Indira Varma: I wish theatre didn’t have to rely on star casting to sell tickets

Indira Varma has warned that a rise in theatre ticket prices is causing programmed work to be more reliant on celebrity casting and “tried and tested classics".

Varma was speaking to The Stage at the 2026 Lilian Baylis Awards ceremony at the Old Vic Theatre in London, where she expressed her concern for the lack of risks being taken on stage due to audience spending habits changing in the cost-of-living crisis.

When asked what had changed for her since completing her training in 1995, she said: “I wish we didn’t have to rely on star casting to ensure [the sale of] tickets. I wish there was a world, a culture where people could afford to just go and see theatre for the joy here, and we could take away some of the elitism that’s happened because of ticket pricing. It’s become a little loop that we can’t get out of.”
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