Adrian Trickey?s discomfort in emphasising the economic significance of arts events (p7) is understandable, but he is right not to let it stop him from using financial measures to bang the drum for the Edinburgh festivals. There is no shame in proclaiming the economic value of the arts, and as the Government increasingly emphasises economic impact, it is becoming ever more necessary to present the case for culture in hard-nosed commercial terms. There is much the subsidised sector can learn from its commercial cousins in celebrating the bottom line while espousing the values of experimentation, education and entertainment. News of the RSC?s deal with Cameron Mackintosh (p1) neatly illustrates the symbiotic relationship between the two sectors. More and more transfers from subsidised theatres fill more of the West End?s theatres and the skills of many leading arts practitioners are honed and re-honed in the subsidised sector before being unleashed on a commercial world. A quality commercial sector does much for the profile and esteem of the arts as a whole. Those who saw Cats as children are now junior ministers, and people inspired by Hair are now losing theirs running subsidised theatres.
And so the subsidised theatre sector should give its wholehearted support to the commercial producers looking to update the fabric of London?s crumbling Theatreland. Cameron Mackintosh?s largesse in pumping £35m of his own money into renovating his theatres should not be underestimated. Both the Theatres Trust and the Society of London Theatres have acknowledged that the theatres he is renovating will not increase in value by anything like the amount he will spend. Two of his theatres (the Queens and the Gielgud) will be re-worked to create a single large auditorium, and upstairs a flexible studio theatre space specifically designed to ?accommodate extended runs of musicals and plays transferring from Britain?s leading small-scale studio theatres, such as the Almeida, Donmar Warehouse and Cottesloe.? Subsidised theatres all three: it?s got to be in the interest of all in theatre to fly the flag for the West End.
Liz Hill and Brian Whitehead, Co-editors