Theatres Trust Calls for £250m West End InvestmentDate: 28 October 2003
The 40 commercial theatres in London's West End need substantial investment if they are to keep pace with the public's expectations and the needs of both performers and producers, according to a report published today by the Theatres Trust (See The Goss, 22 Oct 2003).
Although efforts like those of impresario and theatre owner Cameron Mackintosh - who earlier this year revealed £35 million plans for renovating his seven existing venues and creating a new one, the Sondheim, on Shaftesbury Avenue (See News, 25 Jun 2003) - are welcome, they amount to only a fraction of what's required. In Act Now! Modernising London's West End Theatres, the Trust estimates that, over the next 15 years, some £250 million will need to be spent to save many of the Victorian venues for future generations.
Commenting on the report findings, the result of a two-year study involving leading theatre owners and industry body the Society of London Theatre (SOLT), Trust director Peter Longman said: "We all know what's wrong with these theatres - nearly all of them are 100 years old and they reflect the conventions of a very different era. The owners recognise the problems and are doing all they can to modernise and improve things."
However, Longman says, the size of the problem is too massive and the research demonstrates "that it is no longer realistic to expect owners to put things right without outside assistance. Theatres all over the rest of the country, and the subsidised ones in London, have been receiving help for modernisation programmes over many years."
Because of the influx of National Lottery cash elsewhere, there is now a "marked imbalance" between facilities in the subsidised versus the commercial sector, the report finds. It warns that audiences will not continue to tolerate the situation for long, which could result in the closure of some playhouses whose running costs are too expensive to maintain.
The Trust now plans to approach the Government and other parties with suggestions for alternative schemes of external funding. According to SOLT figures, the 40 West End theatres sell ten million tickets each year and produce over £200 million of tax revenues for the Government, as well as generating a spend of over £400 million on other aspects of the UK economy.
Publication of Act Now! coincides with the launch of a new exhibition at Covent Garden’s Theatre Museum looking at how the West End has changed over he past 160 years (See The Goss, 22 Oct 2003).
- by Terri Paddock
Related Content
