State of Play — two years ago...

BBC 15 April 2025: "In 2024, the 40 best-funded companies that make their own productions — ranging from the National Theatre to the Colchester Mercury — opened 229 original productions, compared with 332 in 2014, a drop of 31%."

Funding cuts and rising costs were to blame. Olivier winner, Lesley Manville warned new talent had "less opportunity" to develop... ya think?

Birmingham Rep chief exec said, "Some individual productions that are made with the commercial sector are much bigger than anything we ever used to make," The logic being, less shows, but bigger spectacle that draws audiences in. Hence the irresistible rise of musicals.

"I cannot see a world in which we could now launch a play which has got a cast size of nine or 10 in our 133-seater studio space now as a new play," she said.

Artistic director of the Salisbury Playhouse said, serious drama was harder to put on, especially outside of London. Nottingham Playhouse joint president Stephanie Sirr said costs have gone up exponentially, citing "building all day" and "running theatre lanterns all night" as being an issue.

So, it was that bad—even keeping too many lights on during a performance was an issue. Have things improved? Gird your loins...see the new ACE (Arts Council England) report, available in the next blog about touring; and there's the UK Government's recommendations: The Hodge Report available here. Together they represent what's on the agenda for probably the next five years.

Where do you fit in?