ENB's new image

[Anna C]

I'll tell dd's school, a frog. :-)

[aileen]

A top price of £74 for Le Corsaire? That's very optimistic!

[Jan McNulty]

I've booked for the first evening in Milton Keynes - top price £40!  There is a matinee on that day too.

[JaneL]

Thanks for letting us know about the 2 for 1 deal for people under 30. That's brilliant! I would have gone anyway, but now I'll probably go for a slightly better seat and go with friends

 

Ah - just seen stalls/dress circle top price only - so probably not...

Edited April 23, 2013 by JaneL

[Bluebird]

There's also an offer of 15% off all prices if you book for two different productions in one transaction.  

 

There was an offer of 25% off all prices if you booked for 4 different productions in one transaction.  It's obviously too late for this offer as there are now only 3 productions left to book (Tribute to Nureyev, Nutcracker and Corsaire)

 

 It's a great pity that this offer was not publicised anywhere.  I only found out about it last week from a booking office clerk. I couldn't take advantage of it as I'd already booked for this season's two mixed bills. ENB really need to get their act together with these offers!

 

 

EDIT

IMPORTANT UPDATE

I've just spoken to the Coliseum Box Office and they tell me that this offer has now changed.

 

If you book the Nureyev programme and both of the Christmas shows, you will get 15% off the Nureyev tickets and 20% off both Christmas shows.

 

If you book the Nureyev and ONE Christmas show, you will get 10% off the Nureyev and 15% off the Christmas show

 

If you just book both Christmas shows you will get 15% off both of them

 

These reductions apply to all ticket prices (i.e. even £10 tickets)

 

The reason for the complicated reductions is that the price structure of the Christmas shows is different to the shows  for this season.

Edited April 23, 2013 by Janet McNulty
Edited at Bluebird's request to correct information given

[capybara]

I think we can feel assured  that the ENB Marketing Team will read everyone's comments with interest. I hope that they will find them helpful. After all, what we all want is for ENB to thrive at the Box Office and to secure a strong audience base from among newcomers as well as regular ballet-goers.

[Bluebird]

There's also an offer of 15% off all prices if you book for two different productions in one transaction.  

 

There was an offer of 25% off all prices if you booked for 4 different productions in one transaction.  It's obviously too late for this offer as there are now only 3 productions left to book (Tribute to Nureyev, Nutcracker and Corsaire)

 

 It's a great pity that this offer was not publicised anywhere.  I only found out about it last week from a booking office clerk. I couldn't take advantage of it as I'd already booked for this season's two mixed bills. ENB really need to get their act together with these offers!

 

 

EDIT

IMPORTANT UPDATE

I've just spoken to the Coliseum Box Office and they tell me that this offer has now changed.

 

If you book the Nureyev programme and both of the Christmas shows, you will get 15% off the Nureyev tickets and 20% off both Christmas shows.

 

If you book the Nureyev and ONE Christmas show, you will get 10% off the Nureyev and 15% off the Christmas show

 

If you just book both Christmas shows you will get 15% off both of them

 

These reductions apply to all ticket prices (i.e. even £10 tickets)

 

The reason for the complicated reductions is that the price structure of the Christmas shows is different to the shows  for this season.

 

Sorry.  In my hurry to edit this before the editing window closed, I wrote down the wrong reduction for 2 Christmas shows bought in one transaction...  If you just book two Christmas shows the reduction is 15% and not 20%.  Maybe an administrator could correct the posting so as not to confuse readers? 

Edited April 23, 2013 by Janet McNulty
Edited at Bluebird's request to correct information given

[Jan McNulty]

I've done the edits Bluebird (highlighted in red).

 

Thanks for posting this very useful information.

[Norman S]

Sorry to enter this discussion a bit late..but I think Tamara Rojo is doing an utterly brilliant job (in a relatively short space of time) in giving the company a sharper, distinctive identity and raising its profile beyond a core ballet audience.

At present it seems to me ENB are in danger of being forever the poor cousins of the Royal, both artistically and finanically. What Tamara appears to be doing is trying to give the conpany a clearer purpose and personality, and to break out of the safety net/straight jacket of the story based classics. 

My sense is she is trying to provided a clear answer to the basic question - "Who are the ENB and what  are the ENB for ?" And my feeling is she wants ENB to be a  slightly edgier, younger company with a bit of attitude. Hence the Vivienne Westwood, Ecstacy and Death, Corsaire etc etc. She's taking risks and wants the company to become  less risk averse.

Alongisde that she has  - through her own infectious personality and energy - hugely raised the media coverage of the ENB. It sometimes seems you can hardly open a magazine or turn on the radio without coming across her. In doing so I think she is beginning to make ENB look more relvant, involved and contemporary. 

Finally I wonder if working in the company hasn't just become a whole lot more fun and if there'sa bit more of a buzz about the place. There's nothing more draining than "same old, same old" and I suspect Tamara by giving tghe company some  momentum and impetus is starting to put a smile on the face of ENB. All credit to her.

 

[MAB]

The Ecstasy and Death programme was two thirds made up of ballets already in the rep, the ugly posters campaign was a ghastly expensive error and virtually the whole audience was sitting in 'special offer' seats.  As for Corsaire - if that puts bums on seats outside of London I'll be very surprised. 

 

So no, don't agree with previous post.

[aileen]

MAB, what do you think Tamara (and ENB management) should be doing then?

[Jan McNulty]

I'm being utterly facetious here but, for provincial tours only, rename the company the Russian English National Ballet and rename Le Corsaire as Swan Lake with Pirates!!!

[zxDaveM]

I'm being utterly facetious here but, for provincial tours only, rename the company the Russian English National Ballet and rename Le Corsaire as Swan Lake with Pirates!!!

 

 

Arrrrrrr!

[MAB]

MAB, what do you think Tamara (and ENB management) should be doing then?

 

Not waste money on advertising that doesn't work for a start and rethink Corsaire as the majority don't read Byron and would have no idea what  a corsaire was.

 

How about re-naming it Pirates of the Aegean?  That might do the trick.

[aileen]

MAB, what work would you like to see ENB do?

[A frog]

Does anyone know why ENB often seem to finish their tours in London?
For works that are unfamiliar to the more general public and are (even) harder to sell outside of London, maybe it would help to change that. I assume it would be easier to have press and publicity (ideally a small item on the TV news or the like) if journalists don't have to go anywhere, it would then set the word for the rest of the tour.

I believe problematic attendance to unfamiliar works outside of London has always been an issue (if I remember from parts of Zoe Anderson's RB history correctly), and I rather think that Le Corsaire would be a rather good choice as it is classical and immediately enjoyable; but this cannot change if no one goes out there with "new" works, and, unfortunately, probably has to make a loss every so often. Regarding the unfamiliarity with the source, the only proven box office draw I can think of where the source text may factor in in people's decision to attend (as in, I like this story and I wonder what it would look like in another media) is Romeo and Juliet (and maybe Alice in the future if it remains as popular).

I think it's too early to pronounce any conclusion about the effectiveness of the new image and advertising policy, and I actually found the Ecstasy and Death poster in the tube rather stylish; it is all part of a whole with where they apparently want to take their programming policy, we just need to see in a couple of years how things have turned out, but I certainly hope they will be successful with it.
It however cannot be ignored that there were many in attendance with discounted tickets, and I hope they will be careful to make sure any new audience they are pursuing doesn't get used to it and starts buying full price tickets.

[MAB]

MAB, what work would you like to see ENB do?

 

How about some of the successes from the back catalogue?  Night Shadow, Piege de Lumiere, Witch Boy, Le Tricorne, Swan Song could all be revived, it always seems to me a pity to disregard a company’s heritage.

[Ian Macmillan]

A frog:  You are quite correct concerning the problems posed by putting on unfamiliar work away from London.  I've mentioned  this several times here before in similar circumstances - ie the ROH Annual Report for 1959-60, in the time of the RB Touring Company, reflected on the "essentially conservative nature of provincial audiences, who have preferred to play safe with the classics rather than risk a triple bill of novelties, and the repertory has been modified in consequence."  (My italics.)  The Report went on to state that TV might play a "helpful educative role here" by showing more modern work, better adapted to the screen - and, to a degree, the BBC obliged, but that's all a very long time ago now.  Ms Rojo has a challenge on her hands, and I wish her, and her company, well in meeting it.

[Jan McNulty]

It's not only ENB that can have difficulty attracting audiences Up North.  BRB no longer present their mixed programmes at Sunderland or The Lowry.  This surprises me because The Lowry has a really good dance programme, especially in the Spring.

 

Up North audiences seem very conservative and I don't think much has changed.  I can remember writing to ENB at least 15 years ago because we were getting Coppelia for the 3rd time in 5 years.  I got a lovely letter back but sadly the bottom line was that Coppelia sells in Liverpool.

 

Someone mentioned TV/radio/newspapers.  BRB performed in Hull as part of the midscale tour some years ago.  The audience numbers were abysmal.  I was talking to someone and wondered why they hadn't capitalised on Robert Parker.  The answer was that they had - on the local TV news, the radio and the local papers.

 

NB's stronghold is Yorkshire but if they try to move away from the tried and tested formula it seems to be a much harder sell.

 

I think MAB's alternative name for Corsaire (Pirates of the Aegean) is much more imaginative than mine!

 

I don't know what the answer is but I applaud ENB for trying to do something different (except in Liverpool where we are getting the Nutcracker!).

[Paul Arrowsmith]

But this is all self-perpetuating.

 

Although speaking about New York audiences, as Christopher Wheeldon said when I interviewed him for Dancing Times (January 2013 edition), "audiences are a product of what they see." That's equally true here - I'm not at all convinced Corsaire is any longer a saleable title.

 

I'm fortunate that when I started watching ballet in the 1970s, seasons by Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet and London Festival Ballet in Manchester and Liverpool were usually of two-week duration, offering full-length productions but also a mix of triple bills - mix being the important word. The rep was built both on classics and newer works. Audiences were very healthy - and that is not a rose-tinted youthful memory.

 

The difficulty now is that working practices and contractual requirements mean that such labour intensive touring patterns are unaffordable. ENB isn't even attempting to tour its most recent and forthcoming triple bills - a very unhealthy situation. As others have remarked elsehwere on these pages, even the balcony was taken off sale for the Coliseum season. In contrast, a familiar title like Romeo and Juliet at SWells did good business. 

 

The role of any artistic director these days is not to think up tantalising programming, to be a media pin-up, to preside over branding flim-flam, to choreograph even - but to raise money.

 

I hope Tamara Rojo learned well when she shadowed Karen Kain. But again, National Ballet of Canada's touring footprint in Canada is much reduced - as was the number of works originally scheduled for their London visit.

 

The omens are not good - and that's before we consider Maria Miller's philistine 'economic case' requirement announced today.  

[restor]

We all want ENB to thrive but:

 

Visiting touring companies are no charge to the taxpayer ENB is and it repeatedly fails to sell well.

 

It does not visit cities that a private promoter would not be prepared to take companies to.

 

From the comments above, their website, advertising and marketing depts -  all highly staffed at taxpayer expense - are not doing as good a job as any commercial tour promoter who employs fewer people.

 

ENB fail the taxpayer on several grounds as many of their employees are not British so a subsidy for foreign workers and fail to reach a wide or new audience or even fill theatres with the established ballet goers.

 

All of which is unfair to the taxpayer, the artists and audience.

[Jan McNulty]

Restor - you have made several comments about ENB being tax-payer funded and not performing well financially.  Do you have a specific issue with ENB?

 

For myself, it does my head in that people in the provinces will go and see a company if they think it has anything to do with Russia.  Some of these companies have been touring the same 4 or 5 productions for donkeys years without remission.  I would far rather support British companies on tour.  The question is rather more - how should they entice people to see their performances.

 

Apart from Giselle and Manon, in recent years all the ENB performances I have seen in Liverpool and Manchester have been very well attended.  I may have preferred to see a different rep but hey, if it puts bums on seats who am I to knock it?

 

Buy British is what I say!

[chrischris]

I know this will never happen, but I sometimes wonder whether ENB should just join with the RB, and they could then maybe split in two, with a touring company performing in smaller venues around the UK under the RB name. I have no evidence to back this up, but I assume a RB touring company would be more of a draw, simply as the name is more recognisable,and the dancers at the RB tend to have a higher profile than the ENB dancers.

[Jan McNulty]

Funny - that used to be BRB's role (when they were SWRB)!

[chrischris]

Funny - that used to be BRB's role (when they were SWRB)!

 

Yeah I didn't know that until I saw Darcey on tv talking about being in the touring company.

[capybara]

...... but I assume a RB touring company would be more of a draw...............and the dancers at the RB tend to have a higher profile than the ENB dancers.

 

Are you sure about this, Chrischris? Daria Klimentova, Elena Glurdjidze and Erina Takahashi as well as Tamara Rojo are ballerinas of international renown. And the wonderful Vadim Muntagirov is becoming one of the most 'in-demand' dancers in the world. All are established favourites, or are rapidly becoming so if the cheers from regional audiences as well as those in London are anything to go by.

[chrischris]

Are you sure about this, Chrischris? Daria Klimentova, Elena Glurdjidze and Erina Takahashi as well as Tamara Rojo are ballerinas of international renown. And the wonderful Vadim Muntagirov is becoming one of the most 'in-demand' dancers in the world. All are established favourites, or are rapidly becoming so if the cheers from regional audiences as well as those in London are anything to go by.

 

Rojo is known from the RB. Personally I doubt most people know who any of the people you mentioned are, but I think more people (not a lot, but more) will know who Acosta, Nunez, Watson et al are. The RB is the premier ballet company, and for whatever reason, people seem to be drawn to it more than the ENB. I doubt Bussell or Cope would have become the stars they did if they had danced with the ENB instead of the RB. I don't mean to be dismissive of the ENB or anything, but from an advertising point of view, it must be easier to market the RB than it is to market the ENB.

[aileen]

I don't think that Nunez and Watson (or Cope) are/were widely known outside the small world of the regular ballet-goer. Darcey Bussell is the exception in that she was well known to the wider public. Lauren Cuthbertson, another British principal with the RB, is not well known, yet at least.

[chrischris]

I don't think that Nunez and Watson (or Cope) are/were widely known outside the small world of the regular ballet-goer. Darcey Bussell is the exception in that she was well known to the wider public. Lauren Cuthbertson, another British principal with the RB, is not well known, yet at least.

 

I agree. I don't think i'm explaining myself very well. I kind of mean that if you say to someone that someone is a ballerina at the RB, it sounds really impressive, whereas saying someone is a ballerina at the ENB doesn't sound as impressive, even though there's no real difference. A bit like in tennis, someone being a Wimbledon champion often sounds more impressive than someone being an Australian open champion, even though they are both the same level of tournament. Or the way people that go to Oxbridge often have a kind of esteem or certain reputation, even though there are many other universities in the UK that are better in certain subjects. The RB has a reputation that I think is more marketable, and I think a dancer from the RB is more marketable than a ballet dancer from the ENB, simply because of that brand/ recognisable name.

[aileen]

The more I think about it, the more I think that is essential that ballet reaches out to teenagers and people in their twenties. Like it or not, parenthood today is all-consuming: financially; emotionally and time-wise and this goes on for years! I live in an affluent part of London and many of the people whom I know have high family incomes but few seem to go to the ballet, opera, theatre etc. The fact is that the cost of living is high for parents who are also time-poor and, unlike parents of my parents' generation, everything revolves around the children. For those who become parents a decade or more can pass during which they retreat from cultural life (except for the benefit of the children). Eventually, they will emerge from the tunnel of parenthood but they are unlikely to go to the ballet, opera, theatre etc. unless this is something which they did when they were younger.

[alison]

Does anyone know why ENB often seem to finish their tours in London?

For works that are unfamiliar to the more general public and are (even) harder to sell outside of London, maybe it would help to change that. I assume it would be easier to have press and publicity (ideally a small item on the TV news or the like) if journalists don't have to go anywhere, it would then set the word for the rest of the tour.

 

I think it's partly coincidence, in that LFB/ENB has always done a Christmas season in London, so that's where they end up (and they can only take the Coliseum when ENO have vacated it, of course).  I'm sure it's also convenient that the productions will have bedded in well on tour before they hit the critical spotlight which London tends to represent.  But don't forget this year Sleeping Beauty went on to Oxford and Southampton after the mid-season break.  I take your point that extra coverage from an initial London season might generate some extra ticket sales, but I wonder what proportion of ENB's regular(ish) audience actually pay much attention to dance reviews.  After all, they had a marvellous opportunity when touring Manon, because it had been on with the Royal Ballet a month or so beforehand, which meant that (very positive) reviews of the ballet had already hit the national papers - I'm not aware that it did much good for ticket sales, though I may be wrong.

 

The trouble with the local press, I think, is that if they only have a weekly publication then the first night tends to be too late on in the week to make that week's issue, so they are only ever reporting on something which has already taken place, and for which tickets are no longer available.  And most people, I've noticed, don't react to reviews and buy tickets for the next night - they may need to make arrangements, or want to wait for a weekend, or whatever, which doesn't give them a lot of time.

[Bruce Wall]

In a lighthearted response to dear Janet and others ... Perhaps ENB could tour regionally as 'Английского национального балета' ..... That's ENB in Russian!!!  It would bring a certain intrigue to the brand .... and no doubt offer a fresh challenge for Madame Westwood!!!  

Edited April 25, 2013 by Meunier

[A frog]

Thanks Alison.
What I meant by TV news was probably very uninformed and for all intents and purposes would never happen. In France, the news often end with a small cultural bit, effectively a puff piece for something about to open or be released  (ballet, opera, or theatre (the subsidised kind) included). A one or two minute or so segment before the show opened in London mentioning the show would then tour in … would probably be a very effective starting point for publicity. This is probably just wishful thinking, I never watch the news here so don't know if this could happen, neither do I know if the news are as watched as they are in France. And for all I know maybe this is already the case.