TiE Today in Wales, Author: Edward David Humphreys, University of Chester

would have to begin covering larger distances with less funding, be amalgamated
with other companies or find themselves with no funding support whatsoever. The
most controversial suggestion was to completely cut the funding of Hijinx Theatre in
Cardiff, when they were the only company who offer opportunities specifically for
young people with special needs. Over 150 responses were made to this one
particular aspect of the report. As Shade highlights, this was an example from ACW
and the National Welsh Assembly where “it secures the future of those ventures
which most correspond with traditional concepts of ‘quality’” (2000, p54). This can be
seen evidently by the statistic that “from 1994 to 1999 the building-based Clwyd
Theatr Cymru received 111 per cent increase as against Hijinx’s 1.52 per cent”
(Wooster, 2007, p38). Inevitably, the economics of Wales will play a huge part into
the standard of TiE production and in turn hugely changes the effectiveness.
Furthermore, it will not just be the quality of the programme affected, but also
logistics of distributing throughout their areas and will present challenges to theatre
companies, such as “Arad Goch must cover twice its original area with less money”
(Wooster, 2007, p37). Even with the support from ACW’s five franchises scheme,
including Arad Goch, those companies were still unhappy as “‘their’ company would
now be expected to work outside ‘their’ area” (Wooster, 2007. P37). In an interview
with the then Director of the Clwyd Theatr Cymru Theatre for Young People
(CTCTYP), Tim Baker, Wooster questions how confident he is on the future of TiE in
Wales. Baker refers to when the relationship between theatres could only improve
from the time when they have “been real enemies in some years- I mean shouting
across the table- and the franchise bid did nothing to help that” (Wooster, 2007,
p135).
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