Musicals and comedies lead in theatre attendances

Things appear to be rather glitzy for theatre in Malta as shown by figures released yesterday by the National Statistics Office, which showed an increase in theatre attendances of 6.9 per cent between 2000 and 2002.

The NSO statistics show that dance and serious drama productions contribute a good share to the total attendances which went up from 158,000 in 2000 to 169,000 last year.

Comedies and concerts remain highly sought after by audiences, and musicals, comedy and dance reflect high theatre-seat utilisation rates - with 76.6 per cent, 66.9 per cent and 66.2 per cent respectively.

The NSO statistics show that attendances for comedies remained entrenched around the 45,000 figure, while concert attendances were up from 26,000 in 2000, to 32,000 last year.

Attendance for opera remains relatively low, with 2.4 per cent of the total attendance in 2002, though there was an increase of 1,500 tickets sold over the previous year.

The weighted average for theatre-seat utilisation increased from 58.2 per cent in 2000 to 63.1 per cent in 2002.

Theatre companies know which productions act as magnets for audiences - 88 comedies were staged last year, more than double the number of serious dramas.

Theatrical productions, ranging from opera to drama to comedy, averaged 177 in the three-year period under review.

The number of persons employed in this sector last year stood at 51, a percentage increase of two over 2001. A substantial component of this sectoral work force comprises part-time voluntary workers.

Box office revenue, excluding VAT, increased from Lm375,572 in 2000 to Lm405,996 last year. Theatre running costs have increased from Lm0.23 million in 2000 to Lm0.34 million in 2002.

The increment resulted from an increase in operational costs and capital expenditure.

St James Cavalier manager Chris Gatt said the NSO survey showed some "interesting, encouraging and exciting figures".

However he warned against complacency and said that a concerted effort was needed to keep fuelling both figures and quality.

"I believe there is a consistently better product each year and this has had an impact on attendances. We are tapping new audiences, though I believe we can still entice more people to the theatre - and some new theatrical concepts would not necessarily bring in an immediate return."

He warned against falling into the trap of equating success with income generated by a production.

Mr Gatt stressed that the theatre scene was an industry and the government should deal with it as such.

"The government should keep investing in culture - because as proven already it will give it a financial and social return."

Manoel Theatre artistic director Tony Cassar Darien said that since the September 11 terrorist attacks, "everything went haywire" and the first thing that took a knock was the leisure industry.

It was therefore a positive factor to see an increase, though Mr Cassar Darien had requested from the NSO a detailed analysis of the figures to be able to make conclusions.