Venue magazine season preview, 12 September 2008

Alma maters

Theatre West's Ann Stiddard and Alison Comley talk Steve Wright through their new autumn season upstairs at the Alma.

"It probably sounds poncey, but we do it to keep faith with our audiences, so they can know that Theatre West will be there each autumn with five more new plays. We know that people look forward to the season, and would miss it a lot if it weren't there." Venue is sitting in a pub garden on one of the summer's rare fine days, talking to Ann Stiddard and Alison Comley – aka Theatre West, whose annual 10-week new play season at Bristol's Alma Tavern is a high point in the theatrical year. And we're asking them just what keeps them coming back to the Alma year after year for such a gruelling, if rewarding autumn.

The autumn season at the Alma is brilliant. Five box-fresh new scripts, painstakingly selected by Ann and Alison, each get a two-week run (after a similar rehearsal period) in the Alma's intimate 40-seater theatre-above-a-pub. Venue's made a point of not missing a show for the past few years - and believe us, it's been a pleasure, not a penance. These are sharply written shows, often scratching some very contemporary social itches and always blessed with some sharp dark humour, menace or melancholy.

"We also just want to produce the best possible work," Alison continues. "Each time we do it, we learn so much. Two weeks' rehearsal for a new play isn't long, but everyone works really hard. There's always a high at the beginning of rehearsals, and then you hit the tough bit at the end of the first week. It always happens – you just have to keep faith with it."

Theatre West's 2007 season was one of the best yet – despite the considerable handicap of no external funding. "Audience-wise we did better than we've ever done," says Ann. "But that was probably a result of the misfortunes at the Old Vic: there wasn't a lot of theatre around so we got a good lot of coverage. It was a very different landscape, and we appeared to be a much bigger fish in a smaller pond." Meanwhile, the annual question of whether or not they'll get funding makes for what Ann calls a feast-or-famine existence. "Last year we couldn't afford to pay anyone: this year we can, which makes for an easier preparation."

Both Ann and Alison combine Theatre West with other jobs, Ann as a graphic designer and Alison as Bristol City Council's Joint Head of Crime and Drugs. They've also taken on the year-round running and programming of the Alma, significantly increasing both the theatre's productivity (it's now running shows for around 46 weeks of the year) and – via its own website – its public profile. "It's good to see the theatre being so well used, and we're booked up until Christmas now," says Ann. "I think audiences are confident that there's usually something good at the Alma, so they've picked up as our programming has got busier."

This autumn's programme kicks off with 'Bond Girls' (16-27 Sept) by Tim Massey, a well-known local scriptwriter who's written previously for Theatre West. A blonde and a brunette are summoned for a rendezvous in an en exclusive Russian nightclub: soon, though, they learn that the club is a mink-lined prison. "It plays around with archetypal female characters in the Bond genre," Alison explains. "The girls meet up with Ian Fleming's real-life girlfriend, so we get that juxtaposition between film characters and real life. It's a wonderful black comedy."

Elsewhere, a typically eclectic season takes in life in and out of an exclusive sect ('Shut Up', 30 Sept-ll Oct).

"That one's inspired by the Plymouth Brethren, a sect who live on the margins of society," Alison continues. "In theory, their lives are lived entirely within the brethren so that when they leave school they go into brethren businesses. No phones, TV, computers – and at one point even books were frowned upon. The play is about someone who's left the sect and finds that she has since been cast adrift. Someone from her past – her father – arrives on her doorstep, and we're left wondering whether a reconciliation will ever be possible."

Where do Ann and Alison get their instincts for which scripts will work? "We're looking for originality, and for something that's going to challenge both the creative team and audiences," Ann reflects. "And we aim for a season with variety and balance. There's also an element of alchemy in it – each play we choose just has that magic thing that engages you. Often, you can't say what that is – there's just something special about a script. Alison and I are fortunate in that we tend to agree: we'd have a problem if we didn't."

THEATRE WEST'S AUTUMN SEASON WRITING IN THE MARGINS RUNS AT THE ALMA TAVERN THEATRE, BRISTOL FROM 16 SEPT-22 NOV. SEE EACH WEEK'S THEATRE DIARY FOR MORE INFO OR CHECK OUT WWW.ALMATAVERNTHEATRE.CO.UK