The Stage
The Stage[1] is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. It was founded in 1880. It contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at those who work in theatre and the performing arts.
For the branch of the performing arts sometimes referred to as "the stage", see Theatre. For other uses, see Stage.Type
Online, apps and weekly newspaper
Web, media company, tablet
The Stage Media Company Limited
The Stage Media Company Limited
Alistair Smith
1 February 1880 (as The Stage Directory – a London and Provincial Theatrical Advertiser)
Stage House, 47 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3XT
400,000 per month (online); 30,000 per week (print readership)
Careers started via The Stage[edit]
In 1956, writer John Osborne submitted his script for Look Back in Anger in response to an advertisement by the soon-to-be-relaunched Royal Court Theatre.[7]
Dusty Springfield responded to an advertisement for female singers in 1958.[7]
Idris Elba got his first acting role in a play after applying to a job ad in the paper.
Harold Pinter gained his first job after responding to an advert[8] and Kenneth Branagh landed the lead in The Billy Trilogy, in the BBC Play for Today series, after it was advertised in the paper.
The creation of Internationalist Theatre was first announced in the Stage editorial in April 1981.[9]
Ricky Tomlinson responded to an ad for United Kingdom, another Play for Today, in 1981[7] and Sandi Toksvig landed her first television job playing the part of Ethel in No. 73 after answering an ad in The Stage.
Television presenter Maggie Philbin won her first major role, as a co-presenter of Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, after answering an advertisement in The Stage.[10]
A number of pop groups have recruited all or some of their members through advertisements placed in the newspaper, most notably the Spice Girls in 1994,[11] Scooch in 1998 and 5ive in 1997. Lee Mead (the actor who won BBC One talent show Any Dream Will Do to gain the lead role in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat) got his first professional job, working on a cruise ship, through a recruitment ad in the paper.[12]
Television presenter Ben Shephard auditioned for GMTV children's show Diggit following an advert in The Stage. While he did not get the part, he met Andi Peters, who subsequently hired him for the Channel 4 youth strand T4.[13]
Charles Dance landed his first role in a Welsh theatre[14] and Alexandra Burke stated in an interview "My mum used to buy The Stage all the time for auditions for me. That's how I got to go on [BBC TV talent show] Star for a Night with Jane McDonald."[15]
Olivier Award-winning actor Sharon D. Clarke found her first role at Battersea Arts Centre through an audition advert in the paper.[16]
Lisa Scott-Lee revealed that pop band Steps were formed through an advert in The Stage.[17]
Sir Michael Caine stated in an interview with Steve Wright on BBC Radio 2 that at the beginning of his career he applied for acting roles he found in The Stage.[18]
The Stage and Television Today[edit]
In 1959 The Stage was relaunched as The Stage and Television Today, incorporating a pull-out supplement dedicated to broadcasting news and features. Derek Hoddinott, the main paper's TV editor, became editor of the new supplement.
The name and supplement remained until 1995, when broadcasting coverage was re-incorporated into the main paper. The name on the masthead reverted to The Stage, but in 2006, the paper introduced a blog concentrating on television, named TV Today.
