Don’t let final curtain come down on our great theatres
EXCLUSIVE
BRITAIN’S world-leading theatres could collapse completely thanks to the devastating coronavirus pandemic – unless the nation rallies to keep the vital industry alive.
In response to the unprecedented crisis the Daily Express today launches a crusade to encourage the public and Government to Raise The Curtain and revive the country’s playhouses.
We believe that once the pandemic eases it will be essential for the health and wellbeing of the country that we can once again enjoy our rich tapestry of culture.
Regional theatre also offers an array of essential community engagement that in many instances can prove to be life-changing programmes for people of all ages and backgrounds.
Venues closed their doors in mid-March and the ghost lights have been flickering across the Britain’s stages ever since.
Before lockdown the UK’s creative industries including theatre and the performing arts were growing at almost twice the rate of the wider UK economy.
They were worth £84.1billion a year and employing nearly two million people.
But the dramatic result of having no shows to sell has created a mammoth financial headache which could spell disaster for many of the country’s best-loved venues as they face £330million in lost revenue.
This week a stellar line-up of 100 leading creative figures, including actors Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Andrew Scott and playwrights led by Sir Tom Stoppard, signed an open letter warning British theatre is on the verge of destruction.
Olivier Award nominees James
McAvoy, Wendell Pierce, Sharon D Clarke and Emma Rice joined the chorus of performers, writers, directors and arts administrators urging ministers to save an industry brought “to its knees” by Covid-19.
Their letter, addressed to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden, sets out in stark terms that 70 per cent of the UK’s 1,000 theatres will run out of money by the end of this year.
It says: “The threat of British theatre being destroyed by accident is as real as it is bleak.” The letter adds: “It would not only be a spiritual tragedy but an economic one.”
Sir Cameron Mackintosh has said his musicals Les Miserables, Mary Poppins, Hamilton and The Phantom Of The Opera will not return to the West End this year.All the staff on those shows are facing redundancy.
One proposal in the “Olivier’s 100” letter, previously floated by the director Sam Mendes, is for the Government to invest in new shows and share the profits of future hits. Meanwhile, Nuffield Southampton Theatres, which has been in existence since 1964, has already called in administrators as it stares into the financial abyss. In addition London’s Old Vic has admitted that it is now facing a desper