Despite losses caused by funding cuts, a diverse range of vibrant work is pulling in new audiences
Hayao Miyazaki’s glorious animation My Neighbour Totoro reimagined for the stage; a Tennessee Williams classic with a red-hot star; a one-woman show by an Australian former lawyer, performed by Jodie Comer making her stage debut; the hip-hop suffragette musical Sylvia: British theatre is in a far livelier condition than seemed possible three years ago, when the first Covid lockdown began before Easter. A week ago, the industry’s grandest prizes, the Oliviers, were presented amid high spirits and belted-out show tunes at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
Last month saw pointed exchanges, in this newspaper and others, after David Hare, the playwright, wrote a piece lamenting the number of venues showing musicals. Others see nothing to regret in the huge number of seats being filled at the moment by theatregoers who want to hear melodies as well as dialogue – to watch dance routines as well as drama. Instead, they hope to channel this enthusiasm to make it easier to put new musical theatre works on stage – as well as old favourites like Oklahoma! and Guys and Dolls.
