Sunday or Monday as the "day of rest" in Theatre?

[GridGirl]

First, the concept of a standardised day off (as per the title of this thread) is highly over-rated. When I was on staff but doing shifts, I found I valued mid-week days off more than weekends. There was the psychological benefit of turning over and going back to sleep when you heard your neighbours leaving for work and the practical benefit of having a day off when banks and shops were open normal hours and not subject to the weekend rush.

 

I completely agree with this. I've gone from a job where I was working shifts, almost always at least one day off every week but not usually the same one every week, to a Monday-Friday 9-5 job (the joys of working in a university!). Only having weekends off is proving to be a real drag, I miss my mid-week days off.

[Twiglets]

I hope you never exceeded 14 hours in a 24 hour period, as that is illegal via the ILO 180 regulations - there's a link to the text somewhere on the Blue Room.

I did not know or care about ILO 180 at the time, we were to busy having fun!

I would recomend woking on ships to any body who is single I had the time of my live.

The adage "friends at sea are made for life" is true as well.

[Stu]

Sorry to bring this topic back up, but I have just finished reading this months BECTU magazine (Stage, Screen & Radio) which contains a very interesting article on BECTU's stance on Sunday working. Although it was mostly commenting on the National situation, it did get me thinking in relation to my own situation (mirrored by many others I'm sure).

 

I personally am strongly against working on a Sunday. Why? Well, I already think that most people in this industry sacrifice enough (the constant toil on mind & body, the poor wages, long & unsociable hours) without having to give up the one day that enables you to see your friends, family, partner, kids etc. If we all start working on Sundays on a regular basis, when exactly are we meant to lead a normal life? Having your two days off in the week to make up for the fact your working Saturday and Sunday isn't much of a perk to make up for it to be honest. Why have days off when everyone else is working, it doesn't exactly enhance your social life in my opinion.

 

I can agree with the unnamed West End worker in the article who said "It would make me think twice about staying in the industry if it [working sundays] became compulsory' - I've admitidly not been in the business a very long time, but I've been in it long enough to see good people leave because it doesn't fit in round their home life or whatnot. I've always said if I meet someone (when might that happen on a rainy Thursday day off?) and I had kids then I wouldn't stay in the industry as there is no way I fancy missing my kids growing up.

 

I am of the opinion that Sunday working should be entirely voluntary for BECTU staff (well everyone, but you get my point I hope) - I respect that some people may very well choose to frequently work Sundays in order to top up earnings or that it might fit in better with their own lives. Thats a decision we are all adult enough to make, so I would like to be able to do the same re: not working Sundays. Obviously operationally for the good of my venue/department then I wouldn't say no to every Sunday that comes up - big get ins aren't going to be made any easier by half the crew not wanting to come to work. But this should be paid accordingly in order to try and help make up for the loss of a weekend. In my case, working Sunday is a loss of a weekend as I'll be working Saturday anyway doing shows then getout - having the offer of the Saturday off but working the Sunday is even worse financially as then no TMA out payement.

 

A recent Sunday saw me being at work all day, for a show which was being totally operated by a local hire company, so after I'd focussed the house rig in the morning I wasn't needed for much more than the odd question til the getout... We like any other venue have experienced casuals who'd be more than capable of doing this shift and would love the chance of the money (maybe having not done much that week!) which would give the full time crew a chance to rest at home. This months L&SI magazine had a good letter from a chap at the Theatre Royal Brighton (apologies as I can't remember your name) who rightly pointed out alot of full time crews don't get paid any extra for Sunday. This is true for me to a point (after 7.5 or 8hrs we go from single to double time) so some Sunday shifts do not have any financial incentive to them.

 

In the article, 95% of people said Sunday should be voltunary for all current employees and 90% for all new employees. 90% also said it should be double time or more for working on a Sunday. I know this thread has already discussed this topic, but I'd have thought this subject would earn a wider response.

 

I'm interested to hear other people's point of views. I hope my post comes across as not that of a rant, but a structured and sensible conversation on the topic - I'm just interested to hear other people's opinions, from West End to rep, from recieving house to concert hall etc.

 

Cheers.

Stu

[TeeJay]

I, for one, am watching this whole thing with some interest.

 

At present, in the theatre in which I work full-time, sundays are the first day of the working work and count as single time (unless you are doing lots of hours)

And this, I will add now, is under a BECTU agreement.

 

I see it likely that sunday working will go through, it's just the gritty details of payment and time off to sort out at the National, West End, regional. When venues begin to finalise their agreements, I will be first in line to ask BECTU head office why they are defending all those theatres and not our little, 3 space (200, 1000 and 1500 seater), venue several years ago when the contract was drawn up.

 

Bryson will be slightly reassured to know that our usual working week is only 5 days (mainly because we go into overtime rates on the 6th and 7th days) and the days off are usually even together, though this is dependent on the shows coming in.

 

Still, the whole sunday thing is part of several issues we have with our existing contract and we have been meeting as a union to try to bring some areas up to parity with other contracts.

[Just Some Bloke]

It seems to me that there are, essentially, 3 types of professional theatre in the UK: West End; Major regional; and under 1000 seat regional. All of those in the latter category and many in the middle category will usually find Sunday one of the busiest days of the week. It's fit-up day for week-long runs. You do a good 12-hour day most weeks. In return, you get lots of time off in the week.

 

Taking a quick look at the British Theatre Directory seems to suggest that there are at least 3 times as many theatres doing week runs and shorter (who will invariablly work Sundays) than there are venues doing month-long + runs (who may not work Sundays at present).

 

Personally I'm in the third category, looking after 2 x 350-400 seat venues. The days which sell tickets best are Friday, Saturday and Sunday with Thursday doing OK too. There is no way we could make any money without opening on a Sunday.

 

Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, if I wanted to work 9-5, 5 days a week I wouldn't be in theatre! :D

[Mark Shayle]

It’s a really interesting topic this one. Regrettably I suspect its immaterial how people at the coal face may feel Sunday working is inevitable, it just makes sound financial sense.

 

It has been some years since I was in the “8 show / 6 days per week” world. I’m pretty sure if Sunday shows become the norm I would never contemplate going back into it. As a parent I can’t specify to my daughters school that she should have Monday off as well. Trying to hold a semblance of a normal family life is something often overlooked when discussing flexible working practices.

[gareth]

At my venue, Sundays are, and always have been, optional overtime, attracting a double-time premium payment. There's little, if any, chance of that changing in the foreseeable future.

 

If the local authority who own the theatre decided that they'd like to go down the "Sunday as a part of the regular working week" route, I suspect they'd have to offer something financial to the theatre's employees who regularly work Sundays in order to compensate them for the loss of overtime.

[jhaynes199]

Most West End venues will pay double pay for Sunday shows. Doing a Sunday matinee in some ways is preferable to having a free Sunday and working Monday evening (thus only having one night off per week).

 

As far as looking at this from a commercial point of view, opening on a Sunday makes theatre more accessible to people who may otherwise be unable to go. There are a lot of points for and against Sunday openings, but I do think that crews should be given flexibility to choose their hours, and have more deps!

[indigogecko]

So far I've only done university (amateur not stage school) crew work. This invariably involves weekends as the busiest time, as get-ins for the show week. Sounds like the same sort of system as has been described here.

Personally I've never had much issue with this. Obviously working around a degree course I needed to have my weekday evenings largely free for "homework". As far as social life goes, theatre IS my social life. I'm seeing a fellow crew member from Uni, most of my friends are actors or tech crew, and other than meals, all of my outings in the last 6 months have been to the theatre. If I can get cheaper last minute tickets by going midweek, so much the better. I live 2 minutes from my local supermarket, so I don't have to worry about weekend opening times.

 

Admittedly, I'm not yet thinking about kids. It's concievable my position would change should that become an issue somewhere down the line, but for now, I'm happy working weekends.

[andy_s]

Sunday performances have been the norm where I work for perhaps 15 years now, including the time when the company inhabited a west end theatre. Monday is the seventh day. This is all about meeting the needs of our audience: we are theatre for children, so in term time a week is split into 5 perfs. for schools tuesday to friday, and 3 perfs for families saturday and sunday. If we didn't have sunday, we'd have to do three shows on a saturday, which we'd rather not do. Works OK for us. where we get snags is with visiting shows who work a "normal" week, when we have to tell them it's double time on a monday.

 

(should say that I haven't been here for 15 years, but I've seen the correspondence with equity that predates me)

[gareth]

So far I've only done university (amateur not stage school) crew work. This invariably involves weekends as the busiest time, as get-ins for the show week. {snip} Personally I've never had much issue with this.

But with the greatest of respect, Elizabeth, you're not getting paid for doing your get-ins on a Sunday, it's not what you do to earn a living, it's your decision to do them and you're at liberty to say "no" at any time. That's not really the issue under discussion here - we're discussing the impact of Sunday becoming a normal working day in professional venues.