The actor Dominic West has extolled the virtues of regional theatre ahead of a new stage role, complaining that West End ticket prices are “going crazy”.
The actor, who is appearing at the 120-seat Ustinov Studio in Bath for his theatrical comeback after playing Prince Charles in The Crown, said there was a “tangible” desire for good theatre in the regions.
West also told the Times that ticket prices in the capital were going “crazy … which is a bad thing. That means only a certain small group of people will be going to the theatre and probably not enjoying it much.
“And you get a lot of tourists in London and people are not necessarily there because they want to be there … it is because it is part of the tourist trail.”
The 54-year-old from Sheffield will play Eddie Carbone in an adaptation of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge, which runs from 16 February to 9 March. He said the excitement of audiences was more obvious outside the capital.
“I have always enjoyed the non-London audience. In Sheffield, certainly, there is a real amazing feel from the local support you get and from a real hunger for a good play and for a good night at the theatre. Which of course there is everywhere else but I think it is more tangible outside London.”
West, who lives in Chippenham, Wiltshire, with his wife and children, said he always enjoyed playing in small venues such as the Ustinov Studio, which is part of Theatre Royal Bath – especially because it was in close proximity to his family home. “It is half an hour away from where I live; I can get home at night.”
The actor is not the first to criticise the price of West End theatre tickets – last summer David Tennant said costs were “ludicrous” and risked strangling the next generation of theatregoers. Top ticket prices increased by 20% between 2019 and 2022, according to the Stage website, as theatres sought to recoup losses incurred during the pandemic.
There have also been rising reports of audience misbehaviour – from stories about an usher being punched after asking rowdy audience members to tone it down in Edinburgh to a heckler barracking a child actor at the Royal Opera House and illicit nude photos being taken of James Norton in the West End
Meanwhile, regional arts venues are having to contend with a string of vacancies, with bosses quitting in droves due to funding and staffing shortages.
West, who is best known for his roles in The Wire and The Affair, said his recent screen duties as well as the Hollywood strikes had reduced his opportunities to appear on stage. “I have not done any theatre for five or six years. Before that I did a play at least every three or four years,” he said.
“Sitting around on strike I thought, ‘Let’s get back to first principles and try to get things made. Really what I love and what I have always loved and why I became an actor. I just love doing plays. I am not in it for the glory or the pay. That [the Ustinov] is not the place to do it. I am in it I suppose just to reconnect with my passion.”
The actor appeared in two series of the Crown and defended the show’s writer Peter Morgan, who has been accused of “sensationalism” and “nonsense” in his depiction of the royal family – which led to Netflix attaching a “fictional dramatisation” disclaimer on the show’s trailer.
West said “the monarchy is public property … as long as monarchy has been around, dramatists have dramatised it. In a way Peter is no different to Shakespeare.”
