costs money, you cry. Yes, it does, but so what? Don't buy into the fatal- ism which characterises the arts establish- ment at the moment. Don't lie back and complain that 'the government won't give us any more money, however loudly we complain'. The arts in this country are dis- gracefully under-funded, and the Royal Opera House's problems are largely the result of the same stinginess which has brought low our public education system. Don't ever lose sight of this, don't ever stop fighting for a realistic level of investment in one of our greatest national assets.
6. Lord Chadlington is known to be your friend, and of course it is right and proper that you should have a good working rela- tionship with him. But do try and keep some independence from him and his board; their priorities are financial, yours managerial and artistic. Shout them down when they get venal and mealy-mouthed, as they probably will.
7. Build from the bottom. An opera house is only ever as good as its orchestra, chorus and corps de ballet. Any fool of a manager can hire a few big stars, but only a few can sustain an ensemble.
8. Don't just parrot the cliché that you are 'committed to excellence'. Think about what that phrase implies and how you would define 'excellence'.
9. In matters of repertory, let boldness be your friend. Don't take the short-term sticking-plaster solution of cancelling the challenging, contemporary piece and bung- ing in another Tosca, another Swan Lake. Take a leaf out of Glyndebourne's book and learn from the way it leads its audi- ences without antagonising them; ask your- self why Birmingham Royal Ballet has so much more fizz than its London parent.
10. I am totally in favour of the redevelop- ment scheme, but recent disasters in new opera houses in Europe prove that sophis- ticated machinery and architects' brilliant blueprints are not to be trusted. No amount of computerisation or White Paper thinking can help you to produce good opera and ballet if you don't also nurture and motivate human talent and allow indi- viduals their creative head.
Oh, and good luck, Mary Allen. You do rather need it.
Rupert Christiansen is the Daily Telegraph's opera critic.
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