'The unsung hero of UK culture' – industry voices on why they love theatre

To celebrate #LoveTheatreDay, four stage professionals share what they think makes theatre so special – and why it needs our support

Amit Lahav, artistic director, Gecko

Theatre brings people together to celebrate creativity and the complexity of humanity. It encourages true community and inspires people to push themselves in both the making and watching of it. Theatre provides an essential, often unique perspective of the world for people to consider and enjoy, allowing us time to observe beauty and horror and everything in between. It encourages us to contemplate a world beyond our own. Without it and other essentials arts, we may be lost.

The immediate threat may be from budget cuts and funding restrictions, however the biggest threat comes from an apathetic view that it’s okay to reduce support for creative training in schools. Drama teachers up and down the country regularly tweet Gecko with horror stories of cuts and department closures. Fewer and fewer young people are being exposed to the creative industries at GSCE.

Our unique experience at the BBC this week, staging theatre live for TV, has shown us what can be achieved with a small amount of investment and a huge amount of ambition. The corporation’s commitment to the arts this autumn is commendable, but we’ve reached a point where we need arts fans to stand up and be counted.

So please: support your local venue; invest a small amount in a favourite artist or company’s crowdfunding campaign; or send an email to someone you admire in the arts to let them know that their work means something to you. We need a positive approach to this now.

If we want to continue to be world leaders in the arts, we have to wake up, embrace and encourage the epic wealth of creativity in our artists, young people and ourselves.

Fin Kennedy, playwright and artistic director, Tamasha

From Shakespeare onwards, Britain has led the world in theatre. New British plays are one of our nation’s greatest exports and sustain the repertoires of theatres across Europe, the US and often beyond. This work showcases our nation as the inclusive, tolerant, humane and self-reflective society that it is.

It’s a mark of sophisticated civilisations that they create space for people to come together to peacefully consider the issues of the day – for citizens to open themselves up to personal change by empathising with the experiences of others. In the UK, theatre is where this happens.

Theatre is a critical training ground for new talent for other creative industries. TV, film, radio, advertising, gaming and other digital artforms would wither without theatre’s contribution to training successive generations of actors, directors, playwrights and technicians.

It is perhaps the most grassroots and socially-engaged artform we have. On a daily basis, theatres and theatre-makers around the country undertake work in schools, social services departments, old people’s homes, pupil referral and more. Many of these creative community participation projects are “invisible” in terms of media coverage and what the general public think of as what constitutes British theatre.

My 2013 report, In Battalions, sadly found new British theatre to be under a deep and sustained attack from government cuts to Arts Council England (ACE) and local council arts budgets. It meant less new work, fewer new artist training opportunities and a worrying decline in outreach such as youth theatres. Alongside a worrying drop in take-up of GCSE and A-level drama in schools due to the English Baccalaureate not valuing the subject, the future of British theatre’s world-leading status is seriously threatened.

Despite all the evidence presented, the government is still asking ACE to model for 25-40% cuts in the forthcoming spending review. This would decimate British theatre for a generation, which is why we should celebrate theatre, the unsung hero of UK culture. But this also makes it an easy target. The value that our theatre sector brings to UK communities up and down the country is immense. Yet all this is in danger for the sake of shaving a few extra pounds from an entirely unnecessary austerity programme.

Jo Belolli, associate producer for early years, Polka Theatre

Children need theatre like they need food and fresh air. To engage as an audience member in a live performance, or to participate in a creative activity with peers or family members nourishes their huge imagination and intellect. Theatre provides opportunities to think and feel; to recognise, question and reflect; to empathise and wonder; to enjoy, discover and feel uplifted. To witness their responses, and often those of their accompanying adults, says it all.

For many, the fact that they are experiencing a live performance – in the here-and-now reality of the moment – is extraordinary in itself and often very memorable. At Polka, we hear countless passing comments from children, some who are now adults, that they’ve been before; their visit had made a lasting impression.

In these times when there is an increasing amount of entertainment and recreation available immediately, with the swipe of a finger or a click of a switch, we need to keep advocating the intrinsic value and pleasure of live theatre. We must strive to keep it affordable and accessible. We need audiences to keep coming in through our doors. We need people to recognise what theatre can offer and how much children can benefit from it.

Matthew Linley, artistic director, Unity Theatre, Liverpool

I always struggle with the question: why should you love theatre? We all love in so many different ways and for so many different reasons. I’m much more comfortable with the question: why do I love theatre? Here’s why it matters to me and why I want to celebrate it.

I love theatre because…

  • When it’s good it sends shivers down my spine like nothing else
  • And when it’s bad it provides conversation for days on end
  • At its best it can say things impossible to say in words
  • At its heart it’s about telling stories and telling them well; I particularly love the way it brings people together to hear and be part of those stories
  • It can and does challenge, enthral, inform, enthuse and energise me
  • It consistently influences the way I think and feel; it makes me think continuously about my life, my values and who I am

So theatre for me is about aspiration, hope, energy and confidence. It’s about dreaming of new futures, new ways of doing and being.

Above all, it’s about fun.

On this #LoveTheatreDay, there is one thing I would say we can all do to help more people love theatre – and it’s simply this: take someone who hasn’t got the bug next time you go. Share the love!

As part of the follow up to #LoveTheatreDay, the Guardian Culture Professionals Network, as media partner, will be broadcasting #LiverpoolTheatreLive from 2.30pm on Thursday 19 November

Join our community of arts, culture and creative professionals by signing up free to the Guardian Culture Pros Network.

The GuardianTramp

Related Content

Article image
An open letter to all non-NPOs: sometimes it pays not to be funded

It's without a safety net that we can make truly spectacular and exciting work, says New Diorama Theatre's David Byrne

David Byrne

07, Jul, 2014 @11:30 AM

Article image
Arts Index 2013: download your copy

From cultural participation to philanthropic giving, our NCA arts health check offers a mixed picture, says Samuel West

Samuel West

05, Dec, 2013 @11:59 AM

Article image
Bad news for books? The survival of libraries lies in positive promotion

The public should know about what they're missing out on, not just how many libraries are missing in action

Andy Ryan

17, Mar, 2014 @11:05 AM

Article image
Arts lottery funding imbalance 'requires urgent address', say arts leaders

Lottery funds have disproportionately benefited most prosperous and arts engaged communities in England, report reveals

Peter Stark

28, Apr, 2014 @9:30 AM

Article image
Arts Council England funding results – a regional theatre's view

Arts provision in the regions is under attack and the effects are devastating, writes the director of Coventry's Belgrade Theatre, Joanna Reid

Joanna Reid

07, Jul, 2014 @10:00 AM

Article image
Embrace the messiness of UK arts and culture
It is just as important to nurture individuals and micro arts groups as it is to protect big bricks and mortar institutions

Susan Jones

02, Nov, 2015 @4:20 PM

Article image
How Leicester's Curve theatre turned a curve ball into a home run

Once labelled Leicester's most disastrous project, Curve is turning things around, having increased ticket sales by 130%

Fiona Allan

17, Jul, 2014 @4:30 PM

Article image
What would Paul Robeson make of contemporary theatre?
Culture may be caught in a vicious cycle of cuts, but all is not lost if we look to this black actor's legacy, says Tayo Aluko

Tayo Aluko

14, Oct, 2013 @2:36 PM

Article image
Home is where the art is: the centres bringing culture to communities

To combat the cuts cultural organisations must become cherished community hubs, making their closure unthinkable

Catherine Love

03, Apr, 2014 @11:00 AM

Article image
#LoveTheatreDay 2015 – as it happened
On 18 November, more than 300 theatres and groups from across the world joined audience members to celebrate #LoveTheatreDay on Twitter

Matthew Caines

18, Nov, 2015 @5:38 PM