🗣️ "BAFTA nominated actors are still five times more likely to have attended a fee paying school than the population as a whole."
Great to see Lord Parkinson directly cite our research on the lack of class diversity in creative professions in a debate in the House of Lords ⬇️
Edinburgh Fringe With Spice have posted our 2025 update - a highly visual book, digital platform and ticketing giveaways for global majority audiences. Thank you all for your support including Underbelly @lyngardnertheatre.bsky.social @thestage.co.uk. <3 <3 x
substack.com/home/post/p-...
Start of new podcast series (Un)Common Ground hosted by me and Tarek Iskander. First one considers the Hodge Review into @artscouncilengland.bsky.social. Erica Whyman, Ed Vaizey and Jo Crowley discuss with gloves off vigour. bac.org.uk/podcast/
Thanks to @lyngardnertheatre.bsky.social for this lovely interview for @stagedoorldn.bsky.social stagedoor.com/theatre-guid...
Oh, very, very lovely. A beautiful tribute to a remarkable woman.
Not his finest, I agree.
Lynda Rooke, president of Equity, has said that actors in subsidised theatres are now only getting half the hours they did back in 2004, a figure she called "a great concern."
www.thestage.co.uk/news/news/ac...
#FreelancersMakeTheatreWork
yep truly terrible. Simon Stone is an excellent theatre-maker but a turgid film maker.
really good piece. Most careers start in smaller spaces.
Maybe sometimes not having a handle on what something is all about is part of its strength. So much theatre over signposts its meanings and doesn't trust its audiences.
Submissions for #TheStageAwards 2026 close at midnight tonight! Get your entries in quick to be in with a chance of winning in January.
Apply now 👉https://www.thestage.co.uk/the-stage-awards/the-stage-awards
This looks good from the brilliant Eleanor Turney www.many-hats.org
"a debut play is not the ugly pancake you make before you make a batch of really fluffy ones"
There’s cowardice at work with theatres eyeing each other to see who does and doesn’t host before they commit. But what message does that send about creative freedom when organisations act so timidly arguing what is said from a theatre’s stages has no connection to how that organisation operates?
Jeezus! at Underbelly is such fun. Deliciously irreverent.
The Stage's Lyn Gardner shines a behind-the-scenes light on Pleasance Two, the Edinburgh Fringe venue aimed at producers looking to test out new musicals or to scale up or tour their shows.
Read her day in the life of... an Edinburgh Fringe venue 👇
“Starved of investment, British theatre has been cut to the bone. On the fringe, you can see the bones, and you can see them crumbling in front of your eyes.”
Polished fringe shows from overseas shine an ugly light on UK arts funding, says Lyn Gardner 👇
Philosophy of the World, This is Not About Me, Aether all @summerhallarts.bsky.social , I Think It Could Work @zoo, Lost Lear, Red Like Fruit, A Gamblers Guide @traversetheatre.bsky.social , Bury the Hachet, City of Incurable Women, Hot Mess @pleasance.co.uk
The BoonDog Theatre Mentorship Scheme - Edinburgh 2026.
www.boondogtheatre.com/mentors
youtu.be/FyTJf9zoTKQ
Exceptional work at the @traversetheatre.bsky.social with Red Like Fruit and I'm Ready to Talk Now, both formally inventive as well as great stories.
So far @edfringe.bsky.social I have really liked Bury the Hatchet, Champions and Hot Mess, all @Pleasance venues.
The Chris Goode case isn’t about ‘genius’ culture but about theatre’s power structures and failures in safeguarding, argues Lyn Gardner 👇
Artistic directors are under more pressure than ever, as ethical scrutiny over sponsors like Barclays grows warns Lyn Gardner 👇
Breaking: An independent review into the last-minute cancellation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Royal Exchange in Manchester has pointed towards “significant systemic organisational and leadership failures” at the venue 👇
ACE’s proposed changes to its project grants may be paused for now, but that doesn’t erase fears of looming catastrophe for artists and companies, says @lyngardnertheatre.bsky.social 👇
New piece from me @thestage.bsky.social on planned ACE changes to Project Grants and why so many fear a looming catastrophe. Some of the changes would make touring even harder and be a death sentence for non-NPO funded companies. tinyurl.com/yxm77p58
💬 Freelancers are speaking up!
📢 “Pay us on time.”
📢 “Job security.”
📢 “Close the gender pay gap.”
What challenges do you face as a freelancer? Add your voice to #ShapingTheArts. 🎥
👉 Submit your video today: https://buff.ly/40OvHB0
#FreelancersMakeTheatreWork
"It doesn’t help anyone when we divide women into the childless and the mothers”
@lyngardnertheatre.bsky.social interviews Anna Morris for @stagedoorldn.bsky.social ahead of the Southwark Playhouse run of her show Son of a Bitch 🤬✈️👶
stagedoor.com/theatre-guid...
( @thethelmas.bsky.social )
Hi all, everyone should read this because while ACE has announced a delay and consultation to their proposed changes, what was leaked about what was going to be put in place from April 1 would have been catastrophic and the end for many companies and a migraine for NPOs too.
"One of the great things to come out of #LetsCreate is that everybody has had to sit up and take notice of questions around quality and accessibility".
And about time too.
Insightful piece from @lyngardnertheatre.bsky.social
