THE ROMANS ARE LEAVING

In a week that has seen the Night-Time Hero Awards, The Future of Theatre Conference and a 17 year old Spanish footballer acclaimed as Lionel Messi’s successor, we ask what the UK will look like when so much of its live entertainment talent has either sailed off or been starved out?

Imagine, if you can, what it must have been like for a six or seventh century visitor to Britain, seeing the remains of Roman roads and bridges, citadels and fortresses, temples and amphitheatres and thinking: What happened? Where did the people go who built this stuff? This bleak vision was prompted by two events this week:

On Monday, The Night Time Industries Association, led by the indefatigable Mike and Silvana Kill, celebrated 10 years of fearlessly campaigning on behalf of the UK’s night-time economy with the annual Ambassador Of The Night Awards at London’s Hippodrome Casino, better known for hosting a very different ‘Magic Mike.’

On Wednesday, The Stage held its annual ‘Future Of Theatre Conference’* at the West End’s @sohoplace theatre, currently home to the highly acclaimed RSC production, Kyoto.

And while many of the specific challenges facing night clubs and other ‘after-hours’ venues might vary significantly from those faced by the UK’s theatre community (be that West End, Regional, Fringe or Immersive) they both face spiralling costs at a time when consumers and government alike will be prioritizing other items on their shopping lists (for the former, read rent/mortgages, utilities, holidays, etc) for the latter read (health and welfare, defence and education, fiscal rules, etc.).  In short, worsening conditions which will inevitably necessitate the ‘tightening of belts’ for the better resourced organisations, but for the rest it will mean the survival stuff of life-belts, prayer and the weekly struggle to make payroll.

And the threat applies just as much at the individual, human level as well as the organisational …because the two are (obviously) interdependent.

At the Night-Time Hero Awards, Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu (better known as ‘Tinie’ or Tinie Tempah,) made the point (and I paraphrase wildly here) that while he, personally, had grown up in a supportive environment, so many of his contemporaries would never have had the opportunity to flourish as artists without the clubs and late-night venues where they were able to cut their creative teeth.

At the Future of Theatre Conference, some contributors speculated on how financial cutbacks might result in a fileting of both work and workers; as cash-strapped organisations become more risk averse and the talent-pool is increasingly reduced to those lucky few supported by the Bank of Mum and Dad. 

This latter impact is (of course) not the sole preserve of the live entertainment sector. Designer Thomas Heatherwick’s excellent 2023 series on BBC Radio 4: ‘Building Soul,’  made a similar point:

“The typical way into an architectural career is that somebody needs quite high academic ability and the resources to be able to commit to a 7 year period of study. Which is a long time.”

That Wednesday of the Future of Theatre Conference concluded in a very different kind of drama being acted out seven hundred miles away in front of an audience of 50,000, the UEFA Champions League semi-final between Barcelona and Inter Milan.

The star of that epic production was seventeen-year-old Lamine Yamal who some commentators already regard as the greatest footballer on the planet.  Lamine had been scouted by Barcelona at the age of six, and had joined the Barca Academy the following year. He made his first team debut at the age of fifteen and became the youngest player to represent (and score for) the Spanish senior National Team at the age of sixteen.

Now I’m not suggesting that six year olds should be actively scouted and inducted into training programmes to become Theatre Directors or DJs.

And I personally believe that the 10,000 rule which Malcolm Gladwell popularised in ‘Outliers’ relates more to the developing of motor-skills, hand-eye co-ordination, etc., necessary for successful ping-pong and fiddle-bowing rather than progressing creative disciplines.

But I do think that Arts and Entertainment could take a leaf out of Sport’s playbook when it comes to establishing the pathways by which talent can be brought on and nurtured.

As for the approach this might take, I am reminded of a line used by a brilliant accessibility consultant addressing a ticketing conference:  “Don’t ask me about my condition, just ask me what I need?” 

What will talented newcomers need at various stages in their development? Who will be best placed to encourage and support them throughout their journeys? Who will monitor the results of the pathways and update the programmes as the world, the Industry and audiences change? And, crucially, in what ways will they commit to (up front) to pay back into the system and assist the others coming through behind them?

And what is the alternative?  Leave it all to Lady Luck?

Aged 11 I had an exceptional English teacher. A former Bingo Caller and Window Cleaner, he was primarily a playwright and poet who taught at our school to provide a more social environment to counterbalance the solitary pursuit of writing.  This teacher recognised a ‘talent’ in me, and went above and beyond to encourage my writing. …which flourished prodigiously as a result. Then disaster struck, two years later, when he had a hit on Broadway and used the money to convert a factory into a theatre.  And sadly not in London.  But by that time, however, I was confident enough put my work out there and engage with other writers, and other collaborators, and so the process could (and will) continue.  But without that lucky break, when I was just out of short trousers, the story may well have been so very, very different.

DT

3 May 2025

*IMO this was by far the best of the three ‘Future of Theatre’ conferences I’ve attended, with superbly curated sessions featuring contributors who were passionate, insightful and excellent communicators