ARTS

House under fire

Lord Chadlington defends the policies of the Royal Opera House to Charles Osborne

In three weeks from now, the Royal Opera House will close for redevelopment which is estimated to take two and a half years, during which time its opera and bal- let companies will take to the road and to various other theatres up and down the country and indeed around the world. Over the past five years and more, the management of the House has been severely criticised in the press for, amongst other defects, lack of intelligent forward planning. On the day last week that the Royal Opera House announced its latest disaster — the cancellation, a week before its first night, of a new production of Verdi's Macbeth in its original 1847 ver- sion, which was to have been one of the highlights of this year's Verdi Festival — I took myself off to talk to the ROH chair- man, Lord Chadlington, not in the current- ly unprepossessing environs of the Opera House, but in the elegant Mayfair office of Shandwick plc, one of the world's top PR companies, of which he is also chairman. When Sir Jeremy Isaacs's term of office as general director of the ROH expired at the end of last year, he was replaced by Genista McIntosh, who came from the top administrative job at the National Theatre with no experience or specialist knowledge of opera or ballet. Was it perhaps in acknowledgement of this, I wondered, that the post of general director disappeared and she was given the title of chief execu- tive?

`Jeremy's was a different job,' Lord Chadlington told me. 'In Nicholas Payne and Anthony Dowell we have first-rate directors of the opera and ballet compa- nies, but we need a chief executive who can not only unite the companies but also address the issues that are concerned with the financing and financial structure.' Unfortunately, Genista McIntosh lasted only a few months in the job. It was announced that she had resigned because of ill-health, but the gossip was that she had found it impossible to cope with the interference of one Vivien Duffield, a member of the Opera House board. (I have not met Mrs Duffield, but by far the least unkind remark made to me about her by people who do know her is that the lady is 'difficult') However, Lord Chadlington insisted that there had been no personality clashes, and referred me to a letter in the Times from Genista McIntosh setting the record straight. `Genista was one of the best half-dozen managers that I've ever dealt with in my arts activities. She was an enormous loss and I'm very sorry she's gone.' Genista McIntosh may well have had second thoughts about the job. I recall Lord Chadlington: `I'm not a chief executive-type chairman.'

attending a dinner at the Garrick Club shortly after she was appointed, when she was invited to meet a few opera buffs. Asked for her views, she was clearly discon- certed when her opening remark that opera was not a museum art was greeted by several voices around the table exclaiming, 'Oh, yes it is.' When Mary Allen, secretary-general of the Arts Council, was swiftly brought in to replace her, without the post being re- advertised, there was, understandably, more unfavourable comment. Apart from having once sung and danced in The Rocky Horror Show, Mary Allen has even less con- tact with musical theatre than Genista McIntosh. Was she appointed simply to act as yes-woman to a hands-on executive chairman, I asked?

`I'm not a chief executive-type chairman. What I am is a chairman who believes that there are a number of important decisions to be taken, and I want to make sure that whatever we in the boardroom decide to do will be thoroughly looked at. Mary Allen and I argued pretty robustly during my time at the Arts Council, but there were also areas where we strongly agreed. She had not initially applied for the Opera House job, but she had been head-hunted by a firm we used. Her name didn't go for- ward to the final selection committee because I felt that, since she had already been an observer at the interviews we'd had, this wouldn't be right. But of all the people on our list, the board decided unanimously that she was the one I should approach. We had to appoint someone quickly. We're going on tour in September.'

`Why, then,' I asked, 'is she lurking at home in the country, tending her garden all summer, and not starting the job until September?'

`Because she has just ceased to be chief executive of the body that funds the Opera House. I believe it right that a period should elapse between the two jobs. When I left the Arts Council and became chair- man of the Opera House, there was a gap of six months. She is taking three months.'

On to more serious matters. Was it true, as some press comments had suggested, that there were two opposing factions at the Royal Opera House, one dedicated to extending the public for opera and ballet, and the other determined to keep seat prices high in order to keep out the riff- raff?

The normally amiable Lord Chadlington tried, but failed, to give me a stern look. This was clearly something he felt strongly about. 'The board,' he said, is absolutely one hundred per cent committed to greater accessibility. Access comes in several dif- ferent forms. First, there's the general ambience the Opera House creates. At present, the amphitheatre audience has to use a separate entrance, around the corner, and if anyone goes into the main foyer by mistake, they find themselves surrounded by a coterie of people waving to one anoth- er and talking, and they feel excluded. The new Opera House will have one entrance for all parts of the auditorium.

`Second, there's the question of televi- sion and radio broadcasts from the House. The unions and the management have already reached agreement for us to do four television transmissions a year, and we're going to negotiate to increase this number.

`The most important aspect of accessibil- ity is the business of seat prices Here are some simple facts, which one doesn't find in the press reports. Over the past five years, more than 500,000 people have paid less than £10 for their seats. On ordinary nights, 1,000 seats of the 2,100 available cost less than £50 for opera and less than £35 for ballet. Every year, thanks to our access initiatives, 100,000 people come to the opera for less than £35 and the ballet for less than £25. You may think that is still too much. But compare it with the cost of other things — a first-class football match, or the Cup Final, for instance. I'm not say- ing it's perfect, but I am saying that not every seat costs £250. It's because some people do pay £250 that we are able to have seats available for £30.

'We have the lowest level of grant from public funds of any European opera house. If we want lower seat prices, it boils down to how important this country thinks it is to have an opera house of international stan- dard.'

I told Lord Chadlington that I saw no reason why what I call the 'corporate trash' shouldn't continue to pay their £250 for the fat tenor if it keeps prices down for gen- uine opera-lovers. Business sponsorship is obviously important, but shouldn't there be, I asked, a change in the tax laws to enable wealthy individuals to make tax- deductible donations, as in the United States? The chairman's response was that he is in favour of anything that helps peo- ple give more to the ROH, but that this does not obviate the need for an adequate Arts Council grant.

He talked enthusiastically about the new Opera House, due to open in December 1999. 'It will have 100 more seats in the main auditorium. It will have air condition- ing and better sight-lines. There will be a 400-seat second auditorium, enabling us to do experimental work, and a third perform- ing space with 200 seats. The renovated Floral Hall, running along the south side of the House, will give a large area for peram- bulating during intervals. If security prob- lems can be solved, we'll have the House open all day, so that people can look around, have a drink or cup of coffee, maybe even lunch.'

`Rather like the National Theatre.'

`Exactly. So that people will be able to feel that this is their opera house.'

Finally, we discussed the cost of all this. `Everyone gets this wrong,' said Lord Chadlington. 'Here's your chance to get it right, Charles. The entire project will cost £213 million. We got £78 million from the Lottery; we have undertaken to raise £100 million ourselves, of which we've already raised £62 million; and we are selling £35 million of the £70 million worth of property we own. I think that adds up correctly.'

It does. As they prepare to venture into the wilderness of the West End and further afield, only churls and philistines will fail to wish well to everyone at the Royal Opera House, and look forward to their returning on schedule and with no further mishaps.