The Stage

Ptaszynski joins Spacey in calls for more BBC theatre coverage

Published Tuesday 8 April 2008 at 13:30 by Alistair Smith

Really Useful Group chief executive Andre Ptaszynski has supported Kevin Spacey in his calls for the BBC to increase its programming dedicated to plays and non-musical theatre.

Ptaszynski, who is the long-time head of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s company, was responding to a letter in the Evening Standard from veteran actress Miriam Karlin, who complained that Lloyd Webber’s TV talent contests on the BBC, such as I’d Do Anything, devalue the idea of drama training and humiliate contestants.

Old Vic artistic director Spacey had previously claimed that the shows were “essentially a 13-week promotion for a musical” and that the Corporation should be doing more for theatre, including bringing back its Play for Today strand.

“Kevin Spacey is right to ask the BBC to support plays with the enthusiasm that it has for musical theatre,” said Ptaszynski. “But Miriam Karlin is wrong to say that BBC programmes ‘humiliate’ contestants and ‘devalue’ drama training. I challenge anyone to bring forward a single ‘humiliated’ contestant from the Maria or Joseph series, and both Connie Fisher and Lee Mead are testimony to the excellence of our drama schools.”

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