The joys of regional theatre may be lost

The current problems of regional theatre are, sadly, well described in your article (Cities’ theatre chiefs say cuts and ailing repertory system put future at risk, 2 December).

However, the situation is even worse when set in historical context. I was working at Manchester Library Theatre when the Royal Exchange Theatre opened in 1978. During the following season the three theatre companies in Manchester – the Library, Royal Exchange and Contact – mounted 42 new productions, most of them rehearsed in the city. A few years ago this number had shrunk to just 14. Only the Royal Exchange is now a producing theatre but many of its productions are rehearsed in London. The Library has been replaced by HOME but this puts on very few productions. The ensemble companies that such theatres provided were a superb introduction to the industry for young actors.

The crisis has been building for years. It is only now that it is clear to all how poorly-funded theatres are failing to provide productions for local audiences. The 13 years I spent working as a designer in regional theatres were the best of my career. It is a tragedy that such theatres cannot provide in the future what they did in the past, for theatre workers and audiences.
David Cockayne
Lymm, Cheshire

• In his typically illuminating precis of life across nearly half a century as a theatre critic (G2, 5 December), Michael Billington bemoans “the virtual disappearance of the regional theatre company”.

As a schooboy in Leamington Spa, perhaps none was more important to him than Birmingham Rep in the 1950s where, he once told me that, “seated high up, staring precipitously down, with the smell of coffee coming up from the bar in the foyer, it was a fantastic place to be because you could see the whole of world drama there season by season”.

Billington claims he’s “happy to pass the parcel”, but for his loyal readers, he is irreplaceable.
Quentin Falk
Little Marlow, Buckinghamshire

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