London theatres in difficulty

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33446, 30 January 1974, Page 17

London theatres in difficulty

(N.Z.P.A. Staff Correspondent)

LONDON, January 29.

Two of London’s well-known theatres may have to close because of lack of money: the Theatre Royal, in the East End — home of Joan Littlewood’s extrovert Theatre Workshop — and the historic Old Vic.

The Theatre Royal, a midVictorian music hall now surrounded by towering blocks is a slum, according to Miss Littlewood, who says that unless it receives £llO,OOO in subsidies for the year beginning in April, her company will have to go on the road. Miss Littlewood, who owns the theatre, but says she could not sell it “because nobody would take it on,” spent the week-end talking to representatives of the British Arts Council and local authorities, and will now put her case to the council in writing. A £54,000 Arts Council grant, plus local support, saved the theatre during 1972-73, but, even so, the company’s present debts are substantial. “We are out to make something that is glamourous and superb, and the very best we can give people on stage, and we are being buried by redevelopment,” Miss Littlewood said. “The theatre needs to be pulled down, renewed, and changed, and more space given for people to breathe.” Miss Littlewood founded Theatre Workshop in Manchester in 1945, and in the 10 years following its move to London in 1953, it became an East End institution. Its first great success was Brendan Behan’s “Quare Fellow,” in 1956, which moved to the West End — one of eight of the company’s productions to do so. The Old Vic, built in 1818 and the scene of some of the greatest Shakespearian performances seen in Britain, will next year lose its 10year tenants, the National Theatre Company, and the company which had been expected to move in, the Englibar Age, disclosed last night that, after two years of negotiations, it had abandoned its plans. What will happen to the theatre now is uncertain: the Minister for the Arts (Mr Norman St John Stevas) has said that, because of its great tradition, he does not want it becoming a purely commercial theatre. But, with a

reduction in the Government’s subsidy to the Arts Council, extra money will be very hard to find.