News, reviews, features and podcast on theatre across the UK
The British Theatre Guide Newsletter
No 1283: 27 September 2026
Editorial
As our relatively new Prime Minister is back up north in Liverpool for the Labour Party Conference making bold claims about how he will sort out the issue of social care—which many PMs before him have pledged, and failed, to solve—Philip Fisher has been looking at how Andy Burnham’s pet project of devolution could affect theatres.
On the one hand, decisions taken by those elected to a particular region can make decisions about who should get public funding and for what taking into account the needs and character of their locality. On the other, when everything for a region is coming out of the same pot of money, from the arts and libraries to road mending and social care, we all know from experience where the cuts will come first when money is tight—which it is in most local councils as they have been starved of cash by successive governments since the beginning of this century.
We saw a similar thing happen in the ’80s when much of the financial responsibility for schools was taken from local authorities and given to head teachers, and so theatre-in-education companies had to sell to each school instead of booking a block of visits in an area, and they were competing with maintenance costs, teachers’ wages and school books for allocation of funds. As a result, a lot of TIE companies disappeared or changed direction.
Most theatres work with very tight margins, and many depend on public funding to survive—though they give back with interest both socially and with their effect on the region’s economy as we have often reported—but even the mighty ATG has announced this week that it intends to make 80 people redundant across its venues outside London.
I heard again recently someone saying that the problem with theatres is that tickets are too expensive, but in fact they have barely increased in real terms since before lockdown. These comments usually come from looking at the West End or the large regional receiving theatres (such as those owned by ATG), but there is theatre in most regions to suit most pockets. This week, in a tiny room over a pub in Salford, I saw a play I didn’t know by a writer I like a lot directed by someone who has run several large regional theatres and directed at the RSC, and the co-star of a recent BBC sitcom and the artistic director of a large group of theatres were in the audience. The tickets were £15 (plus the dreaded booking fee) or £10 concessions.
If you want to see a version of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro set in Yorkshire in the 1970s, some of the venues on the very short tour are offering a ‘pay what you want’ ticket price. With a new libretto by Yorkshire poet Ian McMillan and a rewritten score by Ben Crick, this intrigued me enough to want to speak to both of them, and I had a great time, as you can hear in our latest podcast episode. I struggled to get a word in with these two Yorkshiremen at times—and, as I told them, I’m a quarter Yorkshire—but I certainly laughed a lot.
But to go back to my previous point, apart from the very reasonable pricing structure, Ben talks about it being his life’s mission to bring classical music to ‘the people’, as it should be for everyone, not just for the social or financial elite.
He convinced me—this might be one worth crossing the Pennines for. And the podcast episode is definitely worth listening to.
Disabled-led theatre company Graeae has announced a 2027 UK tour of Wedding Fayre, a “musical exploring identity, belonging and the price of conformity”.
A musical version of Amanda Whittington’s Be My Baby and the regional première of Emteaz Hussain’s Expendable will take to the Nottingham Playhouse stage in 2027.
Burlesque the Musical Christina Aguilera, Adam Paulden & Jason Haigh-Ellery, Steven Antin, Clint Culpepper and In Fine Company Productions at The Alhambra Theatre, Bradford
Antigone Tron Theatre Company in association with Groupwork at Tron Theatre
Cuban Baroque (Acosta Danza) - York Theatre Royal, York, –
Private Peaceful (Joshua Beaumont and Matthew Emeny for The Production Garden in association with Exeter Northcott Theatre) - Hull Truck Theatre, Hull, –
The Haunted Bride (Rumpus Theatre Company) - Theatre Royal Wakefield, Wakefield,
Little Shop of Horrors (Exeter Northcott Theatre in association with Lighthouse Poole and Coventry Belgrade Theatre) - Exeter Northcott Theatre, Exeter, –
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (National Theatre of Scotland in partnership with The Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh in association with Pitlochry Festival Theatre) - Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, –
Do Not Pass Go (Jordan & Skinner) - Platform, Glasgow, –
Emergence (Scottish Ballet) - Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, –
Revel (Company Chordelia in association with the Byre Theatre and Luminate) - Eastgate Theatre and Arts Centre, Peebles,
1984 (Citizens Theatre, Dundee Rep Theatre and The Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh) - Dundee Rep Theatre, Dundee, –
