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Al-Ahram Weekly 1 - 7 April 1999 Issue No. 423 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 1 - 7 April 1999 Issue No. 423
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Interview Profile Features Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Plain talk
By Mursi Saad El-Din
Is fiction dying? Is pop currently the most representative form of English culture? What is the future of the theatre? Such questions have come to typify the self-reflexive direction of cultural discourse in Britain, a direction that appears to have gained momentum under the present government which during its term of office has managed to raise a great many eye-brows by courting popular cultural icons and promoting an image of "cool Britannia".
In response a number of articles have appeared in the British press deploring the dumbing-down of culture, in turn triggering yet more articles insisting that our modern age requires a new definition of beauty.
I was particularly intrigued by an article by Peter Hall predicting a gloomy future for British theatre. In this vehement attack against New Labour policy towards the arts generally and towards the theatre in particular, Peter Hall claims that the theatre is experiencing an inexorable decline, with less theatres up and down the country, smaller audiences, and an unhealthy concentration on a few great flagship companies.
Halls argument is that the New Labour government's stand is paradoxical: whilst loudly criticising elitism, and paying lip-service to increased democracy in cultural provision, what they are actually doing is compounding elitism. As the price of tickets increase to meet overheads, Hall argues, theatre is inevitably being turned into a minority art, just like opera and ballet. And while New Labour calls for a reduction in ticket prices subsidies are increased at a level below inflation or else, particularly for small and mid-scale companies, they are effectively frozen. (According to the Independent Theatre Council's recently published report, 55 per cent of small and mid-scale companies have had their grants frozen for several years running.)
Drama is no longer taught in schools. Ordinary students cannot afford to buy tickets and hence have no exposure to theatre. It is a situation that, according to Hall, may well result in the permanent demise of Britain's once proud theatrical tradition.
Theatre, like any art, requires understanding and it pays back tenfold in inspiration what the spectator puts in in knowledge. Yet, according to Hall, the regional theatres that for so long nurtured new talents are being systematically starved of funds.
Peter Hall's criticism is really directed towards the Arts Council and last year there was quite a furore when the Council's Drama Panel resigned en masse, an action supported by the vast majority of regional theatre directors who predicted that in two years time, unless policy changed, 30 or 40 per cent of small theatres would be forced to close.
Perhaps, from a purely Egyptian viewpoint, all this soul-searching about regional theatre appears an outrageous luxury. We appear to have problems enough financing a decent theatre section in the capital, let alone the provinces. Alexandria hardly gets a look in, let alone regional towns. Indeed, few in Cairo have the slightest notion of what happens outside the centre of the city and were it not for the tireless work of people like Nehad Selaiha, the Weekly's theatre critic, work outside Cairo's shrinking number of serviceable venues would receive no publicity at all.
