Editorial: Showbiz is life on the edge

Auckland Mayor John Banks did himself no credit by taking a sideswipe at the Auckland Regional Council this week when bad news emerged from the Auckland City's entertainment business, The Edge.

Two shows flopped in the last month, leaving The Edge with $2.5 million in losses: an Australian production of the classic musical My Fair Lady lost the thick end of $2 million and a brace of plays, one by Shakespeare and one by Chekhov, with a cast including several top American and British stars, came in about $500,000 under budget.

The losses cleaned out about $1 million that The Edge had in the kitty from previous successes; the council has had to come up with the rest.

Banks headed off criticisms by referring acidly to the ARC's much smaller losses on the ill-advised David Beckham soccer fiasco, an ungracious outburst of the backbiting that, one hopes, the Supercity will rid us of.

But that said, The Edge's losses should be seen in perspective. They come at the end of a run of several profitable years hence the healthy state of the fund that has been drawn on to mitigate them. And The Edge is scarcely the only organisation whose long-term planning was upended by the swiftly developing recession in which we are now enveloped.

The losses, though they are a matter for regret, were the result of a sudden collapse in patrons' willingness to shell out for quality entertainment and The Edge has responded by reining in its plans for the next couple of years at least.

Some have grumbled that the Shakespeare and Chekhov were overpriced, but they cost no more than they would have on Broadway or in the West End. Top-class entertainers can scarcely be expected to traipse around the world for the privilege of performing at a discount.

The fact is that a city of 1.4 million needs and deserves a range of high-quality international entertainments and private enterprise is seldom keen on taking cultural risks. You win some; you lose some. We should resist the urge to heap odium on those responsible for this.