But What About the Rest?
It is good to hear that the West End has had yet another good year. Or, at least, that the membership of SOLT has. That includes all of the West End theatres (except Jermyn Street), some off-West End theatres (the Barbican, the Globe, the Old Vic, the National and the Royal Court, but although it includes the Carling Apollo, Hammersmith, it doesn’t include the that borough’s Lyric), and the major opera and dance houses (Coliseum, ROH and Sadler’s Wells, although it doesn’t include The Place which is so important in the contemporary dance world).
But we mustn’t assume that the West End is representative of British theatre or that its state reflects that of theatre throughout the country - or even in the rest of London.
It could, indeed, be argued that its health (or otherwise) reflects that of the British (in particular, London) tourist industry rather than of the theatre. It would be interesting to know what proportion of West End tickets are sold to tourists, either from abroad or from the rest of the UK, although I doubt whether that information is available or even accessible. I suspect that the National, the Royal Court and, possibly, the Barbican are a better gauge of theatre’s as opposed to tourism’s health.
The big musicals, certainly, depend to a large extent upon tourist numbers. On the very simplest of anecdotal evidence level, I have two friends for whom a London visit is not complete without a visit to the Dominion to see We Will Rock You. One wonders if audiences for WWRY and Mamma Mia! are not reflections of the popularity of Queen and Abba respectively rather than anything else?
It would be interesting to know how the non-West End theatres are doing - the Finborough, the Arcola, Southwark Playhouse, the King’s Head, the Tricycle, New End, Hampstead, the Almeida, Hackney Empire, Stratford East, for example. Are they sharing in the West End’s success? Are they getting record audience numbers or record box office receipts?
They are genuine London theatre, not London tourist-orientated theatre. How many people visit London and go to one of these?
(And before you ask, yes I do. My visits to London over the last couple of years have included seeing shows at the Arcola, the Almeida, the Riverside Studios and the Drill Hall as well as the National, the Court and a number of West End houses.)
By all means let’s celebrate the financial success of the West End, but we mustn’t let it blind us to the position elsewhere, where, for example, BAC could come to a grinding halt in May or Southwark Playhouse might have to close because it has to move out of its current premises. Or, looking more widely afield, where the Royal and Derngate in Northampton could just vanish and where theatres throughout the country are currently waiting and worrying for their local councils to decide if they are going to be cut - for, make no mistake about it, councils are having to make cuts and theatres are very tempting targets when savings have to be made.