Andrew Hale Artistic Director of Happy Dagger Theatre
WABN: Describe a day at work.
AH: "As an independent theatre producer most of my work is done from home. I spend a lot of the day on the computer corresponding with various groups, from funding bodies to, in the case of Cyrano de Bergerac (our next production), our co-producer, Black Swan Theatre Company."
WABN: What is the best piece of advice you can give someone to motivate a team?
AH: "Someone once said to me that the thing we all like about our heroes is that if they are knocked down, then they keep getting up. I run the company with my partner, Renee McIntosh, and we look to each other for motivation. There is no real money to speak of in theatre so the motivation has to be intrinsic; it's the creation of something unique and possibly magical."
WABN: What is the main quality are you looking for within your team members?
AH: "Integrity in the work, honesty in the work, commitment in the work. And a belief in the idea that 'entertaining' is the least that theatre should be."
WABN: What's best measurement of your performance, and can you name a highlight in your career?
AH: "When the audience stays in the theatre long after the show has finished you know you have done well. They don't want to leave the space where a story has just unfolded before their eyes."
WABN: How do you deal with egos in your workplace?
AH: "Egos in the workplace are an everyday fact of life. Actors need a good strong ego to get them through and people are usually sensible enough to eventually realise if they have let their ego get out of hand."
WABN: Is there an organisation model that you strive to achieve?
AH: "Bell Shakespeare Company, a highly respected internationally touring company that does work that can thrill and inspire."
WABN: What frustrates you the most about your sector and what would you do to change it?
AH: "More than the lack of money - which is always frustrating - is being asked by the funding bodies what the sector wants, giving a very clear answer about what that is and then being given something completely useless."
WABN: What are the specific hurdles that you meet on a daily basis in your sector?
AH: "There is a perception in the public at large that theatre is for people who are not good enough for movies. It's very strange when you consider that a theatre show is a lot harder to do well than a movie. A theatre piece is like a one-take movie every night, and how many one-take movies have been any good?
"No, theatre is much more difficult. The problem is compounded by the fact that anybody can say 'let's put on a play'!
"Finding good theatre is like mining for an unimaginable treasure; you have to dig a lot of dirt before you find it. Unfortunately, modern audiences don't like to dig and leave the treasure unimagined."
WABN: Have you read a good book on management/leadership that you can recommend?
AH: "There are two books, one called You Don't Get What You Deserve, You Get What you Negotiate. I think the title says it all. The other is Don Quixote, because it teaches you how to look at the world differently. Anything that does that has got to be good.
WABN: What is your favourite hobby?
AH: "Getting fit for Cyrano I have discovered the joys of boxing, well boxercise actually. I had never realised how therapeutic hitting a bag can be."
WABN: Who has influenced you professionally?
AH: "The greatest influence professionally would have to be Jacques Lecoq, my drama teacher. The guy was an absolute genius when it came to theatre and took no nonsense whatsoever. It's made me a very harsh critic, but I know what's good because I learned from a world master."
WABN: What were you doing before your current position?
AH: "I was a freelance actor, kicking around waiting for somebody to give me a job. It seemed a good idea to create work for myself."
WABN: What is your education background?
AH: "I finished my high school years in the US in the 1980s and theatre school in Paris, France, in the early 1990s. I am actually really keen to get out in the world at large again and take a few courses. I am doing a mask workshop soon, and looking very much forward to it."
