Back to News & Press SFP productions and co-productions receive 18 nominations in the 2018 Olivier Awards Tuesday 6 March 2018 The Ferryman Best New Play Best Director Sam Mendes Best Actor Paddy Considine Best Actress Laura Donnelly Best Actor in a Supporting Role John Hodgkinson Best Actress in a Supporting Role Bríd Brennan Best Actress in a Supporting Role Dearbhla Molloy Best Set Design Rob Howell Ink Best New Play Best Director Rupert Goold Best Actor in a Supporting Role Bertie Carvel Best Set Design Bunny Christie Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Best Revival of a Play Best Actress Imelda Staunton Best Actress in a Supporting Role Imogen Poots Hamlet Best Revival of a Play Best Actor Andrew Scott Best Sound Design Tom Gibbons Up Up

Back to News & Press The challenges of recouping on Broadway Monday 13 January 2014 She's snapping right at the heels of someone who is quite possibly the world's most successful theatrical producer of all time, at least financially speaking, and though she doesn't own any theatres personally (at least not yet), it's one of the few things separating them now in terms of power and influence in the two great theatrical meccas of the West End and Broadway. (Her company, though, falls under the umbrella of ATG, which is of course are top of the Stage 100 list and now owns the largest number of UK theatres as well as one of the biggest theatres on Broadway as well). In fact, she's outstripping Mackintosh on at least one front: on the Internet Broadway database (ibdb.com), she has some 28 producing credits listed, whereas Mackintosh only has 13 (plus credits for 3 more that he originally produced earlier, different versions of). And Friedman's credits there have, moreover, been collected in the last decade, whereas Mackintosh's have occurred over more than 30 years. Read the full article here . Up Up

Back to News & Press Mojo extends due to unprecedented demand Friday 29 November 2013 Ian Rickson’s critically acclaimed West End revival of Jez Butterworth’s award-winning Mojo today announces a further two weeks of performances due to public demand. Mojo, which is playing to packed houses at the Harold Pinter Theatre, will now complete its run on 8 February 2014 with its original cast - Brendan Coyle (Mickey), Rupert Grint (Sweets), Tom Rhys Harries (Silver Johnny), Daniel Mays (Potts), Colin Morgan (Skinny) and Ben Whishaw (Baby). Designs are by Ultz with lighting by Charles Balfour, music by Stephen Warbeck and sound by Simon Baker. Mojo is produced in the West End by Sonia Friedman Productions who also produced Butterworth and Rickson’s internationally-acclaimed Jerusalem. Up Up

Back to News & Press New York Theatre Workshop announces details for Three Sisters adaptation Thursday 20 February 2020 New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) (Artistic Director James C. Nicola and Managing Director Jeremy Blocker) announced today that Pulitzer Prize finalist Clare Barron (Dance Nation, You Got Older) will pen the adaptation of Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov for the previously announced production helmed by NYTW Usual Suspect and Tony Award winner Sam Gold (Othello, Fun Home). Three Sisters will begin previews on Wednesday May 13, 2020 at New York Theatre Workshop (79 E. 4th St, New York, NY 10003), and is set to open on Monday June 1, for a limited run through Sunday July 12, 2020. NYTW also announced today complete casting for Three Sisters . Joining the previously announced Academy Award nominee Greta Gerwig (Little Women) as Masha and Golden Globe Award winner Oscar Isaac (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Show Me A Hero) as Vershinin will be Obie Award winner Quincy Tyler Bernstine (Marys Seacole, The Misanthrope) as Olga, Golden Globe and Emmy Award winner Steve Buscemi as Chebutykin (in his first return to theatre since The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui with Al Pacino), Emily Davis (Is This A Room) as Natasha, Michael Benjamin Hernandez (The Birthday Cake) as Fedotik, John Christopher Jones (Much Ado About Nothing) as Ferapont, Lola Kirke (Gone Girl) as Irina, Anthony Michael Lopez (Mapplethorpe, Othello) as Rohde, Matthew Maher (King Lear, Othello) as Tusenbach, Chris Messina (“The Mindy Project,” Far Away) as Solyony, Aaron Clifton Moten (Romeo & Juliet) as Andrei, Ben Sinclair (“High Maintenance”) as Kulygin and Virginia Wing (“Gotham”) as Anfisa. Three Sisters will feature scenic design by Andrew Lieberman (The Glass Menagerie, Othello) & Brett J. Banakis (The Cher Show, What’s It All About?), costume design by Tony Award winner Clint Ramos (Eclipsed, Slave Play), lighting design by Tony Award nominee Jane Cox (King Lear, Othello), and sound design by Mikaal Sulaiman (Fairview, Sanctuary City). Laura Smith (Bella Bella) will serve as stage manager and Michelle DiBucci (Basetrack Live) will serve as music director. “Chekhov’s work occupies a special place in the soul of a theater-maker—the plays have an almost sacred place in the practice,” said NYTW Artistic Director James Nicola . “For audiences, the works of this Russian genius might by this moment in history have become a bit too familiar. When Sam brought the idea of a production of Three Sisters to us, I knew that he would shake off the encrusted assumptions about Chekhov with an immediacy that transfixed audiences. And when he invited Clare Barron to make the version we would use, I rejoiced, because I knew that she would find the reverberant juxtaposition of the samovar and blue jeans that would help us all see the play anew.” NYTW Usual Suspect and Tony Award winner Sam Gold (Othello) revisits Chekhov following his acclaimed 2012 production of Uncle Vanya that was heralded as “luminous” and "the most intimate and engaging exploration of Chekhov's bleak comedy.” This production of Three Sisters reunites Gold with two previous collaborators: The Village Bike’s Greta Gerwig and Hamlet’s Oscar Isaac . NYTW is committed to making tickets available to every production via its CHEAPTIX initiative. For Three Sisters , all tickets for the first two performances on May 13th and 14th plus a limited number of tickets to all other performances will be sold to the general public for $25 via a CHEAPTIX Digital Lottery in partnership with TodayTix . The lottery is offered in lieu of NYTW’s standard CHEAPTIX RUSH program to ensure that tickets are available at every performance. After the first two $25 CHEAPTIX performances, single tickets for Three Sisters range from $50–$125 and vary by performance date and time. All non-lottery tickets will go on sale Wednesday April 1 at 12pm EST at NYTW.org and by phone from the NYTW Box Office at 212-460-5475. No in-person sales will be available at the box office on April 1. Single tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Standard ticketing fees apply. There will be a limit of 8 tickets per person for this production. Ticket pickup for each performance begins two hours prior to curtain. Tickets will only be released to the purchaser and an ID is required for pickup. TodayTix allows you to enter the CHEAPTIX Digital Lottery via the app, available in the App Store or Google Play Store. The entry period for the first two performances will begin on Monday March 23 at 12:01am EST and continue through 12pm EST on Monday March 30, when winners will be notified. The entry period for all other performances will begin each performance day at 12:01am EST and continue until winners are notified. All entry rules apply, and winners will be notified daily. Entrants may request 1 or 2 tickets, and entry in the digital Lottery is free and open to all. All entry rules apply. The performance schedule for Three Sisters is as follows: Tuesday-Thursday at 7pm, Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 2pm & 8pm, Sunday at 2pm & 7pm. Exceptions: there will be no performances on Saturday May 16 at 2pm; Tuesday June 2; Sunday June 14 at 7pm; Wednesday June 17; and Saturday July 4. There will be an added performance on Wednesday July 1 at 2pm. Up Up

Back to News & Press The Stage 100 – 2014 Friday 3 January 2014 It has been a remarkable year for Friedman, the highest riser in this year’s Stage 100. She is now firmly established as the West End’s – and, arguably, Broadway’s – key producer of ‘quality, serious theatre’. What made 2013 particularly special was that she also had her finger in the pie for the most successful new musical of the year, The Book of Mormon, and its most lauded – a revival of Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along. She was a co-producer on both. Her play output hasn’t slackened either, with a high-class revival of Harold Pinter’s Old Times, West End transfers of Almeida hits Chimerica and Ghosts, not to mention the US transfer of Mark Rylance’s Shakespeare double bill, which has been breaking house records on Broadway. This year will see her produce a stage adaptation of Tom Stoppard’s film Shakespeare in Love. It has the whiff of a sure-fire hit. Sonia Friedman Productions is a subsidiary of the Ambassador Theatre Group – an arrangement that seems to be working well for both parties, as Friedman helps supply product for many of ATG’s venues. Read full article here . Up Up

Back to News & Press All About Eve now showing on NT at Home Thursday 20 January 2022 Gillan Anderson (A Streetcar Name Desire ) and Lily James (Mama Mia! ) lead in All About Eve . Margo Channing. Legend. True star of the theatre. The spotlight is hers, always has been. But now there’s Eve. Her biggest fan. Young, beautiful Eve. The golden girl, the girl next door. But you know all about Eve...don’t you? Directed by Ivo van Hove (Hedda Gabler, A View From The Bridge ) and captured from London’s West End. All About Eve lifts the curtain on a world of jealousy and ambition, and asks why our fascination with celebrity, youth and identity never seems to get old. Up Up

Back to News & Press Dates announced as booking opens for the RE:EMERGE season Wednesday 14 April 2021 Amy Berryman ’s Walden opens the season, with previews from 22 May, and running until 12 June; Yasmin Joseph ’s J’Ouvert previews from 16 June, and runs until 3 July; and completing the season, Joseph Charlton ’s Anna X previews from 10 July, and runs until 4 August. The season will observe the UK government social distancing guidelines for audiences at the time of performance, making adjustments where safe and appropriate to seating and capacity in line with current advice. The RE:EMERGE season will create a space for vital, new voices and fresh talent in the West End and beyond, working alongside some of the industry’s greatest theatremakers and artists. The extraordinary collection of plays curated by Sonia Friedman Productions with Ian Rickson – Artistic Director for the season - tackles urgent issues integral to rebuilding our society, including structural inequality, climate change and the economics of truth in an internet age. Supported using public funding from the National Lottery through Arts Council England , RE:EMERGE will support the theatre-makers of the future, provide vital work for the freelance community and celebrate the live experience as we begin to build back to the full reopening of British theatre. The RE:EMERGE season will open with socially-distanced auditoria, helping to re-open and re-energise our theatres, and will be staged in a Covid safe environment following current government advice and adhering to social distancing guidelines; and in line with Society of London Theatre's See It Safely campaign. THE RE:EMERGE SEASON INCLUDES: • WALDEN A debut play by Amy Berryman Cast: Gemma Arterton, Fehinti Balogun, Lydia Wilson 22 May – 12 June Directed by Ian Rickson ; Design by Rae Smith ; Lighting Design by Azusa Ono Music by Mark Bradshaw ; Sound Design: Emma Laxton ; Casting: Amy Ball • J’OUVERT A new play by Yasmin Joseph 16 June – 3 July Cast: Annice Boparai , Gabrielle Brooks , Sapphire Joy , Zuyane Russell Directed by Rebekah Murrell Designed by Sandra Falase in collaboration with Chloe Lamford ; Movement by Shelley Maxwell ; Lighting Design by Simisola Majekodunmi ; Sound Design by Beth Duke ; Casting by Isabella Odoffin • ANNA X A new play by Joseph Charlton 10 July – 4 August Cast: Emma Corrin , Nabhaan Rizwan Directed by Daniel Raggett ; Set and Video Design by Mikaela Liakata and Tal Yarden Lighting Design by Jessica Hung Han Yun ; Sound Design by Mike Winship Costume Design by Natalie Pryce Tickets for the previews will be priced from £5, and from £10 for the runs post press nights. There will be 600 tickets each week priced at £15 or under. There is the intention for all three productions to be filmed for a broadcast life, with J’OUVERT being shown on BBC Four on Monday 26 April at 10pm and BBC iPlayer as part of BBC Lights Up - a season of plays for BBC radio and TV, produced in partnership with theatres across the UK and continuing BBC Arts’ Culture in Quarantine initiative. Filming details to be announced in due course for WALDEN and ANNA X. Twitter: @SFP_London #ReEmergeSFP Instagram: @SFPOfficial #ReEmergeSFP Facebook: /SoniaFriedmanProductions #ReEmergeSFP Supported using public funding from the National Lottery through Arts Council England. For further information contact: Kate Morley Tel: 07970 465 648 / kate@katemorleypr.com Up Up

Back to News & Press "STEREOPHONIC" extends by popular demand Monday 22 April 2024 Fresh off the heels of opening night, Sue Wagner , John Johnson , Seaview , Sonia Friedman Productions , Linden Productions , and Ashley Melone & Nick Mills are proud to announce that the season's most critically acclaimed new play, David Adjmi 's Stereophonic , will extend due to popular demand. Originally scheduled to run for only 14 weeks, the production will now play its final performance on August 18, 2024. On Friday, April 19, Stereophonic opened on Broadway at the Golden Theatre, and played a one-time-only encore for invited guests. The performance included Academy Award® nominee and Grammy Award® winner Will Butler , the composer of the original songs featured in the show. Stereophonic is directed by Daniel Aukin . On hand to celebrate the opening were J. Smith-Cameron , Ani DiFranco , Common , Andrew Wyatt , Clyde Lawrence , Rachel Brosnahan , Alex Edelman , Amber Gray , Marin Ireland , Justin Peck , Lynn Nottage , Sammy Rae Bowers , Louisa Jacobson , David Rasche , Stark Sands , Miriam Silverman , and many more. It was also recently announced that Stereophonic will release an original cast recording through Sony Masterworks Broadway. The digital album arrives May 10, 2024, with the physical CD release set for June 14. The album is available for preorder now. Direct from its smash hit world premiere engagement at Playwrights Horizons, Stereophonic is directed by Daniel Aukin and dominated the "Best Theater of 2023" lists, with top rankings in The New York Times, New York Magazine, The Washington Post, Time Out New York, Town & Country, TheaterMania, Theaterly, and The Spectator. The cast, reprising their highly lauded performances, includes Will Brill as Reg, Andrew R. Butler as Charlie, Juliana Canfield as Holly, Eli Gelb as Grover, Tom Pecinka as Peter, Sarah Pidgeon as Diana, and Chris Stack as Simon. Tickets on-sale now at StereophonicPlay.com . In his Critic's Pick review, Naveen Kumar of The New York Times exclaimed, "The play is a staggering achievement, and already feels like a must-see American classic." Stereophonic mines the agony and the ecstasy of creation as it zooms in on a music studio in 1976. Here, an up-and-coming rock band recording a new album finds itself suddenly on the cusp of superstardom. The ensuing pressures could spark their breakup - or their breakthrough. In Stereophonic , Adjmi invites the audience to immerse themselves-with fly-on-the-wall intimacy-in the powder keg process of a band on the brink of blowing up. The Stereophonic creative team includes David Zinn (scenic designer), Enver Chakartash (costume designer), Jiyoun Chang (lighting designer), Ryan Rumery (sound designer), Justin Craig (music director), and Gigi Buffington (voice, text, and dialect coach). Casting is by Alaine Alldaffer and Taylor Williams, CSA . Up Up

Back to News & Press Harry Potter and the Cursed Child wins Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play at Drama League Awards Thursday 17 May 2018 The 84th Annual Drama League Awards were held on May 18, 2018, at the Broadway Ballroom at the Marriott Marquis Times Square. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was awarded Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play. Up Up

Back to News & Press The Jungle wins South Bank Sky Arts Award Saturday 30 June 2018 A National Theatre and Young Vic co-production with Good Chance Theatre , The Jungle is directed by Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin . It is currently in previews at the Playhouse Theatre in London’s West End, produced by Sonia Friedman Productions , Tom Kirdahy and Hunter Arnold , following a sell-out run at the Young Vic in December 2017. Melvyn Bragg presented the annual Awards at The Savoy Hotel in London, commending the greatest contributors to all aspects of the arts over the past 12 months. The South Bank Sky Arts Awards remains the only awards ceremony in the world to represent the entire spectrum of the arts, with categories for TV Drama, Classical Music, Theatre, Comedy, Dance, Film, Visual Art, Pop, Literature and Opera. In order to transfer the production to the West End, the team behind The Jungle have completely reconfigured the Playhouse Theatre , where the traditional proscenium arch venue has undergone an unprecedented transformation to house Miriam Buether ’s critically-acclaimed set design as seen at the Young Vic. Audiences are invited to sit at the benches and tables of the Afghan café in the Calais camp. The Playhouse Theatre also offers the new experience of watching from the Dress Circle, which has been renamed “Cliffs of Dover”, with views over the dramatically transformed performance space below, enhanced by accompanying video screens, relaying close-up ‘live news broadcast’ style footage of some of the action. The in-the-round transformation reduces the capacity of the theatre to under 450 seats. A proportion of tickets are being offered to refugees and targeted groups in order to maximise diversity and accessibility. Bucket collections and donation stations are available at every single performance of the show to help fundraise for official charity partners, Help Refugees. This is the place where people suffered and dreamed. Meet the hopeful, resilient residents of the Jungle – just across the Channel, right on our doorstep. The Jungle tells stories of loss, fear, community and hope, of the Calais camp’s creation - and of its eventual destruction. Join the residents over freshly baked naan and sweet milky chai at the Afghan Café, and experience the intense, moving and uplifting encounters between refugees from many different countries and the volunteers who arrived from the UK. Official charity partner, Help Refugees , which was established alongside Good Chance Theatre in the Calais Jungle in 2015 and is now the leading UK NGO in a new movement of international humanitarian aid, is supported by the production. The company is made up of actors from around the world; cast members are from Iran, Sudan, Afghanistan, Eritrea, England, Zimbabwe, Syria, Armenia, Congo, Wales, Scotland,The Gambia, Morocco, Lebanon and Germany. Up Up

Back to News & Press New cast announced for Sunny Afternoon Thursday 20 August 2015 The multi-Olivier Award-winning hit British musical SUNNY AFTERNOON, which tells the story of the rise to fame of The Kinks, has announced the actors taking over from its award-winning original cast. Danny Horn (Doctor Who; The Dead Dogs) will play Ray Davies, with Oliver Hoare (Antony and Cleopatra, Chichester) as Dave Davies, Tom Whitelock (Times Square Angel, Union) as bassist Pete Quaife and Damien Walsh (Dreamboats and Petticoats) as drummer Mick Avory. At certain performances, the role of Ray Davies will be played by Ryan O’Donnell (Romeo and Juliet, RSC; Quadrophenia). Cast includes: Niamh Bracken, Christopher Brandon, Jason Baughan, Harriet Bunton, Alice Cardy, Oliver Hoare, Danny Horn, Gillian Kirkpatrick, Jay Marsh, Megan Leigh Mason, Ryan O’Donnell, Stephen Pallister, Charlie Tighe, Gabriel Vick, Damien Walsh and Tom Whitelock.With a book by Joe Penhall, music and lyrics and original story by Ray Davies, and directed by Edward Hall, Sunny Afternoon has established itself as a firm favourite with audiences and critics alike since it opened at the Harold Pinter Theatre in October 2014. Sunny Afternoon was the best performing show at this year’s Olivier Awards, winning four awards. The production won Best New Musical, John Dagleish won Best Actor in a Musical, George Maguire won Best Supporting Actor in a Musical, and Ray Davies of The Kinks won for Outstanding Achievement in Music. The original cast, including Olivier Award winners John Dagleish and George Maguire, will remain in the show until 3 October 2015. Forty-nine years ago this year, The Kinks were sitting at Number One in the UK charts with their single ‘Sunny Afternoon’. The band’s popularity has not faded since the 1960s, with crowds of all ages filling the Harold Pinter Theatre night after night. Featuring some of The Kinks’ best-loved songs, including You Really Got Me, Waterloo Sunset and Lola, Sunny Afternoon shows the music of The Kinks is still as popular as ever, more than 50 years since the band’s rise to fame. Following a sold-out run at Hampstead Theatre, this world premiere production, with music and lyrics by Ray Davies, new book by Joe Penhall, original story by Ray Davies, direction by Edward Hall, design by Miriam Buether and choreography by Adam Cooper, opened at the Harold Pinter theatre on 28 October 2014. Lighting is by Rick Fisher, sound by Matt McKenzie and the Musical Supervisor and Musical Director is Elliott Ware.The official cast recording album, produced by Ray Davies at his Konk studios, is released on BMG Chrysalis and is available to buy here . Sonia Friedman Productions commissioned Joe Penhall in 2011 to write the book based on Ray Davies’s original story. The company developed the production over the next four years, assembling the creative team and cast that presented Sunny Afternoon last year at Hampstead Theatre under the direction of Edward Hall, and now at the Harold Pinter Theatre. Ray Davies is an influential and prolific rock musician and was co-founder and lead singer and songwriter for rock band The Kinks, and later a solo artist. He has an outstanding catalogue of hits from the earliest 1960s to the present day with estimated record sales in excess of 50 million. He has also acted, directed and produced shows for theatre and television. Joe Penhall is an award winning playwright and screenwriter. Plays include Some Voices (Royal Court), Blue/Orange (National Theatre and West End), winner of Best New Play at the Evening Standard Awards, Olivier Awards and at the Critics Circle, and Dumb Show, Haunted Child and Birthday (all Royal Court). Screenplays include Enduring Love and The Road.As Artistic Director of Hampstead Theatre, Edward Hall’s productions include Wonderland, Sunny Afternoon, Raving, Chariots of Fire, No Naughty Bits, Loyalty and Enlightenment. As Artistic Director of Propeller, his work has toured worldwide, played the West End and Broadway and has won numerous awards both in the UK and overseas. Other theatre work includes A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (National Theatre), Edmond with Kenneth Branagh (National Theatre), Macbeth with Sean Bean (Albery), The Constant Wife (Apollo), Julius Caesar (RSC), Henry V (RSC) and The Deep Blue Sea (Vaudeville). Television work includes Downton Abbey, Spooks and Kingdom. Edward is an Associate of the National Theatre and the Old Vic. Up Up

Back to News & Press Theatre's absence is damaging Britain's mental health Wednesday 14 October 2020 It’s seven months tomorrow since I shut my last show - and most theatres are still completely dark. It’s the longest prolonged closure since Pepys’ day. Theatre has endured war, riots, depression and, yes, even disease. Its absence is damaging this country and doing harm to the mental health of its people, and I’m determined to do anything I can to help bring it back. Exactly two years ago, David Walliams took me to see a brilliant young double act called The Pin at the Soho Theatre. Watching their hilarious sketch show that night, I cried with laughter. And I wasn’t alone. The whole audience lost it. It’s strange to think back on that evening now. I’m not sure I’ve laughed like that in months. You rarely do while watching TV or surfing YouTube on your phone, do you? Not in that same sustained and unstoppable way. For that, a joke has to be shared. People have to set each other off. ‘I wasn’t alone’ – that’s the key. There’s something about live comedy – live anything – that you can’t recreate at home. There’s a kind of alchemy to it. Everything’s enlivened . Right now, we need that – maybe more than ever. This year has taken a huge toll on us all: mentally, physically and spiritually. After a long lockdown, we need the opportunity to let go. We’re craving connection and spontaneity. Live theatre – performance – offers that release, and it has done for thousands of years. It lets an audience feed off each other’s emotions, whether laughter or tears, and share in a silence. It’s why Oscar Wilde saw it “as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being.” As social, emotional animals, we need that. Theatre’s vital to our collective well-being and mental health, and the overwhelmingly positive public response to the Palladium Panto and the Les Miserables concert announcement is testament to that. Now, thankfully, theatre’s making a tentative return – albeit in a limited, socially distanced form. The financial constraints of producing socially-distanced theatre are seriously prohibitive and there’s no way our industry can survive like this long-term, but for now, so long as we are allowed, it’s incumbent on us to get our shows back on our stages somehow. It’s a big financial risk, but it’s one we have to take wherever we can follow the health and safety guidelines signed off by the appropriate authorities. Socially distanced theatre will never work financially, but it is vital – in every sense. That’s why, this December, I’m producing The Pin’s debut play The Comeback in the West End. It’s a dizzying and delirious new comedy that tells the story of two double acts fighting to wrestle control of the most chaotic, farcical and high-stakes gig of their respective careers. It feels like the right show for right now. Some people say farce encapsulates the human condition: people clinging desperately to dignity as their world spins out of control. Others just see door slams and slapstick. Either way: bring it on. Following all of the government-approved Performing Arts working guidelines to prioritise the health and safety of our audiences and company, I hope The Comeback gives theatregoers of all ages the great night out they deserve after this year. It’s taken a lot to get here, but I have been determined to get back to work. Audiences need a chance to escape. Freelancers, many of whom have gone without financial assistance, need opportunities to return to work. From March to May, I was in shock and survival mode. Having shuttered 18 productions worldwide in two weeks, and paused another 10 in the pipeline, I tried to stay sane by focusing on the other side. We all thought – hoped – we’d be back by this autumn, naïve as that now seems, but as the scale of the shutdown became clear, I coped by developing and creating… producing. I wasn’t alone. The commitment to creating new ways of sharing, streaming and restarting performance has been as inspiring to me as the shutdown itself has been depressing. It speaks to the necessity of theatre and live performance – how humans simply can’t do without it. Seven months on, we urgently need to address our long-term future. At present, the full reopening of our theatres still seems some way off and many shows are still stuck in limbo. The vital Cultural Recovery Fund tides venues, organisations and companies over until spring, but what then? We still need a fixed timeline to work towards – if only just a ‘not before’ date, and we need an insurance scheme to underwrite interruptions as already granted to television and film. That’s a gamechanger. Make no mistake: the current situation of social distancing shows in the commercial sector is only a stop-gap. It is not sustainable long-term. We cannot carry on with small-scale, concert style productions in theatres for more than a few weeks. To bring our productions back in full, to reopen the theatre economy and its eco-system, we have to restore the full spectrum performance can offer – intimate, off-beat encounters, and all-singing-all-dancing spectaculars, large scale Shakespeare productions, inclusive community shows and exquisite operatics. The Chancellor’s statement on the ‘unviability’ of theatre is not just a neat sidestep. It’s an admission of defeat. It presents theatre’s current temporary fix as its only possible future. The truth is he can no more afford that than we can, and actually I have huge faith that Oliver Dowden and the government do understand the gigantic impact UK theatre has on our nation’s economic and, crucially, social and mental health. They know theatre’s more than viable. It’s one of this country’s greatest economic assets: a significant generator of VAT, a cultural force exported around the world and the number two reason tourists visit the UK. Without theatre’s full return, the hit to the economy is estimated at between £6.6bn and £9.3bn a year. The annual loss of VAT alone would be up to £1bn. But this is no longer simply a fiscal issue. It is a national one: a question of public health and well-being. Remember the Mental Health Foundation’s assertion that arts and culture can play a part in solving social issues such as aging and loneliness; that it “alleviates anxiety, depression and stress.” In the wake of all this, we are more important than ever. We have to be part of the national recovery. And that recovery starts now. Medicine saves lives, but culture makes life worth living. Ask Matt Hancock: “What the NHS does is life-saving. But what the arts and social activities do is life-enhancing,” the Health Secretary said back in 2018. “We should value the arts and social activities because they’re essential to our health and wellbeing. It’s scientifically proven. Access to the arts and social activities improves people’s mental and physical health.” That ‘and’ is key – arts and social activities. Digital approximations alone aren’t enough. Art in isolation isn’t enough. We need to share experiences in communal spaces. We need to feed off each other’s emotions, to sit in rapt silence with nothing to break the spell, to laugh that much harder because we’re laughing together. That’s one of the things I’m most looking forward to with The Comeback this December. Theatre’s return can’t come soon enough. Up Up