Danny Boyle warns funding cuts will stop future blockbusters like his Olympics opener

 
Funds warning: Danny Boyle

Theatre leaders including Danny Boyle and Sir Nicholas Hytner today warned that Britain’s capacity to create brilliant performances like the Olympics opening ceremony could be destroyed by the impact of funding cuts.

Hytner, the artistic director of the National Theatre, further warned the Government’s insistence on philanthropy as the way to plug the gap was a “smokescreen” and would not work outside London where some directors fear venues could close.

Speaking as two dozen theatre leaders met in the capital at Hytner’s instigation to discuss the threat, Boyle highlighted the vital role that the “modest but sustained investment” in regional theatres had played in his own path to film and theatre success.

“My journey to the Olympics opening ceremony began at the Bolton Octagon. I was an usher when I was at school. I watched the plays there standing at the back and the sense of wonder....and I got the bug really.”

Tom Morris, creator of War Horse and boss of the Bristol Old Vic, said everyone had thought they had “turned a corner” in the Government’s understanding of the value of culture thanks to the Olympics and the Cultural Olympiad.

“These events were good for the country, good for the economy... Now we’re back in the same old place of having to make the micro arguments about the infrastructure.” He called for joined-up thinking on “the small amount of money we need to run our theatres”.

Hytner stressed arts funding was 0.1 per cent of total public expenditure and called for proper dialogue with Government. Many regional theatres are facing a double whammy of cuts from the Arts Council and local authorities.

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