Making a Crisis out of Drama

I’ve written a piece for The Stage bringing to greater prominence one of the findings that was somewhat buried in our report British Theatre Before & After Covid: the collapse in play production. There was a drop of 14.5% in theatre productions between 2019 and 2023 and that is entirely and almost exclusively accounted for by the decline in plays being produced. The raw numbers of musicals, dance shows, operas, pantomimes and more were more or less identical in the two years; the decline was wholly in the category of Drama. That category comprises plays (old and new) and devised shows, though the decline is much more in plays than devised work. I’ve suggested in the article that this is an alarming prospect for a theatre celebrated the world over for the quality and innovations of its plays and playwrights and I commend the article to your attention:

• https://www.thestage.co.uk/opinion/without-new-plays-british-theatre-will-lapse-into-irrelevance-dan-rebellato