The Stage

Fair day’s pay

Published Friday 25 August 2006 at 17:10

Some of Anthony Field’s observations on Sunday opening (Sunday Shows Need Publicity, page 8, August 17) cannot go unchallenged.

“All hours are now social hours,” he writes from the Barbican, EC2, a stroll away from the West End.

Has he ever travelled or attempted to travel any distance by public transport on a Sunday? Trains from the suburbs running every 15 minutes during the week run reduced services on Sundays, even supposing that they run at all because of engineering works.

Mr Field needs to be gently reminded that not all workers in the West End can afford the luxury of West End accommodation.

He seems not to understand that workers in the industries he lists - “staff in international banks… transport workers on trains, planes, buses and taxis…” are rarely required to work every Sunday - usually for them a shift or a rota system operates.

Alas, no such luxury is afforded the performer.

Perhaps Mr Field is also ignorant of the fact that those workers he lists probably earn more than the worker in a West End theatre.

Yes, Mr Field, let us open our theatres on Sunday, by all means, but the time has not yet come when performers should wave goodbye to any extra payment for working on that day.

John Webb

Audio councillor,

Equity,

Gospatrick Road,

London, N17