When the £12.5-million, 900-seat Bridge Theatre, located bang on the waterfront opposite the Tower of London, opened its doors last October, it was the first wholly new large theatre to open in central London in over 80 years.
The theatre opened with a bold new piece, Young Marx, focussing on the early life of the philosopher, shortly after the publication of the Communist Manifesto — tickets for which sold out quickly (it took in over a £1 million pounds before even opening, according to reports in the British press). While the play itself received mixed reviews, the opening of the theatre — whose creators have a declared policy of focussing mainly on new pieces of writing — was seen widely as a positive sign for Britain’s lively theatre culture.
Increasing diversity
In a city where real estate is pricey and scarce, it highlighted the appetite for works beyond the big blockbusters of the Hamilton and Wicked ilk, which dominate London’s West End. The appetite extends well beyond central London too: earlier this month where Waltham Forest, a London council announced plans to acquire an old cinema that closed over a decade ago. It will open as a 1,000-seat theatre for comedy, and other works.
There is also increasing diversity across the theatre scene, with ventures such as Tara Arts in south-west London, which after a renovation opened its doors to venue fully focussed on multicultural ventures back in 2016.
“London is not a towering success over the rest of the country…we are seeing Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester develop their own cultural identities...” says Gregor Pryor, co-chair of the entertainment group at law firm Reed Smith. According to government figures almost twice as many people visit the theatre in London than buy Premier League football tickets. Last year over 15 million tickets were sold, according to the Society of London theatre, with revenues exceeding £700 millions, both an all-time high. Demand rose swiftly for both musicals and plays (with dance, and opera seeing more muted growth). Figures are thought to have been boosted by the fall in the pound, attracting audiences from both Europe and beyond. However, SOLT remains cautious, pointing to the tougher climate seen by the industry in the second half of the year.
They are far from the only ones to express caution about the road ahead for British theatre. Ahead of the Brexit referendum, leading figures from across the creative sector — from theatre to galleries (including Keira Knightley and Anish Kapoor) signed a joint letter — warned that the country could become an outsider “shouting from the wings,” should it leave the European Union that had been key to the nation’s success.
British actress Keira Knightley
A survey by Global Future, an independent think tank published late last year, found 46 of 50 leading people in the U.K. creative scene, including Nicholas Hytner, the CEO of the theatre company behind the Bridge Theatre, believed that a “hard” version of Brexit — which put an end to Britain’s participation in the free movement of people within the European Union — would be disastrous for the sector.
Around 6.7 per cent of those who work in Britain’s creative sector, are nationals of other European Union states, according to a government sectoral analysis published last year.
“Theatre producers in the U.K. have taken full advantage of the free movement of people principle to access and retain the best international talent for productions. Indeed, free movement has been hailed as being crucial to London’s success in becoming a cultural hub for the arts globally,” says Pryor.
Sculptor Anish Kapoor
Britain’s arrangements for freedom of movement with the EU beyond the transition period (which runs till the end of 2020) remains unclear. In fact the Government’s sectoral analysis faced much criticism from within the industry for merely outlining the status quo rather than analysing what the future was likely to hold for the industry. However, there are fears that should Britain bring in restrictions of the kind that apply to non-EU citizens, the theatre world, where funding is limited and salaries aren’t the highest, could be badly impacted.
When it comes to the NHS, for example, hospital trusts have encountered difficulties in recruiting staff from outside the EU because of minimum salary thresholds, and there are concerns that such limitations could extend in the future to nationals of EU countries.
Beyond providing a ready pool of talent, funding from the EU has been vital to the success of the industry, including initiatives such as the EU’s €1.3 billion Creative Europe progamme. Last year, the European Commission said that British cities could no longer compete to become a European capital of culture for 2023, seen as important for the development of local art and theatre scenes, as well as tourism and regeneration more widely. There have already been fears about Britain’s disengagement with the wider global theatre scene — not least its non-participation in World Theatre Day, having closed its International Theatre Centre in 2011. The pressures come at a time of increased competition for global audience.
A recent study by the public body, the Theatres Trust warned that 35 theatres across the country were at risk of closure. “We are a creative nation but other countries are also putting their hands up. Berlin is a huge creative centre, you’ve got competition from Paris, Brooklyn… we are in danger of looking like we are devalued from a creative point of view,” says Pryor.
Vidya Ram works for The Hindu and is based in London
