Joy unparalleled this week, as the National Theatre announced that it's going to pilot a programme to start a select number of performances each week at 6.30pm, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. GET IN. For those of us who start work well before the 9am standard, it’s the best news ever (especially if the shows are, say, 90 minutes straight through. A dream).
Everyone I’ve mentioned this to has been stone-cold delighted. “Ooooh, time for dinner!” they gush. “Early night!” they crow. And it sounds like audiences agree.
Over the summer, the National undertook a large-scale piece of research, bringing in focus groups, data analysis and in-depth surveys, with responses from over 8,000 people, from long-standing supporters to young and first-time attendees, “to build a picture of their post-Covid outlooks, lifestyles and habits”. This is, by the way, exactly what an organisation called the National Theatre ought to be doing, and then sharing with everyone else, as a sort of public service, so I trust that’s going to happen.
Early evening performances came out of this research as a highly popular idea. Respondents felt it could extend their enjoyment of the evening - and their use of the building (dining in the restaurant, drinking in the bars, thereby also generating more much-needed revenue). It would give them more time to talk about the show and properly catch up with their companions, and to catch public transport home, instead of making the panicked, sweaty dash to Waterloo for whatever exquisitely inconveniently timed last train they need to hurl themselves onto.
I’d also hazard that a whole hour’s time shift will mean that it’s easier for multi-auditorium buildings like the National to stagger their intervals, ensuring that the bars and toilets aren’t overrun. And it’ll just be that bit easier to take my 12-year-old goddaughter out to a show mid-week, knowing that she’s not going to be quite so destroyed for school the next morning (last time we went to Wicked. It was ace).
But it’s not just going to be about making life that bit easier for those of us who habitually go to the theatre; it’s an essential change - possibly one of several, I’ll be interested to see what else comes out of the research - that will be necessary to reverse an alarming, if predictable, trend.
We all know audience numbers haven’t recovered fully since lockdown. People got out of the habit of going out for their entertainment, and significant numbers haven’t got back into it. Some of this is because traditional theatre audiences are quite old, and got unexpectedly older over the course of the pandemic, with necessary isolation and restrictions on movement accelerating their withdrawal from social life. Many have found it hard or just a bit too exhausting to overcome this entirely.
But we’ve known since the 1990s that 2020 onwards was going to be a danger zone for theatre audiences, due to a forward-thinking report commissioned from the Henley Centre for Forecasting by Arts Council England to project audience numbers.
It was clear then and it’s obvious now that despite improved healthcare, the baby boomer generation that exploded in the wake of the Second World War is now reaching the point of inevitable infirmity. And though they may own most of the property, the vast proportion of that generation aren’t particularly cash rich. And, with falling wages and rising rents, more of their adult children remain to some extent dependent on them.
In the meantime, with the cost of living forcing people to tighten their belts, and schools and teachers stretched to breaking point, young people – especially those from low-income families – are getting less and less access to cultural experiences both in and out of school. According to a new campaign launched this week by the Society of London Theatre and UK Theatre, teachers and parents report a reduction in school trips of up to 68 per cent compared to last year.
With their Theatre for Every Child campaign, the two organisations are calling on all political parties to commit to funding a theatre visit for every child in Britain before they leave school. We know the far-reaching benefits of it – exposure to the arts enhances children’s educational attainment and wellbeing, and can increase their confidence and motivation. It can address skills shortages in the sector, encouraging people to train to be involved. And it boosts the economy: according to UK Theatre, the theatre industry alone generates £2.39bn to the economy every year and supports 205,000 workers.
But it’s not going to do any of that in the future if we don’t start getting people in now to get the theatre bug, and I feel like the small but significant addition of early performances could be a game-changer. Of course it won’t be ideal for everyone, but it won’t ever be all shows. Though if I were you, when they go on sale, I’d get clicking. I reckon they’ll book up quick.
What the Culture Editor Did This Week
Portia Coughlan, Almeida
Alison Oliver puts in one hell of a performance in this revival of Marina Carr’s 1996 play about a woman on the edge in rural Ireland. It’s pretty damn bleak in all honesty but the acting is great across the board and Maimuna Memon’s music elevates what could have been a slog into something poignant and absorbing. You can hear my review of it, along with our Chief Theatre Critic Nick Curtis, on this Sunday's episode of The Standard Theatre Podcast. A new episode goes live every Sunday.
The Kitchen
Daniel Kaluuya’s directorial debut with Kibwe Tavares, which I saw on the last night of the BFI London Film Festival, stars Kane “Kano” Robinson in the leading role of Izi (he’s good!) and wonderful newcomer Jedaiah Bannerman as Benji, the lad Izi reluctantly takes under his wing in their near-future dystopian London, where gentrification has gone wild. It looks great, it’s full of fierce passion, but the story doesn’t quite convince.
