THERE is one indisputable sign that a company is providing a first rate service - satisfaction as demonstrated by repeat business.
If a second was needed it would be why new customers are beating a path to your door. And there is no better vote of confidence than attracting that new business by advocacy, referral, recommendation.
So not only can Cardiff Theatrical Services boast a distinguished list of regular opera, musicals and theatre but obtains most of its new commissions from people it has worked with before, be it a theatre production director or a designer, who have spread the good word.
That list of premier league customers includes Glyndebourne Opera, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and English National Opera. Add to that distinguished catalogue the likes of the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company and it is evident the 22-strong team has built up an enviable reputation as the people to work with.
A wholly-owned subsidiary of Welsh National Opera, Cardiff Theatrical Services is situated in the heart of Wales’ vibrant capital city with excellent access to the UK motorway and rail network and easy access to Wales International Airport.
CTS carry out the building of all WNO’s new productions and refurbishment of the prestigious company’s existing sets. Over the years the amount of external commercial work has increased from 10 per cent of its workload to 90 per cent. At the same time such has been its development initial turnover of less than £100,000 has risen to more than £1.8m in a good year.
So what makes CTS a world leader? It is what the company can provide a customer in terms of both the size and scope of the work and, crucially, the quality of that work – plus the vital ingredient of commitment to excellent communications and customer service.
“The size and scale of the shows we can do is beyond most scenic contractors,” explained WNO’s Technical Director and CTS Managing Director Perryn Leech. “We offer a one-stop shop: metalwork, carpentry, painting, finishing and fitting-up, all under the same roof. That gives us a huge advantage.
“The reason customers like Royal Opera, English National Opera and Glyndebourne – for who we do at least one show each season – returning to us time and time again is because we can cope with the entire show. They can bring their entire show to us and ask ‘This is our show can you do it?’ and we can say ‘yes we can’. To our customers that’s a huge saving in terms of time and labour.”
Perryn said some customers who had previously divided the work between different contractors were now seeing the advantages of CTS handling the whole project, rather than breaking it up to different companies.
ENO, for example, had used CTS for some work on new productions but more recently has been asking CTS to handle whole shows, the first being Richard Jones’ ambitious Trojans.
Currently in the company’s 16,500 sq ft workshop is a large section of the set from ENO’s Ring Cycle that first featured in Rheingold, is worked on for Siegfried and after more work again, in Gotterdammerung.
While opera is at the heart of CTS the team has also created such diverse work as Matthew Bourne’s Nutcracker for Ambassador Theatre Group Management and Joseph and His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat for Bill Kenwright.
Neither is CTS limited to Britain. Work aboard has included Monte Carlo, the Kirov Opera, De Vlaamse Opera and as far away as Tokyo.
“Geography is immaterial,” said Perryn. “We did two shows for Chicago, Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliaci and Otello, in consecutive years, for example.”
That long-established Cardiff team forms a dedicated and highly skilled body of talent with vast experience in this specialized field.
If there are areas of expertise the team does now have in-house it has established a network of specialists including in theatrical structural engineering – as seen in the 1998 Neil Armfield production of Billy Budd for WNO – to bring in those skills.
Excellent craftsmanship and service passes the test of time. How appropriate then that one of CTS’s most recent projects is a commission from BBC Wales for part of the set of the new Dr Who. “They are on file as saying of all the contractors used we produced the highest spec finish in the shortest period of time,” said Perryn. “We will do pretty much what the job will require. No two jobs are ever the same – they are always one-offs,” Perryn added.
Whatever the project, CTS ensures that whatever the commission it brings the same high level of quality and consistency, whether it is solving the problem of providing a revolve for a production for Tenerife Opera, creating War and Peace for the Kirov or even working with a Time Lord.
October 2004
Mike Smith, Mediasmith, 029 20 462686, 07795 3265161, E-mail: mike@mediasmith.co.uk
