The big names hitting the boards in the West End are disguising problems offstage
On Sunday Elton John and David Furnish will host the musical premiere of The Devil Wears Prada, starring Vanessa Williams as Miranda Priestly. Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway are expected to attend. But its real first public performance was in July at Theatre Royal Plymouth.
So what? UK theatre seems in rude health, with big ambitious shows, huge stars and collaborations between regional theatres and the West End. But this obscures a deeper funding crisis.
Huge stars. Ncuti Gatwa is starring in the Importance of Being Earnest at the National Theatre (see review, below).
- Sigourney Weaver’s West End debut is 7 December in The Tempest at Theatre Royal Drury Lane.
- Brie Larson and Stockard Channing are in previews for Elektra at the Duke of York’s Theatre from 24 January.
- Paul Mescal follows Gladiator 2 with A Streetcar Named Desire at the Noël Coward Theatre from 3 February.
- Tom Hiddleston, Hayley Atwell, Brian Cox, Cate Blanchett, Gary Oldman and John Lithgow are all treading the West End boards before Easter.
Big ambitious shows. 101 Dalmatians, Midnight Cowboy, Muriel’s Wedding, My Neighbour Totoro, Clueless and a real time reenactment of the 1997 Kyoto climate conference directed by Stephen Daldry are all on their way. The years of endless jukebox musicals filling the West End seem to be over.
But… theatres have not fully recovered from the pandemic or replenished their reserves. According to the lobbying body UK Theatre:
- Production costs continue to rise faster than inflation; with energy costs rising 120 per cent since 2019.
- Of the 1,100 theatres in the UK, nearly 40 per cent are in danger of closing and a further 40 per cent will become too unsafe to use within five years.
Adapt to survive. Since Covid, theatreland has been collaborating more than ever before. While shows have often gone from subsidised theatre to the commercial West End, multi-partner co-productions between regional, subsidised and West End producers are now commonplace. Prada opening in Plymouth is the latest example.
September’s world premiere of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go at the Rose Theatre was a co-production with the Bristol Old Vic, Malvern Theatres and Royal & Derngate, Northampton.
Standing at the Sky’s Edge saw Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre and the National Theatre work together on a show that ended up at the West End’s Gillian Lynne Theatre in early 2024.
The taxman cometh. The UK’s pioneering theatre tax relief of between 40 and 45 per cent – launched during the pandemic and maintained in the recent budget – has been critical, according to the Society of London Theatre. It attracted Netflix for its global stage launch of Stranger Things: the First Shadow.
But National Insurance increases mean theatres would be better off with freelance rather than full-time staff. In November, UK Theatre and the Society of London Theatre asked the government to reform business rates, help fund infrastructure and training and offer tax relief to develop productions.
Why does this matter? Arts Council figures show the UK has one of the lowest levels of government spending on culture in Europe. It has been falling for the past 13 years despite 91 per cent of UK adults engaging with the arts at least once a year.
And yet… UK theatres generate £2.39 billion in gross value added to the UK economy and support 205,000 workers.
The combined total global box office of UK theatre shows Phantom of the Opera (1986), Mamma Mia! (2008) and Cats (1981) exceeds $13.6 billion. The total box office of the James Bond film franchise’s 27 films is $7.8 billion, while the eight Harry Potter films took $7.7 billion.
What’s more... In 2023, West End theatre attendance stood at 17.1 million. Broadway? 12.3 million.
