Stage | The Guardian: The English theatre scene is "shrivelling", according to research, with two-thirds of venues cancelling productions, half producing fewer new plays and commissioning fewer writers, and the same proportion obliged to insist playwrights focus on smaller cast sizes.
Sonia Friedman, a successful West End producer, warned of "a short-termism that will damage a multibillion [pound] industry over a generation" – arguing that damage done to theatre as a result of the 30% cut to Arts Council England's budget in 2010 will harm future success in TV, radio and film.
2 comments:
Apparently I'm confused. For real this time. Commenting in the correct window:
Sure. I believe, to an extent, that a drop in public funding for theater development in the UK will lead to a temporary lull in new material. It sounds like the theater practitioners in England are wining about the change rather than figuring out an effective way to deal with it. That's why I say that the lull in new material is only temporary- the artists in England will figure out a way to survive and continue producing new work. It just might take them a while. The US has gone through similar transitions- our public arts funding keeps dropping- but now we have some other avenues (private funding, festivals solely focused on new work that have now become established) that have been successful. England just needs some time.
I just had issues as well, Brian. Lost the comment I had prepared. Aw well, let's try that again.
The fact that much of British theatre exists on the back of government and organizational subsidy and not on the work of a development department and private donation is having a severe impact as those funds are being cut. It's pretty natural and fair to think that the most expendable program is the set of one-night-only development events, as well as the care and feeding of resident playwrights. Like Brian, I'm expecting them to bounce back quickly to producing new material, and that administration offices are rapidly going to change toward being marketing and development-heavy.
Post a Comment