Star power

Published Tuesday 14 August 2007 at 12:25

It is heartening to find so very many of our most distinguished performers publicly voicing their concern about the irresolute future of the Bristol Old Vic. I wonder, though, whether some of them have realised that they themselves are uniquely placed to ensure its survival as a producing venue, simply by committing themselves to appear on the theatre’s 240-year-old boards when it reopens to the public after what, let those of us agree who know the building, is a highly necessary refurbishment programme.

Not so long ago, a policy of well-chosen, well-performed plays was all that was required by the Old Vic patrons: if they wanted ‘stars’, they could, and did, make the short 13-mile journey down the road to Bath, to see a touring production at its excellent Theatre Royal. Now, however, regional audiences across the country tend to want it both ways - to see work that has been specifically produced for them, but with people in the cast who are recognised nationally.

We surely have here an urgent need to overcome the current professional reluctance to work in any aspect of regional theatre, and accept that really well-known actors, in these days of celebrity culture, hold very high-ranking cards in the tricky theatrical production game. An ignominious outcome to the vexed story of the Bristol Old Vic would reflect tragically on a profession that had somehow failed properly to care for it in its time of need.

Timothy West CBE

BOV board member 1985-91

North Side

Wandsworth Common

London