Breaking Records - Some Random Thoughts
13,630,810 attendances, £469,729,135 in box office takings and a VAT contribution of £70m: that’s a pretty good record for one year’s work. That is what the members of the Society of London Theatre did in 2007. Now add in all the takings from other London venues (unknown, alas) and the additional spend that goes with theatregoing - travel, meals and so on - and you can see why theatre is a major contributor to the capital’s economy.
Now add in the box office receipts and additional spend associated with theatregoing throughout the UK (again, the figures are unknown - to me, at any rate), and, in spite of the howls of protest from the philistines who scream whenever public subsidy is mentioned, it is perfectly obvious that theatre is a major net contributor to Britain’s economy.
(Proof? in the financial year in question, ACE paid out £46,981,038 in grants to Regularly Funded Organisations and in Grants for the Arts, which are Lottery funded, for one-off projects. That leaves £23,018,962 out of the VAT that SOLT members paid. OK, we have to take into account local authority support for theatre throughout the country, but if we do that we have to factor in the VAT paid by these theatres - and, of course, the rates, income tax on theatre workers’ salaries and other associated taxation. No matter how you look at it, the taxpayers get a good deal from theatre subsidy.)
We should celebrate that more than we do.
What does not surprise me is the fact that just under three million (21.6%) of those attending went to see plays as distinct from musicals. As an aside, a significant proportion of the 2.95m playgoers (722,000 - just a smidgeon under a quarter) were at the National Theatre alone.
But back to musicals. One only has to look at what is playing in the West End at any one time to see how huge a part of what is on offer musicals are. It would be interesting to compare similar figures from across the country, but I am sure that musicals would still hold the top spot. And I suspect it will always be so. Part of the reason, of course, is that musicals are the “feel good” shows par excellence, but there is also the fact that (the big) musicals are spectacle and people love spectacle. They also appeal to a wider range of people, if only because of the fact that they include so much: songs, dance, acting, comedy, often spectacular sets and costumes.
Just as a matter of interest, I decided to compare attendances at premier league football games for the same period. Trying to compare (as far as it is possible) like with like, I took into account just the London clubs, and their attendance was 41,88,835 (less than a third of those who attend theatre). The figures aren’t really comparable, of course, as there are far too many variables and it’s also pretty irrelevant, but it’s interesting to look at the figures all the same.
Yes, I know - I’m rambling. But it’s so nice to have the chance to do so on a happy subject after a few weeks of the doom and gloom engendered by the ACE funding cuts!