With newspapers reporting daily of the worsening global financial situation it’s only natural that we in the theatre world should start wondering about how it is going to affect us?

Will people start reigning back their spending on theatre tickets as they attempt to save the pennies with the cost of day-to-day necessities ever increasing?

Will investors in commercial theatre disappear after losing money on investments elsewhere, or in failed banks?

Will the subsidised sector suffer as the government slashes its expenditure in ‘non-essential’ areas such as the arts?

Will corporate sponsors of arts events disappear?

Interesting to note this week that the Northcott Theatre in Exeter is to become the latest in a string of regional theatres to do away with the post of artistic director.

As part of a major re-organisation of the venue, it will now be led by a chief executive and ‘creative director’, which sounds rather like the ‘creative producer’ role which has been cropping up at other theatres across the country.

According to said chief executive Kate Tyrell:

“We don’t need an artistic director in the way that we have before. The post we’re going to appoint is a creative who will programme visiting companies , produce incoming companies and work with associate directors, who will direct the work.”

It looks like it’s finally over. After 16 months of wrangling, haranguing and probably occasional straightforward negotiation, it looks as if (fingers crossed, touch wood) we finally have a new pay deal for actors and stage management working in the West End.

The details of the deal are here and there’s more in this week’s print edition of The Stage, but the gist of it is that casts will get a much increased minimum wage in return for working on Sundays and giving up a number of extra payments which they are currently entitled to.

Who, though, is the big winner in all of this?

A faint murmur of discontent continues to rumble through the West End - this time among the cast of jukebox musical Never Forget.

It has emerged that producers of the show - Tristan Baker, Bronia Buchanan and Charlie Parsons Creative Ltd - have been considering new contracts for performers, to coincide with the production transferring from the Savoy to the Lyric in November.

This could mean, according to a source close to the show, substantial cuts for both ensemble members and principals, while others could have their contracts terminated early.

So far two meetings to resolve the issue have fallen flat, Equity is on the case seeking legal advice, and cast members have been left feeling “powerless”.

The producers’ silence in response to The Stage’s coverage of this issue is unfortunate, because what could have sparked a timely debate is now just simply a bad news story.

So, is this just a case of good guy versus bad, or is there a lot more that we can draw out of the issue?

Imagine This is a brand new musical set in the Warsaw ghetto in 1942 opening at the West End’s New London Theatre this November.

A musical set against the backdrop of the holocaust? Opening in the run up to Christmas? As the UK slides into recession? It wouldn’t appear a recipe for success.

Let’s be honest, this is going to be a tough sell.

Royal Shakespeare Company head honcho Michael Boyd wants the RSC - one of the UK’s flagship professional theatre companies - to get more involved with the amateur sector.

In particular, this has to do with getting Jo Public involved when the Cultural Olympiad and the World Shakespeare Festival, which kicks off in 2012, but - it seems - it is also a more general aim.

He explains that he wants to “take away the crucifix and garlic that we have held up in the profession against the non-professional theatre movement in this country.”

This got me thinking… How big is the gap between the professional and non-professional theatre movements? And - to an extent - how do you judge what is professional and what is amateur?

I’ve seen plenty of professional productions where the actors weren’t being paid (i.e. profit share) and I’ve seen a couple of amateur shows, which quality-wise were certainly an improvement on ‘pro’ performances I’ve seen.

Community performers can add something - I’m thinking of the Young Vic’s superb Christmas shows, which have involved people from the local boroughs - but are they taking up roles which could be going to paid performers?

After all, there are plenty of ‘resting’ actors out there, who might kill for a role at a venue such as the Young Vic - or indeed the RSC.

So, culture secretary Andy Burnham has unveiled a new scheme in which the government is looking to give away one million free theatre tickets to people under the age of 26.

The plan has been developed out of a nugget of an idea suggested by Brian McMaster in his review into excellence in the arts, in which he put forward the proposal of an annual free week when people would get to go to the theatre gratis.

That embryonic musing has now been polished into something more manageable and focussed. Under McMaster’s initial idea there was nothing to stop regular theatregoers from simply nabbing all the free seats, whereas under the new plan there is at least the promise that it will be targeted at an age group which is generally under-represented in theatres.

Over on the Guardian’s Blog, Lyn Gardner raises some interesting questions about whether free theatre seats alone will be enough to convince this age group to go to the theatre.

But, it strikes me that there are a couple of other issues which also need to be addressed.

Namely, Why has this announcement been made during the Labour Party Conference? and Do the figures add up?

Hello there and welcome to the resurrected Stage Newsblog.

For those of you with long memories, you might recall that Mark Shenton’s blog started life on this site as the Newsblog before metamorphosing and emerging, butterfly-like, in its current incarnation as Shenton’s View.

This, then, is that original newsblog reborn.

While Mark will continue his daily endeavours on Shenton’s View, the Stage’s news team will use this blog to further examine the stories covered by The Stage both online and in print. The idea being to open big news stories up to debate and maybe pry a bit behind what is actually going on.

We very much hope that this will be a conversation and look forward to hearing your opinions on the topics we cover, which will include all aspects of performing arts other than TV and Radio, whose home remains - as ever - the TV Today blog.