Executive director John Blackmore on 12 years at the Bolton Octagon
in Producers, Regional Theatre, Theatre Buildings
27th October 2011
INTERVIEW: JOHN BLACKMORE
The executive director of the Octagon Theatre in Bolton looks back on his forty-plus year career, during which he saved the Octagon and the Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse Theatres from bankruptcy and headed theatre companies such as the Library Theatre Company in Manchester, Northern Stage in Newcastle (which he created), The Dukes in Lancaster, Warwick Arts Centre and the English Shakespeare Company. Telephone interview with David Chadderton, 26 October 2011. Recording quality: poor.
When I got to Bolton I had a note on the back of an envelope saying, ‘Welcome, the café’s bankrupt, we’ve got no central heating, the Lottery project hasn’t worked, good luck!’
