Managers’ Toolkit

TOOLKIT FOR THEATRICAL MANAGEMENT AND TOURING

Definitions, acronyms, contractions, general abbreviations, jargon, and bibliography for theatre language

This list offers short definitions of theatrical usage common in early and mid twentieth-century touring theatre and in the management of theatre proprietors and producers such as Moss’ Empires and Howard and Wyndham Limited.  The lexicon highlights, in particular, the tension between London and the provinces.  Many words are illuminating, but have vanished today….

Acting Manager	The business manager who acts in the interests of the theatre management; title in use until the 1910s. Howard and Wyndham’s last acting managers were Mr. Percy Humphreys (Glasgow) and Mr. Harry Macfarlane (Edinburgh), becoming business managers in 1911.  Not to be confused with an interim, transition, turnaround or stand-in manager today.
Actor-Manager	A leading actor who rented a theatre, ran his own company or toured a repertoire of plays under his own management, playing the leading roles himself: as in J. B. Howard and R. H. Wyndham, Wilson Barrett, Sir Henry Irving, Sir Donald Wolfit KBE &c.
Advance Manager	The official who travelled ahead of a touring company, arranging local publicity, etc. Much like companies’ marketing officers who visit touring houses to discuss sales plans and have lunch with the local marketing team.
Angel	The person who, privately, financed the play, usually one of several backers. Howard and Wyndham used this system from the 1920s onwards. Like today, their identity was secret.
Artistes	A progressive, non-gender specific term in Howard and Wyndham and Moss' Empires contracts for actors and actresses. Still used at the Grand Theatre, Blackpool and working men’s clubs.
Bad get-in	An awkwardly situated scene dock whose doors are above street-level, or at right-angles, for instance, to a narrow passage. Extra money had to be paid to casual stage labour to get-in scenery at the King’s Theatre, Edinburgh. Trades Union agreements specified certain other Howard and Wyndham theatres: Manchester Opera House and the Theatre Royal, Nottingham (when booked in conjunction with Howard and Wyndham).
Baskets are in, the	A phrase used in provincial touring theatres when there was a ‘full house’. Many touring companies were stranded through lack of audiences, so that, in order to settle their account with the acting manager, the property baskets were left behind as security.
Billiard rooms	At the King’s Theatre, Edinburgh, there were two floors over the front of the theatre, fitted with ‘14 first class tables.’ An early, enterprising example of a theatre’s ancillary activity and income.
Billing	The position and size of an artiste’s name in relation to the play title and to other performers, such as star-billing (often above and bigger than the title and author, reflecting audience appeal, salary and ego). In Variety theatres (Moss’ Empires) this was called top of the bill meaning that the artiste had made it to the top, with the rest of the bill being the running order for the evening. Repertory theatres usually declined to name artistes other than author and director on publicity material, reasoning, without regard to market-forces but with the cushion of subsidy, that the play and ‘creative team’ were the paramount sales points; they gave way to alphabetical-billing to emphasise the resident company and ensemble nature of productions which often meant that everyone received the same pay. An aspect of unnecessary tension between the two strands of provincial theatre, often generating three-party protracted negotiations when a commercial or touring management picks up a play for commercial exploitation and has to negotiate billing with the artiste’s agent and terms with the repertory company.
Boys and Girls	Traditional form of address to a touring company by the resident manager. In their No. 1 theatres, Howard and Wyndham’s Management Handbook (1935) ruled that the more dignified ‘Ladies and Gentlemen’ be used.
Bricks and mortar	A theatre building; used to distinguish a resident manager from a producing manager. A favourite phrase of the Arts Council’s ‘Housing the Arts’ funding scheme in the 1970s.
Buried in the provinces	A London phrase for acting in a touring company, or in resident repertory in a provincial town - forgotten by London managements. John Drinkwater said: ‘London obviously is and will remain by far the most powerful centre of theatrical enterprise. To say that the future of drama lies with the provinces is a pretty figure of speech for established actors to use when speaking on tour to Rotary Clubs and High Schools, but it is no more.’[1]
Call over	The daily reconciliation of outside bookings which the box office manager made with outside ticket agents or ‘libraries’. The booked seats were marked on the seating plans, the unmarked ones being available for sale as ‘doors’. The Howard and Wyndham Management Handbook contains 45 pages on box-office procedures.
Capitalisation	The sum of invested money needed to produce a production. The point where a production has recovered its investment capital is called ‘recoupment’.
Call, train	The train-call was the time at which a touring company left one town for the next on the tour list. For the benefit of artistes, the resident manager gave the times of departure and arrival, and any changes to be made en route. “The Stage” Guide (1912) quoted Third Class rail fares from each tour date to many following cities and towns, as well as the cartage contractor who removed the sets and properties from the stage to the railway station. Artistes carried their own costumes on tour until the 1950s.
Catch a cold	To do a bad week’s business in a provincial town.
Celestials	The theatregoers in the Gallery, or ‘gods’.
Circlers	The theatregoers in the Dress Circle, Upper Circle or Gallery.
Complimentary	A free ticket given by the management to an artiste. The Howard and Wyndham Management Handbook stated: ‘Safeguard any breach of Entertainments Tax regulations by seeing that NO ONE is permitted into the theatre without an official permit, duly endorsed by the Manager. Managers must not pass persons past checkers without permits. A name only upon a ticket is not sufficient - name and address must be given, as all complimentary permits pass on to Check Clerk’s office for record purposes. Rubber stamps must not be used, and each permit should be initialled by the Manager only.’[2]
Contra	A deduction made by the theatre from its final payment to the visiting company, deducted for expenditure incurred by the theatre on behalf of the touring company. Howard and Wyndham accounts suggest that very small sums were re-charged. Live Nation, Ambassador Theatre Group and some independent theatres today, take a more aggressive line, ‘contra-ing’ anything with the expectation that a subsidised company will not notice because it has Arts Council backing and, even if they complain, their cash will have earned interest for the theatre for a longer period. The Howard and Wyndham Management Handbook stated ‘Managers must never over-estimate the share due to the Touring Manager, and when payments are made all contras must be carefully considered for their maximum recovery and deducted.’[3] In the 2000s, some theatres earn more on the contra than they do from their share of box office proceeds. At the Theatre Royal, Norwich, the late-manager Richard Condon was reputed to recharge the costs of his entertaining artists at first-night 'thank you' receptions. Another theatre, that should remain nameless, is known to charge producers a £5 contra for details of box office advance receipts, except between 10 am and 12 noon. In 2009, ambiguities and variations in the smallprint of contracts between touring companies and theatres have prompted the Theatrical Management Association to propose a new Charter for 'best practice'.
CORT	Council of Repertory Theatres, founded 1948. An association of non-profit distributing professional repertory managements in the provinces. They could claim exemption from Entertainments Tax and, when registered as charities, exemption from income tax and a mandatory 50 per cent reduction in rates. The word repertory was often used in a pejorative sense, which led to the change to Council of Regional Theatre. Later merged with the TMA, once the dividing line between non-commercial and commercial theatre changed to retrenchment and difficulty for each strand of provincial theatre.
Country, the	Anywhere out of London, specifically provincial tour dates.
Crewed, be	Changing trains at Crewe station, a railway junction where touring companies waited for connections on Sundays.
DALTA	Dramatic and Lyric Theatres’ Association, forerunner of ‘Arts Council Touring’ (now also defunct).
Damager	Artistes’ name for a manager, who might be seen to damage their prospects.
Date	A town on a theatre company’s tour itinerary.
Digs	Theatrical apartments for touring artistes. The Stage-Door keeper (known as ‘Hallkeeper’ in Howard and Wyndham theatres) mailed lists of boarding houses to companies. (I am on the digs list for the Festival Theatre and King's Theatre, Edinburgh: please telephone for availability).
Discipline and House Management	The Howard and Wyndham Management Handbook contains several tracts about ‘seniority’, ‘punctuality’, ‘politeness’, ‘cleanliness’, and ‘notices’, reading like a military handbook. Download Howard and Wyndham Managers' Duties 1935. These extracts are from their 'Staff Regulations' (p.81): Politeness: It is most important that the staff should realise that patrons should always receive the greatest courtesy. Men attendants should always stand to attention when spoken to by patrons. They must, when addressing patrons, salute and stand to attention. All attendants must always address patrons as 'Sir' or 'Madam' as the case may be. Uniform: Uniforms must be kept scrupulously clean. On no account should polish be used on buttons. They should only be rubbed with a clean cloth. Jewellery of any description is expressly forbidden. All attendants must wear black shoes. Usherettes must wear black stockings. Hands should be washed before proceeding on duty. Nails should be kept well trimmed. General: All members of the staff will stand upright in their posts. Any lounging about or unnecessary talking on duty is strictly forbidden. Smoking or the eating of sweets or the chewing of gum will render the offender liable to instant dismissal.  Punctuality: All attendants must be at their posts a quarter of an hour before the House opens. They must not leave until the whistle is blown.
Dog tour/barring clauses	A tour of adjacent towns. Howard and Wyndham exercised a modest twenty mile barring clause in order to ring-fence their audience catchment areas. In Edinburgh and Glasgow today, the touring theatres attempt to negotiate a fifty mile radius barring clause within a definite time, so as to present ‘exclusive’ Scottish seasons, reckoning that theatregoers travel readily between the cities.  Similar barring clauses cause intense competition for attractions between adjacent independent theatres: for example, Sunderland Empire Theatre and Newcastle Theatre Royal; Bradford Alhambra Theatre and Leeds Grand Theatre; Birmingham Hippodrome Theatre and Birmingham Alexandra Theatre; Liverpool Royal Court and Liverpool Empire; Edinburgh Festival Theatre and Edinburgh Playhouse; the Charter Theatre, Preston and Blackpool Grand.
En route	A column in The Stage newspaper noting the whereabouts of all touring companies for the current week and their destinations next week. Later styled ‘On Next Week: The Regions’, not distinguishing between tours and resident companies. See The Stage archive 1880 to 2007. These advertisements appeared in the separate Stage Yearbook, 1926, 1928 and 1934:
Equity	Short for British Actors Equity Association, founded 1930.
The Family Theatre	Slogan of Edinburgh King’s Theatre used by Howard and Wyndham in the 1930s.
Fish and actors	Observation made by British Railways staff  when they saw a carriage and truck in a siding on a Sunday when  trains conveyed mostly touring companies and fish trucks. A ‘Fish-and-Chip’ tour was a tour contracted to small dates (No.3 theatres), paying artistes just enough to live on fish and chips. (Also known as ‘The Woolworth Circuit’). Railway privileges enabled touring companies to freight scenery according to the number of actors on tour: 21 to 33 artistes were able to take one truck not exceeding 21 feet in length, with large companies of 167 to 200 passengers taking six trucks free of charge.[4]
FOH Manager	Front of House Manager, the new term for Acting Manager. The proscenium arch theatres were divided into the two worlds of backstage and front of house, separated by a pass door, through which neither staffs passed except in an emergency.
Full West End cast	The often euphemistic billing of a touring cast. The King’s Theatre, Edinburgh, Handbook (1923) stated:  ‘Howard and Wyndham is noted for enterprising and go-a-head methods of management. The King’s Theatre is what one would term in London a West End House, and has a west end audience.’[5]
Get-out figure	The weekly running cost of a touring attraction, being the sum needed at the box-office to enable the company to leave the town without surrendering their baskets and properties. In use today.
Impresario	Promoter of spectacular entertainment, particularly musical plays, who discovers talent and organises productions, usually in London. The term was often applied to Charles B. Cochran, Hugh (Binkie) Beaumont and Prince Littler (Directors of Howard and Wyndham) but never given to the Cruikshanks who, despite being managers of important theatres, were even more retiring characters.
In Town	Acting in a West End theatre and not on tour.
The King’s	The King’s Theatres in Edinburgh or Glasgow. Only one of these theatres has an apostrophe:
Management, go into	Forming a theatre company.
No play; No pay	Clause in Howard and Wyndham touring contract up to 1955. Artistes received no pay for weeks out.
No. 1 Theatre	Bookings (and pay for artistes) were graded according to the size and reputation of the theatre; all Howard and Wyndham and Moss’ Empire theatres were No. 1 dates, as was His Majesty's Theatre, Aberdeen, programmed at times in conjunction with Howard and Wyndham.  The first Moss' Empire was at Edinburgh, built for Edward Moss in 1894 by architect Frank Matcham (later, Empire Theatre, rebuilt 1928 by the Milburn Brothers; later Edinburgh Festival Theatre, rebuilt 1994 by Law and Dunbar Nasmith): The Theatre Royal Glasgow, another No 1 theatre, now managed by Ambassador Theatre Group, is the subject of a study by Graeme Smith, published in 2008. See the book's website here.
No. 2 Theatre	A smaller theatre than the Howard and Wyndham or Moss’ Empires dates; in Scotland these were, for example, the Gaiety Theatre Ayr, the Opera House Dunfermline, Theatre Royal Inverness, the Grand Opera House Falkirk, the Gaiety Theatre Clydebank, the Beach Pavilion Aberdeen and Her Majesty's Theatre, Aberdeen:     Her Majesty's Theatre, Aberdeen (built 1872) was renamed the Tivoli Theatre in 1910, and it is hoped that it will soon be revived as Aberdeen's second theatre. See the Aberdeen Tivoli TheatreTrust website here. In England, No. 2 theatres were usually in seaside holiday resorts (excepting Brighton Theatre Royal and Blackpool Grand Theatre), spa towns (such as Buxton Opera House) or small industrial towns (such as Wakefield Theatre Royal and Opera House and Barnsley Theatre Royal) or London suburbs (such as Golder’s Green Hippodrome). The Bostock Circuit was graded as a No. 2 syndicate and run from Glasgow: its chain of theatres included Norwich Hippodrome, Ipswich Hippodrome, Paisley Hippodrome, Hamilton Hippodrome, Hamilton Victoria Hall, The Blantyre House, Bostock and Wombwell’s Royal No. 1 Menagerie, Glasgow Exhibition Buildings and the Glasgow Royal Italian Cirque and Opera House. Another example was the Broadhead circuit:   Being theatres in university cities, perhaps the unaffiliated  Cambridge Arts Theatre (where Paul Iles began his theatre career as stage doorkeeper in 1969!) and Oxford Playhouse were always unclassifiable touring houses, often presenting pre-West End tours of high calibre drama:
No. 3 Theatre	A small theatre in a market town or suburb. In Scotland these included the Empire Theatre Musselburgh, Kirkcaldy Hippodrome, Pavilion Theatre Forfar, Dalrymple Theatre Fraserburgh, Marine Theatre Portobello, Melvin’s Palace Theatre Arbroath and the Palladium Theatre at Fountainbridge, Edinburgh.  An aggregation of Glasgow No.3 theatres was run by George Urie Scott: Shettleston Palaceum Theatre, Callowgate Theatre, Larkhall Empire Theatre and Barrhead Pavilion Theatre. This manager’s empire extended as far as the Hawick Pavilion Theatre.  Companies touring to No 3 theatres - and village halls were known as "Fit-Ups".
Notice	Notice which told the company that the play would not be ‘transferring’ to the West End at the end of the tour.
On the road	Touring the provincial theatres. Dame Edith Evans said: ‘God was very good to me. He never let me go on tour.’[6] However, she did appear at the Georgian Theatre Royal, Richmond, North Yorkshire, where the management say that no artiste should die before treading the boards of this fantastic 1788-built playhouse.
Opposition	Performances at a rival theatre at a provincial tour date. The weekly return compiled by the resident manager included a section on opposition.
Pencilled date	Unconfirmed booking in a theatre manager’s diary, starting with ‘a light pencil’ and progressing while the producing manager and theatre juggle their schedules through ‘pencil’, ‘heavy pencil’, ‘agreed’ and ‘confirmed’ when the theatre issues and receives a signed copy of the contract for the week. Howard and Wyndham, like Ambassador Theatre Group today, planned all attractions for their circuit from head office, subsequently informing their resident manager of a theatre’s confirmed diary. Local theatres had no entrepreneurial role in finding or negotiating the terms of productions, except amateur weeks. The producing manager hoped for a better financial deal than the resident manager was ever able to offer: both wanted the other to bear the risk.
Playing/working	Legitimate touring companies played theatres; musical-comedy and variety artistes worked theatres. Companies always played the Howard and Wyndham circuit. Variety artistes were often booked by an agency - this company branding themselves as 'hustlers' in this 1915 advertisement:
Prior to London production	The intimation on posters and advertisements that the play is being given a short tour of the provinces before its West End premiere. Also known as try-out.
Proof of daybill and programme	Checking posters, advertising and programme copy. The Howard and Wyndham Management Handbook stated: ‘Managers must see that they have the copy in hand so that they may have the proofs not later than a week prior to the opening date of the attraction. Managers should note that they should endeavour to delete any superfluous matter from the submitted copy of Daybill and Programme. It might be necessary to obtain the Touring Manager’s consent.’ Programme editorial was minimal, although unexpected theatregoer admonitions were included, as at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham (a Moss Empire theatre) where 'There are some instances where encores interfere with the continuity of the story and the audience is advised not to break this continuity when the action and dialogue is being carried straight on by the Artists'.  Read an article about how Moss' Empires worked, by Don Auty, here.
Provincial theatre	The stage outside London; latterly known as ‘regional theatre.’
Rehearsal pay	Money given to artistes to rehearse more than the prescribed number of ‘free’ calls. Equity negotiated fairer rehearsal pay although Howard and Wyndham paid less for rehearsal than performance weeks until 1961.
Repertory theatre	A theatre producing its own plays, usually in a provincial town. James Agate wrote: ‘Faced with a touring theatre in which it is a moot-point as to whether the lifting of the curtain tended to raise the spirits of the spectator or to depress them still further, the provincial made up his mind to make a bid for independence with a theatre of his own.’[7]  Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree sought to laugh the repertory theatres out of existence with the riddle: ‘When is a repertory theatre not a repertory theatre? When it is a success.’ Ralph Fields, last Chairman of Howard and Wyndham, in an argument over the relative merits of their Manchester Opera House and the several Greater Manchester repertory companies, said ‘The City Council watches over the people’s pleasures, giving these theatres ever greater subsidies to ever diminishing houses.’[8] Determinedly ‘non-commercial’ until the 1990s, subsidised repertory theatres were usually opposed in every way to commercial touring houses. This has included many repertories that produce Christmas plays and seasons of 'integrity', rather than glitzy pantomimes, as at the Citizens' Theatre, Glasgow in 1947:   Occasionally, subsidised repertory theatres were touring companies which did not manage a theatre building, as in Prospect Productions from 1963, or Century Theatre from 1948 which had a mobile playhouse. This company was instrumental in prompting the establishment of resident theatres such as the Duke's Playhouse at Lancaster in 1971:
Resident manager	The manager of the theatre as distinct from the manager (latterly theatre manager, general manager, administrator, administrative director, executive director, executive producer, chief executive) of a visiting company. The resident manager handled local business.
Return date	A second booking at the same theatre as a result of a very profitable first week.
Show business	The entire theatre industry, except repertory theatres which sought to avoid parallels with the West End and commercial touring.
Split week	A week when a theatre hosts two attractions (Monday to Wednesday; Thursday to Saturday) because audiences are not large enough to justify a week’s engagement. This was rare in Howard and Wyndham theatres, though increasingly common in touring today, when sometimes whole weeks of ‘one night stands’ are the only financially viable way of staging esoteric art, or when touring theatres are used as concert halls.
Standing accommodation	Theatres were granted permission by the licensing authorities to allow patrons to stand for a performance providing the whole seating capacity on the respective floors was full. In 1935, at the King’s Theatre, Edinburgh, the standing accommodation totalled 134, above a seating capacity of 2,225. This theatre is licensed today for 1,336 patrons and standing is forbidden. The Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, had standing accommodation for 288 patrons, a seating capacity of 2,157 and is licensed today for 680 seated patrons.  In Glasgow, Howard and Wyndham’s King’s Theatre was licensed for 153 standees above a seating capacity of 2,126 (1,785 today). Their Theatre Royal was licensed for 220 standees above a seating capacity of 2,073 (1,547 today). Patrons stood behind the back row of seats on each tier. All these theatres were bigger were than the new West End theatres built in the same period: the Savoy was considered big at 1,300 seats; only the Shaftesbury (1,670 seats), Lyric (1,400 seats) and Empire (1,400 seats) being larger, while the capacity of No.1 theatres invariably exceeded 2,000 seats. See this 1935 plan for another Howard and Wyndham theatre, the 2,266 seat Opera House, Manchester, with standing accommodation for 210:
Star dressing room	The best dressing room in the theatre. Howard and Wyndham theatres had one en suite dressing room; the remainder had shared washing facilities as in cheap Blackpool guest houses. The Howard and Wyndham Management Handbook stated: ‘No person (other than those engaged) is allowed to see artistes in the dressing rooms unless the Resident and Touring Managements are satisfied that they have a bona-fide reason. See that the Hallkeeper understands that no visitor passes his box without a written permit from the Management.’ See the star dressing room at the Theatre Royal, Bath for something posh.
Steward	Usual style for front of house attendant. Howard and Wyndham preferred ‘usher’ and ‘usherette’.
SWET	Society of West End Theatre Managers, founded 1908, later Society of West End Theatre, later Society of London Theatre (S.O.L.T.).
TMA	Theatrical Managers’ Association, later Theatrical Management Association, founded in 1894 by Henry Irving. Employers’ association.
Touring rights	The rights to tour the London production, licensed by the author to the touring management.
Variety Artistes’ Federation	Theatrical employees’ association, founded 1906, subsumed by Equity in 1967.
Variety public	The audience who went to Moss’ Empires, working men’s clubs and pier theatres, as opposed to playgoers who went to Howard and Wyndham theatres.
Week out       Overseas' touring	A week during a tour when no theatre had been found to take the show and a week out of work resulted in no pay until Equity negotiated continuous terms in 1974. Forthcoming: a page on touring and working abroad to North America, Australia and South Africa, based on a course taught at Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts in 2007 and 2008.         See the website dedicated to Arthur Lloyd, for more theatre history including 2000+ images.

 

A select bibliography for the language of theatre:

Ware J. Redding, Passing English of the Victorian Era: a Dictionary of Heterodox English, Slang and Phrase, London, Routledge, 1909.

James Glover, The Theatre Managers’ Handbook, London, For the Editor, 1928.

Fred Ray and James Squires, (eds), The Theatrical Artistes Road Book and Medical List, London, Theatrical Organising Co, 1929.

W. G. Fay, A Short Glossary of Theatrical Terms, London, Samuel French, 1935.

The Management Handbook, Edinburgh, Howard and Wyndham, 1935.

Wilfred Granville, A Dictionary of Theatrical Terms, London, Andre Deutsch, 1952.

Walter Parker Bowman and Robert Hamilton Ball, Theatre Language, Theatre Arts Books, New York, 1961.

Joel Trapido, (ed.), An International Dictionary of Theatre Language, Westport, Greenwood Press, 1985.

Colin Winslow, The Oberon Glossary of Theatrical Terms, London, Oberon, 1991.

Martin Harrison, A Book of Words: Theatre, Manchester, Carcanet, 1993.

John Pick and Malcolm Anderton, The Power Luncher’s Primer: A Millennium Dictionary for ambitious arts bureaucrats, London, Rhinegold, 1995.

Olle Söderberg, (ed.), New Theatre Words, Stockholm, Sttf and OISTAT, 1995.

Valantyne Napier, Glossary of Terms Used in Variety, Vaudeville, Revue and Pantomime, 1880-1960, Westbury, Nick Charlesworth, 1996.

Patrice Pavis, Dictionary of the Theatre: Terms, Concepts, and Analysis, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1998.

Jonathan Law, David Pickering and Richard Helfer, (eds), The New Penguin Dictionary of the Theatre, London, Penguin, 1998.

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[1]See John Drinkwater, The Gentle Art of Theatre-going, Robert Holden, London, 1927, pp. 51-66. The comment is surprising because Drinkwater, a playwright, was a producer and the first general manager of Birmingham Repertory Theatre from 1913.

[2]The Management Handbook, Howard and Wyndham Limited, Edinburgh, 1935, p.156.

[3]Ibid., p.77.

[4]See Alfred Barnard, (ed.), The Era Annual, 1914, The Era, London, 1914, ‘Railway Rates and Privileges for Theatrical Parties’, p.71.

[5]The King’s Theatre Handbook, Edinburgh, Howard and Wyndham, 1923, p.7.

[6] Quoted by Leo McKern in ‘A Knight to Remember’, essay in Ronald Harwood, (ed.), A Night at the Theatre, Methuen, London, 1982, p.110.

[7]James Agate, Buzz, Buzz! Essays on the Theatre, Collins, London, 1917, pp. 63-64.

[8]Interview in Manchester Evening News, 13 October 1960, p.11.