A new report has examined programming on UK stages since the Covid pandemic. The British Theatre Consortium report, British Theatre Before & After Covid, examines 2019, the last full year before the pandemic, and 2023, the first full year after theatres reopened. It draws on anonymised data from 139 theatres across the UK.
Ten years ago, the British Theatre Consortium reported that new work had overtaken revivals in the UK repertoire for the first time. A follow-up study confirmed the trend.
The impact of the pandemic on the number of new plays was highlighted as a particular area of concern in the new report. New plays produced in 2023 were 29.2% lower than in 2019.
The report’s authors, David Edgar and Dan Rebellato said: “We want to sound a note of alarm at the real decline in numbers of new plays produced: for a century or more, the new play has been at the heart of British theatre programming – but is by its very nature an unknown quantity.”
The authors continued: “There is compelling evidence that theatre programming has shifted emphasis towards shows with some already-familiar element: adaptations and well-known plays, perhaps also big-name casting. It is to be hoped that conditions allow theatres to embrace once again the theatrical excitement of the unknown.”
Other findings of the report
British Theatre Before & After Covid found that between 2019 and 2023, the number of productions fell by 14.5 per cent and performances by 3.6 per cent, though attendances rose by 6.8 per cent.
Musicals grew, accounting for two-fifths of performances and nearly two-thirds of box office income in 2023. New musicals rose from 37 per cent of the musical repertoire in 2019 to just over half in 2023.
Plays by women rose from 39.4 per cent of new plays in 2019 to 41.7 per cent in 2023, though performances and income for these plays declined slightly.
Revivals decreased in number but attracted larger audiences and box office returns. Shakespeare dominated classical revivals, with Macbeth the most produced play in both years.
London accounted for 80 per cent of income and nearly 70 per cent of attendances in 2023.
Overall the report does suggest that the theatre sector has shown resilience since Covid, saying “UK theatres appear to have bounced back” and that “audiences in 2023 were substantially larger than they had been on the eve of the Covid crisis.” The report concluded that the theatre sector appears to have survived “what could have been a catastrophe” and has “pulled off a minor miracle in finding new ways to bring audiences back to the theatre quickly and in very large numbers”.
The full report can be found here.
WGGB’s New Play Commission Scheme
WGGB’s own response to the impact of the pandemic on new playwriting was its New Play Commission Scheme, spearheaded by British Theatre Before & After Covid co-author and former WGGB President David Edgar.
The scheme, which launched in 2022, in partnership with HighTide Theatre, UK Theatre and the Independent Theatre Council, led to the commissioning of 18 new plays, and also inspired the launch of the Jerwood Royal Court Commissioning Scheme this month.
In response to British Theatre Before & After Covid, WGGB General Secretary Ellie Peers said:
“We are obviously relieved to see the resilience of the theatre sector in meeting the severe challenges posed by Covid, and we are also pleased to see new musicals faring so well and an increase in plays written by women – though there is still so much that needs to be done in this area.
“Overall however we agree with the report’s authors that the impact of Covid on new plays is a cause for alarm. As WGGB’s own New Play Commission Scheme has shown, we need targeted, proactive action to address this challenge and to ensure that we hear diverse new voices on our stages, and on stages outside London, too.”