When it comes to the cost of entertainment, there is a resigned acceptance that the only way is up. This reality is particularly unavoidable as the sector struggles to shake off the combined impact of the pandemic and rising running costs.
Despite repeated warnings from stars including Dominic West, Derek Jacobi and David Tennant that theatre, in particular, is courting redundancy by putting itself beyond the reach of much of the population, tickets have become ever more expensive. “Theatre’s in a perilous state. My wife went the other day, it cost her nearly £200 – who could afford that?” asked the actor David Harewood, adding his voice to the outcry on Radio 4’s Front Row last month.
