"Longevity in theatre requires talent and skill-- and lucky timing" - Lyn Gardner
I meant to write this post ages ago when the article by Lyn Gardner actually posted (April 14th 2025), but I've been so busy and distracted and quite frankly while it's an important article it's also a little depressing, but since The Stage is a subscription service with most articles hidden behind a paywall, and I know a lot of my followers and mutuals on here are creatives, I wanted to share it. The pertinent parts of it anyway as it gets quite lengthy about other things, and references.
"Over the past few years, particularly since Covid, as funding and touring opportunities have dried up, many of theatre's freelancers have found that, whether they like it or not, their careers have left them, and they have increasingly sought work in other industries, resulting in a talent, skills and experience drain for theatre."
Incredibly true. The amount of people I know who have literally just finished a run in a West End production but are now cleaning floors at a restaurant, or working the tills at Morrisons. There are actual TV producers stacking shelves, I kid you not. The industry is harder than ever to get into, and harder than ever to remain in successfully.
"Long careers require the circumstances to flourish. It is always encouraging to have the young, the old, and the middle-aged all working within the same ecology.
But we lose that when artists find it impossible to launch careers, let alone sustain them. Without funding and the widespread opportunity that comes with it, it's unlikely that the current crop of early and mid-career artists, however talented they may be, will still be 'knocking it out' in 30, 40 or 50 years time.
Because longevity in theatre is not just about being talented and skilled. It is about being lucky enough to be working at a time when the conditions-- in particular, funding--enable, support and nourish long careers."
I have seen the changes in my short period of time in this industry. Aside from a few odd jobs when I was in my late teens and early twenties, I've only been completely working in the industry, like fully trained and repped etc, for about ten years. At the beginning, the work was a lot, paid well, you were able to sustain yourself, and you felt that, yeah, each year was going to be a little more successful, a little more known, a little more paid etc. Instead you started to see a down turn in around 2018 which got sped up by covid and hasn't come back in the slightest. I had work constantly; now you struggle to find castings at all. Agents are stressing about it, and when agents are worried, you know it's bad.
The case is particularly true if you are a woman; I am seeing male creatives struggling considerably less. Still struggling, but to a lesser degree as the few things that are being funded are often male dominated.
I have gone from never stopping, constantly auditioning and working, to being incredibly grateful I am also a writer and singer, because without those two skills, I would just be waiting around on almost nothing. Also, I have become increasingly reliant on my 'day job', which while it has it's own unpredictability (Etsy art shop and tarot reading), at least isn't dependent on an essentially dying industry.
"Some actors, if they are lucky enough to remain in good health and have the offers, just don't stop. And why should they? The best actor award at this year's Olivier's went to John Lithgow, aged 79, and the best actress award to Lesley Manville, who is 69 and in her prime. And writers almost always remain writers whether or not they get their plays on.
So what does longevity look like in the current climate? Well, for writers with a wealth of experience under their belts, who were beneficiaries of a more generous period of funding, pretty hunky-dory. Theatre Royal Bath will be premiering 77-year-old David Hare's latest play [...] in June, 82-year-old Howard Brenton has just had a hit [...] at the Orange Tree, and 77-year-old Bryony Lavery has adapted the musical of Midnight Cowboy at Southwark.
But how many writers starting out now will still be writing and being produced in their 70s?"
This is a point I have made myself before many times in recent years. People who started their careers in the 50s, 60s and 70s, even the 80s, saw a definite future; if they had talent and worked hard, success was highly likely, and they would be working for decades, for as long as they wished really. There was a path, a trajectory, and while the creative arts are always filled obstacles and struggles, there was an element of promise and possibility that no longer exists in this current climate.
Penelope Wilton and Maggie Smith both said, around ten years ago, that if they were starting out their careers now they would not get anywhere, they would not succeed at all, or even start their careers, because the things that helped launch them no longer exist, the environments and support, such as rep theatres, are all gone.
Someone else recently wrote that in the modern day theatre world, the likes of Bernadette Peters and Patti LuPone would never even get a chance, because they aren't perfect and predictably marketable enough, and the chances they got early on in their career would not be offered to them even if those chances still existed. Though Maggie Smith has passed away, Penelope, Bernadette and Patti are all still working constantly, still extremely popular, while being in their 70s. But would that be true if they started their careers today, if they were in their 20s and 30s now?
Another article a long time ago, pre-pandemic, asked, if due to the industry climate and lack of funding, how many Lawrence Oliviers are actually stuck working at JB Sports, never to perform?
So how many Patti LuPones are stuck working at restaurants? How many Maggie Smiths have started acting, only to quit shortly after, because they can't afford to keep trying? How many Bernadette Peters are just struggling to survive? How many Meryl Streeps have been forced to give up? How much talent is being lost, never even seen?
I just feel there needs to be a counter to all this. That if the current industry is breaking, or already broken, then a new one needs to take its place. I'm not sure how, or where to begin, but it's essential if there is going to be young talent today still performing and creating when we're all in our 70s and 80s.
