It has been a weird 10 days in the theatre: strong shows but hard times. The Dorries Diktat – that Arts Council England money should be moved out of London – led to various anomalies, not least the disastrous decision to cut funding from one of the best of the capital’s theatres, the Donmar Warehouse, in the name of levelling up. Of course it matters where organisations are based. But buildings and geography are not the end of the story. In supporting the work of new writers and directors, the Donmar has always pumped fresh blood around the country. The theatre’s plans to support local organisations in Kent, the West Midlands and Nottinghamshire have now been crushed.
Meanwhile, the stage has been subjecting itself to inquisitions. For three days at the Royal Court, Martin Crimp wrote and performed his new play, a coruscation, driven by questions perpetual and immediate. When does pretending become fakery? Is fiction a lie? And, particularly current, can a dramatist “give voice” to any character?
