It is deeply disappointing to read reports of the Theatres Trust’s recent conference in which adverse comments on the physical condition of London’s commercial theatres was apparently allowed to go unchecked (, June 18, page 4).
It was the Theatres Trust itself which in 2003 published a report based on its own independent and comprehensive survey of the London theatre stock and an equally independent analysis of the profitability of West End theatre ownership. The report’s conclusions can be simply summarised:
• The theatre stock required investment of £250 million at then current prices over a 15 year period
• Such a sum could not conceivably be found from the normal operating profits of theatre ownership
• An intervention from public funds was urgently required in order to ensure that theatres remained fit for purpose through the 21st century
These conclusions have never been challenged.
Partly because of the demands of the 2012 Olympics in terms of available capital resources, and partly because of constant buck passing between potential funders, the report has effectively been shelved, at least for the foreseeable future. In the meantime, the report’s title, Act Now!, has come to have a disturbingly hollow ring.
Most theatre owners have now introduced a ticket levy, of either 75p or £1 to help defray restoration costs. But, even at current historically high levels of theatre attendance, it will be 35 years before the proceeds will be sufficient to the need.
It is absurd to suggest that theatre owners ‘hide behind’ the heritage listing of their buildings. But the fact is that the buildings are listed, which inescapably makes major refurbishment a much more costly business than would otherwise be the case. It is all very well to compare commercial theatre buildings with those occupied by subsidised companies. The latter have received hundreds of millions of pounds in lottery funding to help pay for their improvements, without which neither improvement nor proper maintenance would have been possible. West End theatres have received nothing.
It is not only Barbara Follett who would like to see backstage conditions improved. So would theatre owners. They know the need. They know too that they need to deal with leaking roofs, antiquated plumbing and lavatories, non-existent air-conditioning, scant front of house facilities and dilapidated auditorium seating. Everything is urgent. But given the financial framework within which theatre owners necessarily operate, making the required improvements will take time - years and in some cases even decades.
If only Mrs Follett would do something positive towards willing the means of improvement, not merely the ends, we might together get somewhere rather more quickly.
Richard Pulford
Chief executive
Society of London Theatre
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