A report by the Society of London Theatre and UK Theatre, released on Thursday, puts the spotlight on an industry struggling with rocketing production costs and in need of urgent funding. The sister trade associations have called for the government’s comprehensive spending review to dramatically increase public investment, including £500m for infrastructure, and to support its Theatre for Every Child initiative which aims to ensure all pupils attend a professional theatre production before leaving school.
The organisations’ co-CEOs, Claire Walker and Hannah Essex, said: “Theatres are doing more with less – and the strain is showing. Rising costs, shrinking support and ageing infrastructure are putting the sector under unsustainable pressure. We are seeing world-class organisations forced to cut programmes, delay maintenance and scale back outreach. If we want to maintain the UK’s position as a global leader in theatre – and continue to inspire the next generation of actors, writers, and technicians – then government must act.”
The report, drawing on information from theatres that are members of the two organisations, states that one in five venues “require at least £5m over the next decade simply to remain operational”. Without substantial capital funding, nearly 40% “could close or become unusable”. Roughly one in four organisations ran a deficit in 2023–24, and almost one-third project a shortfall in the subsequent financial year.
Since 2010, funding from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has fallen by 18% per person in real terms, notes the report, while local authority support has declined by as much as 48%. “Years of decline in creative education and underinvestment in skills training have left theatres struggling to recruit and retain staff,” it adds, with almost half of theatre leaders saying that new hires lack the necessary skills, particularly in technical roles.
Against this backdrop, and the challenges of the pandemic and cost of living crisis, the two organisations’ member theatres drew audiences in excess of 37 million in 2024. Its West End venues “surpassed 17.1 million attenders [akin to 2023 levels] and generated more than £1bn in revenue”. Data from 48 regional venues shows a 4% increase in occupancy between 2019 and 2024 yet also underlined what regular theatregoers around the UK will have noticed: the number of shows being programmed has, in many cases, dropped in the last five years as theatres prune their schedules amid financial challenges.
Bemoaning news headlines about premium ticket prices, the report stated that across the UK most tickets were sold for £39.50 or less (with 19% priced under £20 outside London), while in the West End most were sold at £56 or less. Since 2019, the average West End ticket price has fallen by 5.3% in real terms.
Research quoted by the report shows that for every £1 spent on a theatre ticket, “an additional £1.40 is spent in the local economy”, while every pound of public investment returns more than £11 to the Treasury. The report said that the West End’s 11% post-pandemic audience growth is unmatched in the UK’s entertainment sector and highlighted that, last year, “nearly one in four international visitors to London attended a West End show – a testament to its global appeal”.
