The Stage

File:Charles Lionel Carson (1847–1901).png

The first edition of The Stage was published (under the title The Stage Directory – a London and Provincial Theatrical Advertiser) on 1 February 1880 at a cost of three old pence for twelve pages. Publication was monthly until 25 March 1881, when the first weekly edition was produced. At the same time, the name was shortened to The Stage and the publication numbering restarted at number 1.

The publication was a joint venture between founding editor Charles Lionel Carson and business manager Maurice Comerford.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}} It operated from offices opposite the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Carson, whose real name was Lionel Courtier-Dutton, was cited as the founder. His wife Emily Courtier Dutton later founded several theatrical charities.{{cite ODNB |title=Dutton, Emily Courtier- [known as Mrs Charles L. Carson; performing name Kittie Claremont] (1862?–1919), theatrical philanthropist |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-57870 |access-date=2 October 2020 |year = 2004|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/57870}}

The Stage entered a crowded market, with many other theatre titles (including The Era) in circulation. Undercutting their rivals, Carson and Comerford dropped the price of the paper to one penny; soon it became the only remaining title in the field.

The newspaper has remained in family ownership. Upon the death in 1937 of Charles Carson's son Lionel, who had assumed the joint role of managing director and editor, control passed to the Comerford family.

In 1959, the newspaper was renamed The Stage and Television Today, incorporating the Television Today pull-out supplement dedicated to broadcasting news and features. Derek Hoddinott, who was the existing TV editor of The Stage, was retitled as editor of the Television Today supplement. The overall name and pull-out 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.

From 1995, the newspaper has awarded The Stage Awards for Acting Excellence at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

In 2004, 96-year-old contributor Simon Blumenfeld was recognised by Guinness World Records as the world's oldest weekly newspaper columnist.{{cite web |url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/2004/the-stage-celebrates-blumenfelds-guinness-world-record/ |title=The Stage celebrates Blumenfeld's Guinness World Record |work=The Stage |date=21 May 2004 |access-date=12 October 2006}} The column continued until shortly before his death in 2005.{{cite web |url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/2005/farewell-to-stage-columnist-simon-blumenfeld/ |title=Simon Blumenfeld: Farewell to an old friend |author=Brian Attwood |work=The Stage |date=18 April 2005 |access-date=12 October 2006}}

The Stage Awards were launched in 2010. They are given annually and recognise outstanding organisations working in theatre and beyond in the following categories: London theatre, regional theatre, producer, school, fringe theatre, theatre building, unsung hero and international.

In August 2013, The Stage launched The Stage Castings,{{cite web |url=https://castings.thestage.co.uk/?login_to=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thestage.co.uk%2Faccounts%2Fusers%2Fsign_up.popup |title=The Stage Castings | Auditions, Acting Jobs and Casting Calls |website=castings.thestage.co.uk}} an online casting service with a video audition function.

In May 2019, The Stage partnered with the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation and UK Theatre to launch Get Into Theatre,{{cite web |url=https://getintotheatre.org/ |title=Get Into Theatre |website=getintotheatre.org |access-date=14 October 2019}} a website dedicated to theatre careers.

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.{{cite web |url=http://www.thestage.co.uk/edinburgh/features/feature.php/13291/good-job-what-to-do-once-your-edinburgh-run |author=Katie Phillips |title=Good job – what to do once your Edinburgh run is over |work=The Stage |date=August 2006 |access-date=12 October 2006}}

Dusty Springfield responded to an advertisement for female singers in 1958.

Idris Elba got his first acting role in a play after applying to a job ad in the paper.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}

Harold Pinter gained his first job after responding to an advert{{cite web |url=http://www.haroldpinter.org/acting/acting_tourofireland.shtml |title=www.haroldpinter.org – The Tour of Ireland |website=haroldpinter.org |access-date=11 October 2018}} 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.{{Cite web |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/search/results?basicsearch=internationalist%20theatre&retrievecountrycounts=false |title=Archived copy |access-date=2022-01-04 |archive-date=2022-01-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220104162417/https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/search/results?basicsearch=internationalist%20theatre&retrievecountrycounts=false |url-status=dead }}

Ricky Tomlinson responded to an ad for United Kingdom, another Play for Today, in 1981 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.{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/classic/swapshop/trivia.shtml|title= Classic TV – Swap Shop |publisher=BBC |access-date=25 May 2006}}

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,The Spice Girls; Cripps, Rebecca; & Peachey, Mal (1997). Real Life: Real Spice The Official Story. London: Zone Publishers. {{ISBN|0-233-99299-5}} 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.Lee Mead interview, Midweek, broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 11 July 2007.

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.Mary Comerford, "Stepping up", The Stage, 12 July 2007.

Charles Dance landed his first role in a Welsh theatre{{cite news |url=https://www.indyonline.co.uk/news/said-know-nothing/ |title=WHO SAID YOU KNOW NOTHING? |date=31 January 2018 |work=Indy Online |access-date=5 February 2018}} 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."{{cite news |url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/features/interviews/2018/alexandra-burke-ive-turned-much-work-lack-confidence/ |title=Alexandra Burke {{!}} Chess London Coliseum {{!}} interview |date=2 May 2018 |work=The Stage |access-date=1 June 2018}}

Olivier Award-winning actor Sharon D. Clarke found her first role at Battersea Arts Centre through an audition advert in the paper.{{cite news |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/doctor-who-star-sharon-d-clarke-on-racism-in-the-industry-wz358dkfh |title=Doctor Who star Sharon D Clarke on racism in the industry |last=Marlowe |first=Sam |date=8 November 2018 |work=The Times |access-date=12 November 2018 |issn=0140-0460}}

Lisa Scott-Lee revealed that pop band Steps were formed through an advert in The Stage.{{cite web |url=https://www.instagram.com/p/BtWJm5Xhh95/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/s/instagram/BtWJm5Xhh95 |archive-date=2021-12-23 |url-access=subscription|title=The Stage – Theatre news on Instagram: "The Stage is 139 years old today! This is our first cover from 1880. We are the only national newspaper dedicated to the performing arts.…" |publisher=Instagram |access-date=4 February 2019}}{{cbignore}}

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.{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p07bwk00 |title=Steve Wright's Big Guests – Sir Michael Caine |publisher=BBC Sounds |access-date=3 June 2019}}

• 1880–1901: Charles Carson
• 1901–1904: Maurice Comerford
• 1904–1937: Lionel Carson
• 1937–1943: Bernard Weller
• 1943–1952: S. R. Littlewood
• 1952–1972: Eric Johns
• 1972–1992: Peter Hepple
• 1992–1994: Jeremy Jehu
• 1994–2014: Brian Attwood
• 2014–2017: Alistair Smith (print); Paddy Smith (online)
• 2017–present: Alistair Smith

The paper's full content from 1880–2007 is available digitally via subscription.{{cite web|url=http://archive.thestage.co.uk|title=Discover Theatre History in The Stage Archive|website=archive.thestage.co.uk|access-date=25 January 2018}}

• "The moment you have arrived in the profession is when you realise you don't have to read The Stage" – Noël Coward (attributed)
• "The stage would not be the stage without The Stage" – Laurence Olivier (The Stage, 25 October 1976)

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{Official website}}
• [https://www.flickr.com/photos/internationalist_theatre_rockas/sets/72157628221384829/ The Stage reviews of Internationalist Theatre productions London during the editorship of Peter Hepple]

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Category:1880 establishments in the United Kingdom

Category:Magazines established in 1880

Category:Theatre magazines published in the United Kingdom

Category:Weekly magazines published in the United Kingdom

Category:Magazines published in London

Category:Professional and trade magazines published in the United Kingdom