Girls and Boys, Royal Court

Mar 6, 2018 9:35:57 GMT wiggymess said:

Mar 5, 2018 19:06:19 GMT @wrighty said:

You're missing one key fact from your argument... Theatre and acting is a middle class interest for the most part and most working class people either have no interest in the World of theatre or the time to persue any interest anyway: I grew up on a council estate in one of London's poorest areas and am speaking from experience.

Most actors in history haven't been working class and nothing has changed.

There are acting schools such as the one in King's Cross with offer free or heavily discounted drama classes and these should be funded by the theatre and television industries and schemes like the Travelex at The National should be applauded and replicated by the main theatre groups, but they are only successful if there exists a demand (and the £15 tickets don't go to those with memberships at The National which cost the most).

But what you can't do is bring a horse to water and make it drink. Plays like Amen Corner and Dara were meant to bring whole new audiences to The National but both were mostly attended almost exclusively by white middle class audiences. The same as The Barber Shop Chronicles. The same as the RSC's Hamlet will be in Hackney. Full of white audiences patting themselves on the back at their public display of embracing diversity.

The theatre is for EVERYONE who wants to embrace it and every attempt possible - within reason - to make it accessible to all should be made but you can't waste time or money trying to attract people who aren't interested. Both are in short supply.

For the record, by the way, and as someone from the same cultural background as the character portrayed by Mulligan, I have no issues with her - or anyone else perceived to be 'privileged' - playing someone from a similar background to me. The play emphasised the struggle we faced and continue to face and Mulligan gave a sympathetic, emotional performance full of empathy. What more could anyone ask for? Even the accent wasn't insulting to us either!

So no working class people attend the theatre, and non-working class people only attend the type of plays you've mentioned in order to put on a 'public display of embracing diversity.'

I'm curious - would you rather these plays were playing to empty theatres, or that they were never commissioned in the first place?

"So no working class people attend the theatre" - I never said that. I said, and you can re-read my post if you like, that for the most part Theatre is a mostly Middle-class interest.

"non-working class people only attend the type of plays you've mentioned in order to put on a 'public display of embracing diversity" - Not all, no. But if you don't think that an amount of left-leaning people go to such plays simply to put on a public display of 'embracing diversity' then I think you are a bit naïve.

"would you rather these plays were playing to empty theatres" - I didn't say that either. I did, and you can re-read what I said, say that these plays are produced and staged in a bid to attract new audiences but yet simply attract, for the most part, the same audiences.

"or that they were never commissioned in the first place" - Again, something I never suggested or said. If a play sells well it has been a success regardless of who is sitting in the audience. All I said was that you can't bring a horse to water and make it drink. How much money or time do you think theatres have to be continuously trying to attract people who aren't interested? I do find it a bit arrogant that some people seem to be demanding that other social groups like Theatre and that theatres should do everything to attract them when, perhaps, there isn't that much demand in those communities. Most working class people I know - and growing up where I did means I know a lot - prefer TV and Cinema, most Black people I know are the same. Should we be helping those within those communities who like Theatre by making it more accessible through cheaper tickets and by supporting schools like The Poor School? Absolutely. But if people aren't interested, they aren't interested.

Whether you like it or not, whether you're willing to accept it or not, whether you're willing to admit it or not, the truth is that theatre is almost an exclusively white, middle-class pastime. It always has been, always will be and absolutely nothing is going to change that.

So we're left with two options, we can either accept fact or frustrate ourselves trying to achieve something that will never happen.

Mar 6, 2018 11:29:06 GMT @abby said:

I know what you're saying @wrighty . But it's highly noticeable that audiences are usually far more diverse, younger, working class, etc when the topic is relevant to them and their experience. So if theatre audiences are usually white and middle class, it points to the fact that most theatre is made to be relevant to the white and middle class - not that other people aren't interested in live theatre. In fact, the ubiquity of theatrical-type storytelling in all cultures and all ages points exactly the opposite way.

Disclaimer - I am white and middle class and I rather like white, middle class theatre so not saying there isn't a place for that!

"it's highly noticeable that audiences are usually far more diverse, younger, working class, etc when the topic is relevant to them"

I'm not sure I would agree entirely.

Plays like Amen Corner, Dara, The Barber Shop Chronicles and One Night in Miami - at least when I went to see them - did have more non-white faces in the crowd than normal but it was still a scattering.

When I went to see Port I didn't hear many more additional accents similar to my own than normal in the foyer of The National.

Has the Globe - under Emma Rice - been more successful? Absolutely, no doubt about it but isn't ironic that many of my friends who were Globe regulars ended up boycotting the theatre not because of content - as many people did - but because these new audiences simply didn't know how to behave in a theatre? Also, will these new audiences be back during terry's reign?.

We shouldn't feel embarrassed or ashamed that Theatre is a white, middle-class pastime.