– Over a long period of time, we have fallen victim to cheese grater cuts – Dagsavisen

With a solid audience success with the play “The book of Mormon”, 2018 and 2019 were the best year in the Norwegian Theatre’s history. The theater had a profit of NOK 300,000 when the accounts for the year had to be drawn up.

Then came the pandemic, which produced red numbers for most cultural actors, and then the post-pandemic. In 2022, Det Norske Teatret had a deficit of NOK 7 million. In 2023, the deficit was NOK 22 million.

– This is very complex. Firstly, it is the case that the years with “The Book of Mormon” were very special years for the theatre, so not a normal situation. Now we had a very good number of visitors in 2023 as well. Over 190,000 visitors is a good number in the history of Norwegian theatre, says Erik Ulfsby.

Ulfsby has been theater director at Det Norske Teatret since 2011. Next year he will leave, and will be replaced by Kjersti Horn.

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Consequences of political cuts

– It is clear that over a long period of time we have fallen victim to cheese grater cuts, and are in a demanding situation, like other large cultural institutions in the capital. Where before the pandemic we could compensate for these cuts with the income from “The book of Mormon”, the long-term cuts are now visible. And 2023 was a very demanding year financially. But there are many ways to look at it.

Ulfsby says that he relates to an artistic bottom line, which he is very concerned about, and which has given him and his colleagues a lot to be happy about in the past year.

– Then I have to deal with the economic bottom line, and the political one. We have spent a lot of time in 2023 making the politicians aware of the economic consequences of the cuts, and I feel that we have a good dialogue with them about it. Then we’ll see how it lands in 2024 – but we’re obviously keen to get back on the plus side. But there is no doubt that it is a demanding situation for the whole of cultural life, he says.

– So you have faith that the cuts will be reversed by the politicians?

– I have faith and hope that we will get back the grant level we had.

Frost cost

– Has the price rise and electricity prices played a factor?

– The 2022 deficit was mainly a result of the extraordinary electricity price, says Ulfsby.

He continues:

– In 2023, there are more conditions. We bet that we would reach an even larger audience than we managed, and we had extra large costs for the production of “Frost”, among other things.

– You have invested in reaching the youth. How has it gone?

– When close to 200,000 members of the public have taken the trip, we are satisfied. We work all the time to reach the young, and also those who have several years behind them. I don’t have any numerical basis in front of me now, but we are happy with those who have come in any case. Reaching young people is always a natural goal for us.

Otherwise, Ulfsby also greatly appreciates the cultural school bag, which they had many visitors to last year:

– We would like to have them with us. But it is Den kulturelle skolesekken that must decide which shows they want to attend. We can only create a repertoire that is as interesting as possible, so we always hope that Den kulturelle skolesekken will come forward.

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14 million in political cuts

The long-standing theater manager is clear that in his last year as manager he is ready to turn the numbers around.

– Theater management has always had risks associated with it, and that’s how it should be. But we are well into a 2024 that looks good both artistically and financially, and we have good faith that we will finish the year with a profit, says Ulfsby.

He emphasizes that it is therefore extremely important that they get political support for increased subsidies.

– Over time, it has become more and more demanding for us. It shows the 2023 deficit well.

– So it is politics that is the main cause of the deficit?

– We have lost a double-digit number of millions in grants just in my time here – of course it has ripple effects. But we have a good dialogue with the politicians, and I feel that they listen to us, says Ulfsby.

– Are there any specific cuts that can be discussed in the future? For example in employees?

– We are trying to get through this demanding period without having to downsize. But we obviously engage fewer people than before in order to manage to balance financially, concludes Erik Ulfsby.

Representative: Good communication

– Both us union representatives and employees at the house have good communication with the management about the financial situation. We are all determined to contribute where we can to help with the demanding situation we are in, writes Hedda Haaland, trustee in Creo at Det Norske Teatret, in an email.

Haaland further writes that she appreciates that Det norske teatret has so far managed to avoid downsizing, and that the management is actively working on solutions internally to spread and externally to collect financial support.

– It is also clear that the economic situation has arisen over time, especially due to the corona pandemic and repeated cuts in the ABE reform. This is something that has affected several theater houses, not just us. The board, the management and the rest of the house work actively to make a profit in the long term, and we believe that we will be able to do that, even if for a period it affects how we work, writes Hedda Haaland.

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