50,000 Nights Less Ordinary

MEDIA RELEASE COURTESY OF: Arts Council England

Young people across England enjoyed almost 50,000 free visits to the theatre during the first three months of A Night Less Ordinary, Arts Council England announced today.

The news was shared with an enthusiastic crowd of more than 200 under 26 year olds attending free and nearly 30 participating theatres at a special event at the Royal Court theatre, Sloane Square, London.

Between February 16 and April 30 2009, 48,160 (awaiting results from two theatres) free theatre tickets –– more than 4,000 a week for the first 12 weeks – were given away to under 26 year olds at over 200 lyric theatre venues across the country.

Since its launch in February this year, A Night Less Ordinary has proved a hit, with venues around the country reporting a high demand for tickets from 16 – 25 year olds keen to try the live theatre experience for free.

The dedicated web site – www.anightlessordinary.org.uk – where free tickets can be selected and reserved, has received millions of hits and averages almost 7,000 visits a day. More than 3,500 young people have joined the Facebook group to discuss their theatre-going experiences and around 6,000 have signed up to receive e-news about the offer.

Mackenzie Crook, star of Pirates of the Caribbean and The Office, hosted today’s celebratory Afternoon Less Ordinary event, which featured a rehearsed play reading starring Russell Tovey (History Boys, Being Human), Gina McKee (Notting Hill, In the Loop), Simon Paisley-Day (Entertaining Mr Sloane, The 39 Steps) and Flora Spencer-Longhurst (The Unforgiven, Wallender).

The reading was directed by Jeremy Herrin, Deputy Artistic Director of the Royal Court Theatre and was from a new play, “Spur of the Moment” by Anya Reiss, a 17 year old member of the theatre’s new writers group.

After the performance, young members of the audience mingled with the cast, representatives of participating theatres, and VIPs including the Secretary of State for Culture Ben Bradshaw and Arts Council England Chief Executive Alan Davey at an informal reception.

Barbara Matthews, Director of Theatre Strategy for Arts Council England said:

“More than 200 venues across England have worked hard and with imagination to get A Night Less Ordinary off to this excellent start.

“It is fantastic to see the enthusiasm among young people for live theatre and that the scheme is already inspiring some great new initiatives.

“But of course there is more to do. We’ll be working closely with all our A Night Less Ordinary venues to help them reach even more young people and to realise the full potential of the scheme to create the audiences of tomorrow.”

A Night Less Ordinary is being independently evaluated throughout its two year span and full details of the results – including regional breakdowns of figures and analysis of first time attendance – will be published on the Arts Council England web site.