Sunday at the DOUBLE

[Phantom of London]

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/west-end-protest-at-plans-for-two-shows-on-sunday-8531104.html

[theatrepaul]

Can't really see what the justification might be for a 2 show Sunday when 1 show Sunday's haven't become a big deal in the West End yet?

[FireFingers]

Actors with kids would barely see them. And 4 shows in 2 days every week would be massively draining.

[Phantom of London]

I agree with you

Acting on stage is such a organic profession, the performances can have major persuasion on the ***mood*** of the actor, anyone who has seen a performance of a show after a show has been panned by the critics or the actors have just received closure notices, will know where I am coming from, so I wouldn't want to see a performance if the actors really didn't want to be there.

Saying that as much as I am against performing on a Sunday, if you are going to do one performance you might as well do two and use this to you advantage to negotiate a Monday and Tuesday off, so doing your contractual 8 shows in 5 days a fair trade off.

[wheety1621]

We only have to look in the past couple of years, when Sunday performances were brought in, Legally Blonde and Rock of Ages for example, had a Sunday performance (even 2 on the Sunday in RoA) and both were soon changed.

I personally think Sunday performances will never made it big over here compared to Broadway. I can understand performers worries over would could be 4 shows in a weekend and the impact on social/family life, but many other professions have to deal with unsocial hours (my profession is nursing and I am writing this whilst on a break on my night shift) but I agree they should be paid to compensate for this (especially Sunday work)

[jaqs]

Sundays can be pretty awful for travel, both inside london and getting in and out of london.

It didnt really work at ROA and many of the cast really hated it.

I had a friend who liked doing a single show sunday as he said having sunday night off and a free monday was almost like having a weekend.

Its not like theres nothing to see on sundays, theres often a charity show or cabaret or 3 to see.

[theatrepaul]

http://www.equity.org.uk/news-and-events/equity-news/west-end-update/

[Phantom of London]

Looks like producers now have the option to do 2 performances on Sunday now, subject to each cast member approving to do 2 show.

This new ruling will on be a great benefit to actors, if you do one 3pm show on a Sunday your day is pretty much written off already, so I would be happy to do an extra show, but I would use my power to 'approve' as leverage to have the Monday and Tuesday off and work a 5 day week and forgo a Sunday premium payment.

What is strange with this new ruling is that 'Rock of Ages' has already done 2 performances on a Sunday already, how were they allowed to do two shows?

All the above is academical as a there is a struggle to sell 1x Sunday performance, never mind 2!!!

[theatrepaul]

I can understand that there is a good commercial argument for Sunday vs say Monday performances but there does seem to have been little appetite to do even one Sunday show in recent years, so it's hard to see this becoming part of the fabric of London theatre in the way it is in New York, at least not for some time.

I guess the real challenge for some actors is, whilst they might have Monday & possibly Tuesday off, if they have a family it doesn't really work as their spouse and/or kids are not likely to be at home then.

[Phantom of London]

'I guess the real challenge for some actors is, whilst they might have Monday & possibly Tuesday off, if they have a family it doesn't really work as their spouse and/or kids are not likely to be at home then.'

I agree with what you say above and have always been against Sunday performances for the reason you give, our actors aren't professional slaves and working already working six nights a week plus all day on a Saturday, it is not much to ask to see your family/partner one day a week. Where I thought a fair trade off is to do 2 Sunday performance, the day is wiped out anyway by doing the one performance, you could use this as a bargaining chip to have 2 days off and give you 2 valuable evenings with your family/partner.

My preference is for actors and theatre staff to have a full Sunday off, if that's what they want, than watch a show with actors that just don't want to be there. The exception to this is the National Theatre.

I remember speaking to an actor who told me "my partner does a normal 9-5 job, so I just sit indoors twiddling my thumbs all day. to see a very tired partner for a little while on a Monday evening."

Also if you are single, Saturday night was there end of the week and they like to let their hair down, with the odd all-night session.

[Princeton Returns]

Grrrr sorry but the whole attitude about poor precious performers having to work weekends pisses me off. yes it is anti social and not ideal for families but they earn a decent wage for doing something that they love. There are millions of families out there that have the same situation in lower paid jobs they hate, dad works during the day and mum at night etc. So few people have the traditional weekends these days. I know many families where a parent works weekends while the other has the kids.

[Phantom of London]

So your enjoyment is paramount, to someone having a right to see there families/partners.

let me tell you there are 'precious' performers, who earn poor wages and it is just a job to them, also performer might only make up 10-20% of staff who work in the theatre.

Grrr, Yeap - so do I, I work shift work myself, I work in an industry where there is no such thing as a weekend, as trains run every day of the weekend, but my industry thankfully doesn't expect their staff to work every weekend , acting on stage is the only profession that expects their staff to work the every weekend and now the whole weekend, we abolished slavery in this country for a good reason.

[Princeton Returns]

I didnt say anything about my enjoyment, and seeing as I wouldn't be seeing Sunday shows that doesnt come into question

Slavary? That is a ridiculous and disrespectful comment

They would get days off in the week So its not 7 days a week. Ive worked a year where i barely had a traditional weekend off (i had days off in week), if you dont like it do another job. Also had jobs where ive worked everyday of the week for a period of time.

There are people on minimum wage, both parents working at different times, rarely having traditional family time. Is it a good thing? of course not. But for actors to act as though they are the first this has happened to or deserve some sort of special treatment makes them look incredibly out of touch. Especially when its been done on Broadway for years, Plus im sure understudies and swings would be used more anyway