As arts funding declines, theatres are increasingly looking to cost-effective programming to make ends meet. Brian Logan asks if stand-up comedy could help protect UK playhouses.
Caryl Churchill. Sarah Kane. Chris Ramsey? Heads turned late last year when the Royal Court in London announced a season of standup, programmed by big shot comedy producers Avalon, and featuring – among others – the co-host of the marital banter podcast Shagged. Married. Annoyed. At one of the UK’s – the world’s, even – most respected playhouses, renowned for the purity of its commitment to radical new drama, “it’s grim to see the cupboard looking so bare” tweeted one critic. Grim, maybe. Unique? Far from it. Park theatre in London recently announced a new comedy strand to its programme, becoming the latest of many playhouses responding to trying times by reaching for the nearest comedian...Keep reading on The Guardian.
Caryl Churchill. Sarah Kane. Chris Ramsey? Heads turned late last year when the Royal Court in London announced a season of standup, programmed by big shot comedy producers Avalon, and featuring – among others – the co-host of the marital banter podcast Shagged. Married. Annoyed. At one of the UK’s – the world’s, even – most respected playhouses, renowned for the purity of its commitment to radical new drama, “it’s grim to see the cupboard looking so bare” tweeted one critic. Grim, maybe. Unique? Far from it. Park theatre in London recently announced a new comedy strand to its programme, becoming the latest of many playhouses responding to trying times by reaching for the nearest comedian...Keep reading on The Guardian.