By James Hadley in London

I've been meaning for ages to write about 'The Stage' weekly newspaper. It's the UK's 'weekly for the entertainment industry' which is also published online. When I first got to London I bought it religiously every week and read it cover to cover. It's exciting to think that there are enough people within the entertainment industry (and it's vastly weighted towards talking about theatre) to warrant their own newspaper here. By James Hadley in London

I've been meaning for ages to write about 'The Stage' weekly newspaper. It's the UK's 'weekly for the entertainment industry' which is also published online. When I first got to London I bought it religiously every week and read it cover to cover. It's exciting to think that there are enough people within the entertainment industry (and it's vastly weighted towards talking about theatre) to warrant their own newspaper here.And reading it does give you a sense of what the key concerns for the theatre industry are. The closest thing to it in NZ is John Smythe's Theatreview website.

The website for The Stage features archives of the newspaper going all the way back to 1880, so it's a treasure trove of comment on the UK theatre industry, with reviews, show listings and editorial as well as adverts of jobs and auditions - just as the paper features today.

I recently delighted in reading an issue bought for me by my one-time theatre studies lecturer (at Allen Hall, University of Otago), New Zealand director Lisa Warrington. She was over in London for a week to see some theatre, and I had the pleasure of catching up with her in between shows. Like the theatrephiles that we are, we sat reading our respective copies of 'The Stage' on the Tube - it's like being a card-carrying theatre practitioner, as anyone not involved in the industry would probably not even have heard of the newspaper. It's only available at certain newsagents, particularly those around London's West End, though you can subscribe to it too.

That particular issue of 'The Stage' featured their annual top 100 of the most powerful individuals of the UK theatre industry. Considering 2008 in retrospect, they've judged the number one position to be held by Cameron Mackintosh (who was also number one in 2007) - not just for his producing but also for his role as owner of seven of London's historic theatre venues, into which he's poured millions of pounds renovations recently. These include the beautiful Wyndham's Theatre, which reopened to house the Donmar Theatre's West End residency in 2007 (as I've written about in a past blog). Coming in at number two is Andrew Lloyd Webber, who apparently runs neck and neck with Cameron Mackintosh for the number one spot most years.

Third most powerful is Michael Grandage, artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse, who seems to be hailed by many as the current wunderkind of West End theatre, thanks to the unanimous acclaim of the programme at the Donmar, but also of the West End Donmar season (of which all four shows are being directed by Grandage now that Kenneth Branagh has had to pull out of directing Jude Law as Hamlet in 2009). Tied with Michael Grandage in third place is Nicholas Hytner, Director of the National Theatre, who has also been highly regarded for his programming there in recent years. It's interesting to note that Michael Grandage has been tipped as his successor.

The other individuals in the top ten are all producers or venue managers (pure business managers with no creative input are not eligible for a ranking) : Howard Panter and Rosemary Squire of Ambassador Theatre Group (8 West End venues and 10 regional venues); producer Bill Kenwright (a producer of mostly large-scale musicals touring the regions); Nica Burns and Max Weitzenhoffer of Nimax (another group of West End venues); Michael Boyd, head of the Royal Shakespeare Company; Nick Thomas and Jon Conway of QDOS (regional venue managers specialising in producing pantomimes); and Judy Craymer, producer of both the film and stage versions of 'Mama Mia'.

As 'The Stage' notes, the top ten is still dominated by white middle class males, but it's good to see three female producers have also made it into the top ten. What's almost completely missing - including from the wider list of 100, is any non-white practitioners. Despite there being increasing support of artistic product representing the ethnic diversity of London, there is still a real lack of non-white artistic directors, producers and venue managers. And it's suggested that this is largely due to the lack of opportunities for Black and minority ethnic practitioners to gain access to these sort of career paths. It's interesting to note that the same could largely be said of the New Zealand entertainment industry.

Elsewhere in 'The Stage' there are all sorts of interesting commentaries about what's going on in the industry. These include the perception that so far the economic downturn has had less of an impact on shows closing early than was feared (particularly in comparison with Broadway). There's also an obituary for playwright Harold Pinter. One opinion piece rants about the consequences when shows start their performances late (as is usually the case in London), with people having to dash for their bus or train before the curtain call, citing the inefficiency of front of house staff in some theatres leading to unnecessary delays. It's certainly true that in London, with the last tube trains leaving soon after midnight, people have to be quite mindful about the end times to shows, and this is why most large shows begin at 7.30pm. Whereas in most newspapers you skip pages of stories that seem irrelevant to you, I invariably end up reading 'The Stage' cover to cover as everything seems relevant.

Read previous Sets and the City blogs

Feel free to get in touch with any questions (or if you're planning a London visit and want some theatre recommendations) to jamesstuarthadley@gmail.com

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19/01/09