CMU School of Drama


Monday, March 24, 2014

Grandage: West End will close without younger audiences

News : The Stage: Michael Grandage has warned that the West End will “close” unless producers provide cheaper tickets and better access for young people to London’s major theatres.
The director claimed that if younger people were not encouraged to see Theatreland shows, there would be no audience to replace the older patrons he said were currently keeping theatres open.
In 2012, he launched the Michael Grandage Company with a 14-month season of five plays at the Noel Coward Theatre in London that included more than 100,000 tickets sold at £10.

1 comment:

Jess Bergson said...

Grandage brings up a good point. I am not very familiar with theatre in London, but I can definitely see Grandage's concerns. While reading this article, I could not help but compare the West End to Broadway. Interestingly, I do not have the same concerns for Broadway that Grandage seems to have for the West End. On Broadway, most of the audience members are made up of tourists. Perhaps this is not the case on the West End. Although Grandage has a good point, I cannot see producers making any immediate changes, as they are currently getting money and it is hard to ignore that as a producer. However, producers should definitely consider making a gradual shift towards creating some sort of discounted ticket plan for younger people.