The
Empire
Strikes Back !
Theatre director Marie Nixon talks to Graeme Anderson about the business of culture , the night-time economy and the ineffable magic of Orville the duck .
PICTURES BY CHRIS BOOTH
I
t ’ s ‘ Take Two ’ as Marie Nixon and the Sunderland Empire launch their comebacks together .
Take One was in March 2020 when Marie , barely a week into the top job , shuttered the Empire ’ s doors as the danger posed to the nation by Covid-19 became apparent .
No one could have foreseen at the time how long Sunderland ’ s famous stage would be silenced and , further afield , how much the UK ’ s arts industry would suffer .
“ As first weeks go , it wasn ’ t bad ,” smiles Marie , ruefully . " We ' d had the Birmingham Royal Ballet performing Swan Lake and before that , the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra .
“ I met the incredible team we have here , started to get to know the building - and then we had the lockdown .”
The doors wouldn ’ t open again for 19 months - the longest closure in the Edwardian theatre ’ s 114-year history
- with Marie left to earn her corn by steering the Empire through a surreal period .
“ For a number of months , the Empire team was supported by furlough and I was handed the keys to the theatre ,” reveals Marie .
“ It was a strange experience for me , being in this magnificent building by myself , but a real privilege to be the temporary custodian of this wonderful venue .
“ We were very lucky to be operated by Ambassador Theatre Group , the biggest theatre company in the world , which has a great relationship with Sunderland City Council - both of which were hugely supportive of the Empire and its team . Many other arts and hospitality organisations weren ’ t so lucky .
“ And then we were successful in getting support from the Arts Council ’ s Culture Recovery Fund , which helped us to do a lot of work on the building and begin staff preparations , and to support musicians and creatives across the City of Sunderland , which was so important because our industry has never seen a time like this .”
Early in the pandemic , with venue doors locked everywhere , there came a reappraisal of the value that arts , entertainment and culture had delivered to the country ’ s economy . Long seen as the icing on the cake , there dawned an appreciation that the billions of pounds annually generated meant that beyond the glitz and glamour , arts and entertainment contributed a significant slice of GDP cake .
In 2019 , the government estimated arts and culture contributed £ 10.47bn to the UK economy - 0.5 % of total UK economic output , supporting an estimated 226,000 jobs .
The pandemic , therefore , marked a bleak time for entertainers with many ineligible for furlough .
But now theatre and live entertainment is back with a bang and the Empire is resuming its traditional
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