A belief that Arts Council England has abandoned the arms length principle, adopted an authoritarian stance and is now fixated by its own strategic priorities has led national touring theatre company Red Shift to take the unusual step of surrendering its subsidy from the Arts Council. Jonathan Holloway explains.

Red Shifts Theatre Companys current tour of Much Ado About Nothing, set during the Bosnian war, will finish Easter 2008, after which the company will no longer be in receipt... more