Playwright James Graham Says Theatre Industry Won't Survive The Health Crisis Without 'Aggressive Government Bailout'

The Independent has reported that playwright James Graham said that the theatre industry will not survive the coronavirus crisis without an "aggressive government bailout".

Read the full story HERE.

Graham, who wrote the plays Quiz, Ink and This House as well as TV dramas including Coalition and Brexit: An Uncivil War, said "I don't even know if there will be a theatre or film industry that we can recognise when this is all over."

He added: "It's a collective art form; you need people around you to see it and do it and there is no middle ground now - if it's going to survive in any form it will need an aggressive government bailout and you either do or you don't do it, there is either theatre or there isn't anymore.

"So there is kind of a clarity to what we need to ask government to do for it to survive and hopefully they will do it."

He continued to say, "I am already exhausted about the scale of the fight ahead because every industry, every small business, are all in the same situation and it's obviously very upsetting, but because the theatres were the first to close and probably, because of the very nature of what they are, gathering people together in close proximity, they will be close to being the last buildings to reopen."

Read the full story HERE.