Maison des Arches, a fictional municipal theatre in Lausanne, used a “reliability” register to block 23 performers from booking auditions between 2022 and 2025, according to figures the theatre released on Tuesday. The register was brought to light by a local campaign seeking a more open system for allocating audition appointments.
The campaign, Open Stage Lausanne, began in February with a public sign-up table and a request that performers share audition confirmations and refusals. Its review of 64 accounts found 23 people who said they had been turned away despite available appointment slots; the theatre later confirmed that all 23 had appeared on its register.
How the register worked
Aapo Hyppölä-Tanskanen, who helped organise the campaign, said the group asked the theatre to explain why some applicants could not book. “People thought they were simply unlucky with the calendar. Then they compared dates and found the same names were being stopped,” he said. The campaign says it did not receive the register itself; the theatre confirmed its existence after being asked about the matching cases.
The theatre said the register began as a way to flag performers who had withdrawn from a production after accepting a role or missed scheduled rehearsals. But its entries also included people who had disputed casting decisions or left productions early, and there was no written appeal process. The theatre said applicants were not told they had been placed on the list.
People thought they were simply unlucky with the calendar. Then they compared dates and found the same names were being stopped.
Aapo Hyppölä-Tanskanen, Open Stage Lausanne organiser
Celina Reiter-Klein, a spokeswoman for Maison des Arches, said the register was created by former artistic administrators and was not authorised by the theatre’s board. She said the venue had suspended it on 18 September and restored booking access for the 23 performers. “The criteria were inconsistent, and people had no way to challenge a decision,” she said.
Funding and next steps
The theatre receives CHF 4.2 million (about €4.5 million) a year from the city, which requires publicly funded productions to publish their audition procedures. Bilal Breivik, an official in Lausanne’s cultural affairs office, said the city had asked the theatre for a timetable and a list of changes. It will consider whether the venue met its grant conditions when it reviews the next funding request.
One performer, Sasha Hughes, said she had sought appointments for three productions over two seasons and received no explanation for the repeated refusals. She was eventually cast in a smaller independent production. “I kept thinking I had made some obvious mistake,” she said. The standard fee for a short run at the theatre is CHF 2,800 (about €3,000), according to its published pay scale.
Maison des Arches has commissioned an outside review, due by 15 December, and says future audition appointments will be allocated through a published booking process. The board is also considering whether past casting decisions should be revisited. Open Stage Lausanne plans to keep its sign-up table open through October, while the city says it will publish its assessment before the theatre’s 2027 grant is decided.
