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Actors warn of funding cut danger to regional theatre

Victoria Wood, Julie Walters and Alison Steadman among big names to voice anger at cuts to subsidised sector

Funding cuts to theatre loomed heavily at the Olivier awards last night, there is a real worry, of course, and everyone is waiting for Arts Council England's decisions on March 30.

Ahead of the ceremony, 46 of the UK's leading actors and performers wrote a letter published in the Observer warning about the dangers of cutting regional and subsidised theatre.

The letter itself is here. The union Equity also canvassed individual responses and here are some of them.

Adrian Lester:

"It's not just about securing jobs, it's about the continued invention and preservation of culture, as that is what our artists take care of."

Alison Steadman:

"The soul of our nation is reflected on our televisions, theatre stages and cinema screens. I believe that these cuts will drastically limit the opportunities for young writers, directors and actors to reflect this society and a generation of talent could be lost."
Julie Walters:
"My view is that the success of the West End is built on the foundations of subsidised theatre, that's where tomorrow's hit shows will come from and where the stars of the future learn the trade that we have become world famous for. Cutting of funding at a local level deprives a community of its cultural focus and future audiences from a generation of talent."
Tony Robinson:
"Like so many of Britain's performers, I learned my craft in repertory and small-scale theatre. Such theatres not only provide invaluable entertainment, but they're also where the research and development for our multi-million pound entertainment industry takes place. To kill our network of regional theatres by employing draconian cuts would be short-termism of the worst kind."
Oliver Ford Davies:
"I am currently on a fourteen week tour of Goodnight Mr Tom for the Children's Touring Partnership with a cast of eleven adults, six children (alternating), four stage management, playing to mostly sold-out houses (nearly 10,000 in Salford), and this would have been impossible without an Arts Council grant. What a hunger for theatre there is, but quality large-scale children's theatre won't survive without subsidy."
Timothy Pigott-Smith:
"My view is summed up by the great Arthur Miller who said: In England you have subsidy, you have theatre. In America we have no subsidy, we get shows.' The latest example of plays I have been in that would not have happened were it not for subsidy is Enron. The first such example was a Royal Shakespeare Company production of Sherlock Holmes in 1973 which transferred to Broadway! I simply do not know where we would be without subsidy!"
Miriam Margolyes:
"I believe the government is abdicating responsibility for the cultural future of this nation by allowing local authorities to slash and burn arts funding. Where will the next generation of artists test their skills and create the work we are rightly famous for?"
Timothy West and Prunella Scales:
"It is so important that a piece of work can originate from the subsidised sector, be picked up by a producer and made into a smash hit West End show or blockbuster film. These cuts will limit the chances for edgy or creative work getting made and that means there will be less great work coming out of the UK."
Clive Swift:
"My particular concern is the loss of subsidy to the Actors' Centre, which, in the light of the current "scorched earth" policy towards regional theatre, is a self-created bulwark against the erosion of opportunities to gather professional experience."
Victoria Wood:
"If the primary pressure on young writers is to be commercially successful, rather than exploring their own individual talent, then no one will dare take a risk, or move away from the mainstream, and we'll end up with the theatrical equivalent of the microwave dinner. Of course there have to be financial constraints, but let's not smack new writers in the face with the bill before they've got their feet under the table."
Imelda Staunton:
"I don't think we can be complacent about talent always rising to the top. Like all industries, young people in the arts need opportunities to learn their craft. These cuts will create fewer places for them to learn and what chances they may get will be in safe productions desperate for a financial return."
The culture secretary Jeremy Hunt, meanwhile, was on the Andrew Marr show yesterday and said this:
"They are right about how important theatre is and I think they're right to have some concerns about what is happening in some local areas and I would urge local councils to recognise the huge economic importance of the arts as well as the cultural and social importance.
"But what I would say is that at a national level, when you look at the cuts that have happened, and we've all had to deal with these horrible cuts, because of the lottery changes we introduced the actual net cut in arts funding is only 11% and that is a lot better than for example the police or the Foreign Office or many other areas. So we are doing everything we can, precisely because we understand the economic importance and what the arts do for our national way of life."
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