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Who wants a class act?

The verdict on 'aspirational theatre' at the Royal Court
Sat 10 Feb 2007 19.22 EST

Feathers were ruffled this week when Dominic Cooke, newly-appointed artistic director of the Royal Court Theatre, announced a new emphasis on plays that examine the 'aspirational middle classes' who patronise the theatre in favour of the gritty, urban dramas for which the Royal Court is famed. Here are some audience responses.

Yinka Graves
23, radio producer

'Aspirational middle classes' - what does that mean anyway? I've had a middle-class education but I'm also from an ethnic minority. Is my face going to be part of this? Does the middle class only mean white people? I come here to see different stories, about people like me, not dramas about mainstream issues. It's not as if there aren't enough plays that cater to the middle classes and their concerns.

Mary Green
59, writer

The Royal Court has always had a reputation for being cutting-edge, and it needs to be breaking new ground - but that doesn't have to mean kitchen-sink dramas. I like to see political issues discussed and hear what British people think about the state of this country - things like the wider issues of terrorism and climate change.

Nick Shanks
25, business consultant

I live in Fulham so I'm definitely middle-class. If you're talking about issues like multiculturalism, they are broader and larger than SW-something, but I don't think a theatre should play to the area it's in - it should be informed by what writers and companies are producing. The locals aren't the only people coming here, but if the liberal plays they want to put on are good, then that's OK.

Bola Agbaje
25, writer

I'm working-class, but the majority of the theatre-going population are middle-class white people, and Dominic Cooke doesn't want to neglect them. He's trying to make things more balanced. My play [Gone Too Far!, now showing at the Royal Court Upstairs] opened this season, and it's about working-class people on a council estate, so that's proof that this kind of work is not going to get neglected.