Musicals are crowd-pullers at theatres

Theatrical productions, ranging from operas and musicals to comedies and dramas, increased by 25.9 per cent between 2002 and last year, the National Statistics Office said yesterday.

However, the number of performances dropped from 397 to 371, or 6.5 per cent.

According to NSO data, the largest amount of performances held were concerts, followed by serious dramas, comedies and musicals. A substantial number of "other" performances were also staged; these included school activities (such as prize days), beauty contests and poetry readings.

"Theatre attendance saw a slight drop between 2002 and 2003; from 169,015 to 144,456, a decrease of 14.5 per cent. However, this is still an increase over the 142,437 persons who attended the theatre in 2001," the NSO said.

The most highly attended performances were musicals, comedies and concerts. Musicals also boast the highest theatre-seat utilisation with 81.3 per cent of seats being filled for such performances. They are followed by comedies with 67.4 per cent, dramas with 61.1 per cent and operas with 60.8 per cent.

Concerts are the least attended performances, with a theatre-seat utilisation rate of 45.2 per cent. The weighted average for theatre-seat utilisation dropped from 63.1 per cent in 2002 to 59.9 in the year under review.

Total theatre income emanates from box office receipts, grants/subsidies and "other" income, with box office receipts contributing the lion's share of all income. In 2003, the latter figure stood at nearly Lm300,000 and made up 51.6 per cent of the total income. The total income in 2003 registered a decrease over 2002, down from Lm620,000 to Lm570,000 million.

Theatre running costs have decreased from Lm340,000 in 2002 to Lm320,000 in the year under review. The largest portion of expenditure went on staff expenses (wages and social security benefits) - these made up 51.8 per cent of all expenditure. Other operational costs made up 28.1 per cent of the total expenditure.