Lovers of theatre, we are called to arms! A new campaign launched today called My Theatre Matters! Not only is this campaign important because it's being championed by Sam West and he's awesome, not least because he once gave me a pineapple, but there are other reasons too. I'm sure you know what they are but here are a couple of my reasons in case you've forgotten.
Local theatre is in trouble. Arts cuts will hit local theatre first because the government, your local council and even the arts council think they can cut funding to smaller theatres and we won't complain. And if we do they think they can pretend it's that or cuts to hospitals, or police and that will shut us up. And maybe you'll believe them, I don't.
But in any case we need local theatres. We really really do. As I explain not particularly eloquently on my post on the site (sorry, I wrote that on my lunch break) theatre gives me so much more than the occasional night out.
As a society we need hospitals and police. But we also need libraries, universities, music, laughter, and theatre. We need life but we also need to live. Otherwise we're all just monkeys in shoes.
I passionately believe that my interest in theatre, my joy in the arts, my compulsive creativity, these things are not genetic. They are not happy chance, or magically bestowed on me by some benevolent god. They are gifts given to me by the people who produced amazing plays just around the corner from my childhood home, by my parents who took me to shows, and by any teacher who organised a school trip whether it was to see Berkoff or Blood Brothers. And I am thankful to those people every day.
And I am thankful to any organisation or person who supported those early theatre experiences, or allocated them funding, or who voted in their local elections for people who would allocate them funding.
Small theatres fuel our creativity, make our communities better places to be, and nurture the very greatest of Britain's talent. If you want to see if Britain really has Got Talent, get yourself to London fringe or your local arts centre and see actors on their way to the top.
Personally I don't think something should only exist if it makes someone money. But I suppose I should point out that as well as making life worth living, local arts are good for the economy. Not just in London but across the country. For every ten North East arts jobs, for example, an estimated further four jobs have been created. In fact, arts in the North East generated £74.3 million of economic activity in 2010/11.
Those of us who love local theatre, and I'm guessing if you're reading this then that's you, need to fight for it. Because we're a quiet and friendly lot* but we need to get noisy and stand up for our local theatre and we need to encourage others to stand up for theirs.
MANY places have cut their arts funding 100%. ONE HUNDRED PERCENT. Most recently Westminster, affecting Soho Theatre and numerous brilliant youth projects. Imagine if that was where you lived. In Croydon we've had a taste of what that feels like. And to me, it feels like my home town only exists to make money from me. Croydon's endless expanse of chain shops take my cash in exchange for cheap clothes that fall apart after 2 weeks and then try to persuade me that shopping is a leisure activity. And when all the theatres have gone I might just start to believe them.
Theatre fans, the fight starts here. Get the hell over to mytheatrematters.com and sign up for their mailing list, write every letter they suggest to you and put your photo on that lovely gallery they've got going on. I won't watch the UK theatre industry crippled without putting up a fight. Will you?
*Well, not me I kick off about stuff all the time. But, you know, we theatre goers as a group.
