Playwrights warn of 'nerve-racking' theatre landscape amid leadership changes

Playwrights including James Graham and Sonali Bhattacharyya have warned that changes to artistic leadership models at theatres across the UK are making the landscape more "complex" and "nerve-racking" for writers.

Graham urged venues for "reassurance" that restructures would "advance artistic development", while Bhattacharyya warned that a lack of "clear artistic leadership" could make it harder for writers to get work read by venues.

She said it was "worrying" for writers not to know who to approach to "develop relationships".

Their comments come as venues around the UK undergo restructures artistically, with the Royal Exchange in Manchester recently revealing it would be hiring a creative director, scrapping its artistic director role for the first time in its history. Last year, Hampstead Theatre’s artistic director resigned following a 100% cut at the venue, with the artistic leadership transferred to chief executive Greg Ripley-Duggan.

The writers’ concerns follow comments by playwright Juliet Gilkes Romero, at the Genesis Foundation’s panel ’What’s Next for New Writing’, hosted by the Bristol Old Vic last month. Gilkes Romero admitted to concerns that shifts in theatre’s leadership and creative models could have a negative impact on new-writing commissions.

Gilkes Romero said: "I worry about the current landscape. If you look at the Royal Exchange not having artistic directors anymore, or theatre buildings doing away with literary managers, the risk in that situation is: how do new writers gain access? That’s where the biggest risk is seen."

Speaking to The Stage, Bhattacharyya echoed those concerns, saying: "We’re already at a low bar. The industry is already exclusive and hard to break into. It was never easy, but five or six years ago I could talk to literary managers – and the next port of call, an artistic director – and begin the long process of developing relationships.

"Without clear artistic leadership at venues, that model has broken down further. How would you get your work read there without that clear leadership? This is about the slow erosion of new writing and this could further erode the sector. I fear that the people who get to engage as new writers will be established names, potentially impacting writers from diverse backgrounds, as theatres become more commercially motivated and risk-averse."

She added: "The wider topic of new writing is an existential crisis for theatre. We won’t grow audiences without it."

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