Keeping The Drama Alive
The Age
Saturday February 9, 2008
Craig Hassall reviews his career path to become managing director of London's English National Ballet.
AT UNIVERSITY I was involved in revues and keen to become an actor or a director, but when university finished I realised that I was not good enough to make a career out of this. Friends of mine, who were acting, were also working as waiters and taxi drivers and I did not really want to do that.I think I had one of those post-university panics where you think nobody is ever going to employ you, so I took a job in the personnel department of an insurance company. But I was still hankering to work in the theatre in some way.I then saw a quasi-financial job at the Australian Opera. I had done economics at university so took this management accountant-type role. It was a fantastic introduction to working in the arts. Anything to do with putting on a show comes down to money as well as the art and I learnt about this very quickly.I moved into a marketing role, looking at price setting and ticketing and how artistic decisions impacted financially - the length of a run, the kind of show that would be programmed and the cost of production.An opening then came up for a company manager, looking after the backstage elements, and I took it. I finally felt that I had got to the area where I wanted to work in the first place - working in a theatrical environment but really close to the performance. The job meant looking after the conductors, the singers, the choristers, the orchestral members and all the crises and drama that goes with it. The rumours that behind the scenes it is all very highly strung and dramatic are completely true and that is part of the fun.I left the Australian Opera after about six years to run the Bell Shakespeare Company. John Bell was inspirational to work for, with visionary and extraordinary ideas. My job was to try and make these ideas happen - to find the money, work out the schedule and the planning. We could not always do everything but it was great fun trying and when we pulled something off it was very rewarding.Then after a year the Australian Opera offered me the position of head of marketing, which was the job I said I would come back for when I left. It was a really difficult decision but I went back to the opera (now called Opera Australia) for two more years before I went to work on the Sydney Olympics. Donald McDonald, the chairman of ABC who used to be the managing director of the Australian Opera, was on the board of the Sydney operating committee of the Olympic Games. The job of general manager of the Olympic arts festivals came up and Donald encouraged me to apply. The allure of working on the Games was so great and I felt really lucky when I got the job. After the Games I had a few projects, but it was not until February 2001 that I really started thinking about what I was going to do. I heard that Sydney Theatre Company was looking for a deputy general manager and thought that it would be great to be back in the theatre. Even if you remove some of the magic by knowing everything about what goes into putting on a show you cannot fail to be impressed by the whole amalgamation of creative elements and the great thing is that you have contributed to this amazing process.After a couple of years, I decided to move to London. My British partner and I both resigned from our jobs and I don't think I realised how brave it was at the time. Then I found out that English National Ballet was looking for a managing director. So I sent them my CV and went for an interview and got the job.I feel very lucky to be working for such an amazing institution and still can't believe that I am here. -- TARA WOMERSLEY
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