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Thank You Bill Kenwright Plane Banner
- Thread starter GrandOldTeam
- Start date
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Well said, this man deserves our money before any of these plane banners ( sorry cheese on toast )
Speedo Mick is a legend.
summerisle
The rain, it raineth every day
Errr.
www.independent.co.uk
Bill Kenwright Ltd accused of 'cheating' Before the Party audiences after using quotes from previous production's reviews for publicity
Theatre-goers flocking to see Tom Conti’s touring show Before the Party would have been reassured by glowing quotes used in the publicity campaign, calling it “sheer spikey bliss” and “gleefully vicious”. The only problem was the fulsome praise from the newspapers was for a different production of the play altogether.
Production company Bill Kenwright Ltd has been accused of deceiving audiences with the material it used to publicise its production of Rodney Ackland’s play, which toured the UK in September and October.
The marketing material used positive quotes from reviews and the star ratings from newspapers describing a completely unconnected staging of the work, directed by Matthew Dunster at the Almeida Theatre in London in 2013.
The production, which travelled to playhouses including the Theatre Royal Windsor and the Everyman Theatre Cheltenham, used quotes by critics from newspapers including The Daily Telegraph describing the Almeida show. It also took phrases from London newspapers the London Evening Standard and Metro, despite the touring show not playing in the capital.
Mr Dunster, an Olivier award-nominated director, was told about the play’s revival at a party in October. Looking online out of interest, he found the quotes. “It was stuff about my show, I knew it was,” he said. “I don’t think this is the first time it has happened in the industry.”
He contacted Bill Kenwright Ltd – named after its owner, the theatre director and Everton Football Club chairman – asking for an apology and a commitment that they would never do it again. He also took the issue to the industry body Stage Directors UK.
Piers Haggard, chief executive of Stage Directors UK, wrote to the company laying out the directors grievances. “I was horrified,” he told The Independent, calling it “improper and immoral”.
“The public are being cheated – selling a pair of crap shoes with a Nike label is wrong,” he said. “This shouldn’t happen.”
Mr Haggard expressed his surprise that a company the size of Bill Kenwright’s would misuse quotes. The use of reviews from one production to promote another to an unsuspecting public is a breach of unfair trading regulations, he added.
The public are being cheated – selling a pair of crap shoes with a Nike label is wrong. This shouldn’t happen
Piers Haggard, chief executive of Stage Directors UK
Shortly after the company received the complaints, it removed the offending material from its publicity and from the websites of the regional theatres where Before the Party played.
With a touring production such as this one, often the producer will put together a package for the receiving theatres, which includes relevant publicity materials.
Steve Potts, commercial director at Bill Kenwright Ltd, told The Stage, which first revealed the story: “I’ve written to Piers Haggard at Stage Directors UK about this matter and I would also like to take this opportunity to apologise sincerely to Matthew Dunster for any upset caused.
“There was certainly no intention to upset or disrespect Matthew, or to mislead anyone. I have given SDUK the appropriate assurances that this will not happen again. I also intend to write to Matthew personally about this matter.”
Mr Dunster accepted the apology after it appeared, and will now push the matter no further. “They’ve pretty much done what I asked them to do,” he said. “I asked them to publicly apologise and make a statement that it wouldn’t happen again.”
He said that although he would still like an explanation, it would not be a sticking point, and the matter was now closed. SDUK said it would not take the matter further.
Alistair Smith, editor of The Stage, said: “Theatre producers misquoting reviews is a practice as old as the hills, and most of the time it is pretty harmless. But piggy-backing on someone else’s hard work and taking credit for it crosses the line.
“Matthew Dunster has every right to be furious. Credit to Bill Kenwright Ltd, though, for holding their hands up and apologising.”
www.independent.co.uk
Bill Kenwright Ltd accused of 'cheating' Before the Party audiences after using quotes from previous production's reviews for publicity
Theatre-goers flocking to see Tom Conti’s touring show Before the Party would have been reassured by glowing quotes used in the publicity campaign, calling it “sheer spikey bliss” and “gleefully vicious”. The only problem was the fulsome praise from the newspapers was for a different production of the play altogether.
Production company Bill Kenwright Ltd has been accused of deceiving audiences with the material it used to publicise its production of Rodney Ackland’s play, which toured the UK in September and October.
The marketing material used positive quotes from reviews and the star ratings from newspapers describing a completely unconnected staging of the work, directed by Matthew Dunster at the Almeida Theatre in London in 2013.
The production, which travelled to playhouses including the Theatre Royal Windsor and the Everyman Theatre Cheltenham, used quotes by critics from newspapers including The Daily Telegraph describing the Almeida show. It also took phrases from London newspapers the London Evening Standard and Metro, despite the touring show not playing in the capital.
Mr Dunster, an Olivier award-nominated director, was told about the play’s revival at a party in October. Looking online out of interest, he found the quotes. “It was stuff about my show, I knew it was,” he said. “I don’t think this is the first time it has happened in the industry.”
He contacted Bill Kenwright Ltd – named after its owner, the theatre director and Everton Football Club chairman – asking for an apology and a commitment that they would never do it again. He also took the issue to the industry body Stage Directors UK.
Piers Haggard, chief executive of Stage Directors UK, wrote to the company laying out the directors grievances. “I was horrified,” he told The Independent, calling it “improper and immoral”.
“The public are being cheated – selling a pair of crap shoes with a Nike label is wrong,” he said. “This shouldn’t happen.”
Mr Haggard expressed his surprise that a company the size of Bill Kenwright’s would misuse quotes. The use of reviews from one production to promote another to an unsuspecting public is a breach of unfair trading regulations, he added.
The public are being cheated – selling a pair of crap shoes with a Nike label is wrong. This shouldn’t happen
Piers Haggard, chief executive of Stage Directors UK
Shortly after the company received the complaints, it removed the offending material from its publicity and from the websites of the regional theatres where Before the Party played.
With a touring production such as this one, often the producer will put together a package for the receiving theatres, which includes relevant publicity materials.
Steve Potts, commercial director at Bill Kenwright Ltd, told The Stage, which first revealed the story: “I’ve written to Piers Haggard at Stage Directors UK about this matter and I would also like to take this opportunity to apologise sincerely to Matthew Dunster for any upset caused.
“There was certainly no intention to upset or disrespect Matthew, or to mislead anyone. I have given SDUK the appropriate assurances that this will not happen again. I also intend to write to Matthew personally about this matter.”
Mr Dunster accepted the apology after it appeared, and will now push the matter no further. “They’ve pretty much done what I asked them to do,” he said. “I asked them to publicly apologise and make a statement that it wouldn’t happen again.”
He said that although he would still like an explanation, it would not be a sticking point, and the matter was now closed. SDUK said it would not take the matter further.
Alistair Smith, editor of The Stage, said: “Theatre producers misquoting reviews is a practice as old as the hills, and most of the time it is pretty harmless. But piggy-backing on someone else’s hard work and taking credit for it crosses the line.
“Matthew Dunster has every right to be furious. Credit to Bill Kenwright Ltd, though, for holding their hands up and apologising.”
TOP BANTZZ LAD!
ianefc
Player Valuation: £70m
Outside of the things that Everton have done for the local community and former players, he deserves very credit IMHO. Any individual things that people like to focus on like choosing the right managers and what not all pale into insignificance against us missing out on that stadium at the Docks, if we had a modern day ground to go alongside modern day Everton on that beautiful city skyline, heaven knows where we would be today. That ground and the relative cost of it could have bought us so much than we have received over the past 12 years. This was before Chelsea, Man City and the like have been purchased by the worlds wealthy.
I wish him all the best with his illness and hope he gets back to 100% ASAP. But the Kings Dock failure was a really really bad day in our history.
I wish him all the best with his illness and hope he gets back to 100% ASAP. But the Kings Dock failure was a really really bad day in our history.
ianefc
Player Valuation: £70m
Whistlin' Dixie
Player Valuation: £50m
Ihaters
Player Valuation: £35m
Disagree.. I think choosing the right manager was far more important than Kings Dock.
Kings Dock with a poor manager could easily of equalled relegation.
No Kings dock with the right managers has seen us rise back up to a formidable force just without a new stadium.
I think people overestimate the impact a new stadium has on the fortunes of a club tbh.
It was a massive error but in no way makes the progress we have made pale into insignificance.
Stadiums don't equal improvement, good managers do, stadiums just add financial backing to make things for those managers a little easier:
Sunderland have done f..all despite their Stadium of light
The Britannia doesn't send much time hosting champions league games either for example.
The Reebok, Falmer Stadium, better still..
..How about Cardiff who have had both investment and a new stadium and found themselves having been in the premiership, but are back down a division despite having both things we didn't.
Sorry, I agree it was a big black mark in the clubs history, but I just don't buy it, a new stadium is a supplementary addition with some financial benefits that take years to pay off. Its not a quick fix, make everything better scenario people often portray. Its certainly not as important as the quality of the manager for me.
ianefc
Player Valuation: £70m
See what you're saying but all the clubs you've mentioned pale into insignificance when compared to us. It's not just the failure to get the ground, it's the way it was all handled including the 'ringfenced' money.
Everton with a ground there instead of the Echo arena would be advanced of the current Everton IMHO. He would have still been here to pick them managers. Moyes did a good job here and was appointed a year prior to the KD project collapsing in April '03.
That will be forever his biggest failing and legacy for me. He could of put the foundations In place for Everton for the next 100 years, instead 12 years on we have a business model centred on TV money (like most) and a commercial revenue that's a borderline 'joke' compared to teams like Newcastle and Spurs who both have or will have modern day grounds that coincides with this new age of football. I have said before unless something amazing happens by the middle of the next decade, or sooner we will have the worse ground/facilities of all the premier league teams (bar 1 or 2 recently promoted teams) it's a monumental failing, even without the debt of a new stadium I read the other day that 46% of our expendable cash (after operating costs) goes on paying just the interest on the debt, yet only 28% goes on improving the squad via player purchases.
He deserves no credit, we have just hobbled along under his leadership.
Kaiser Soysauce
Player Valuation: £10m
Well, you could've bought the controlling steak with 20-25 million pounds of your own money? So he's not just a blue. He's a blue that took a financial risk buying a club in debt. We are better off now than we were then right?
orly
Please check with me for Blammo criteria
Financially? No, not in the slightest.
And he didn't pay £20m of his own money, he was part of a wider consortium (True Blue Holdings) - and by no means whatsoever the main contributor to it.
Come on mate.
BoysInBlue
Player Valuation: £50m
Desperate people spend money on desperate things.
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