James on a mission to attract the best to TRP

THE chief executive of Theatre Royal Plymouth has revealed how a huge effort to welcome visiting cast and crew is paying off in terms of luring sought-after shows to the city.

- By ANDY PHILLIPS

James Mackenzie-Blackman, who is also artistic director at TRP, said that 'bending arms and ears' was among his most important jobs, with plenty of persuasion needed to lure touring shows into what could be called the far South West.

Mr Mackenzie-Blackman has previously explained how much of a coup it has been to get smash hit show Hamilton to the city, and the musical is in the final week of its run of more than five weeks in the city.

But with Mr Mackenzie-Blackman aiming to turn TRP into an influential production house, he said making sure that stars had good things to say about Plymouth when they visited was also hugely important.

"I really consider that an important part of my job is bending arms and bending ears and getting us the very best opportunities, and only yesterday I was talking to a producer on Broadway about opening a show here in 2027, selling the city as a great place to be for the summer, talking about the Hoe, talking about the amazing time Vanessa Williams had here in Plymouth last year - and we really, really care about the quality of the welcome that we give to all of these companies.

"We tell them where they can get a great roast dinner, we tell them that if they are vegan they need to check out Cosmic Kitchen, we tell them where they can drink later - we really care about giving them a great time.