Case

Another opportunity

During a meeting on Tuesday, April 6, 1999, executives of the Groningen Arts Centre raised a number of points, including the following.

Karin of Eden (programme coordinator): ‘No performances have been planned for 11 and 12 March 2000, a weekend. Since he is one of the best known Dutch comedians, we thought Tom Hek might be willing to give two more performances at our theatre. But he thinks the five performances planned for May 2000 are sufficient proof of his love of Groningen. Well, I have just been told by a theatrical agency that a Latvian company is going to stage the operetta ‘Der Bettelstudent’ in the Netherlands in March 2000. The agency is asking €22,500,- for two performances – on Saturday and Sunday. I think we should accept this offer. We could price our tickets at €25 each and if each performance draws an audience of 450, we will break even. Just do your sums: 2 x 450 x €25 = €22,500,-’.

Jan Dekker (controller): ‘But we had set aside that weekend in March for a big overhaul of the theatre. The theatre is pretty booked up for that period and the technical staff wants to carry out various small repairs’.

Karin: ‘Come on Jan, surely you would not leave the theatre empty for a weekend during the high season?’.

Jan: ‘Karin, there is something else to consider. We probably would not sell much more than 450 tickets per performance, although I believe we must make a sizeable sum out of that sort of performance’.

Harm van Tol (director): ‘I think Jan has a valid point there. Operettas must bring in a good deal of money to cover deficits caused by less marketable performances. But leaving that aside, we have already planned about 15 operas and operettas for next season. I have nothing against that Latvian company, but we must bear in mind that we are supposed to offer a wide range of good performances’.

Karin: ‘I’m sorry, but I don’t get it. My proposal will only mean a wider range. It would do no harm. Our fixed costs have already...