Union’s fury at no-pay theatre
A trade union wants bosses at a leading theatre to explain its use of unpaid extras for a product ion of Trainspotting.
The Citizens Theatre in Glasgow put out a call for “volunteers” for a crowd scene in t he st a ge adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s famous novel.
The online advert reads: “We are looking for people aged 18- 45 to create a large, dynamic club scene that lies at the heart of the show.
“Please note this is not a paid position.”
Extras are told they have to be available for “most” of the six rehearsals and then take part in a rota for the performances for the show’s run from September 14 to October 8.
But Scottish organiser for broadcasting union BECTU, Paul McManus, said: “If they’re putt ing on a professional performance then they have to budget to pay everyone they want to employ du r ing that production.
“In our v iew, it ’s a straightforward breach of the national minimum wage legislation.
“We will be writing to the Citizens to find out what’s going on and to encourage them to ensure everybody’s paid properly.”
A spokeswoman for the Citizens said: “For one scene in the play, we wanted a crowd of club-goers.
“This presented an opportunity to involve the public in a fun way with the production and we put out an open call for people to volunteer to appear in this scene.”