Hello everyone.
Well first of all, can I say how chuffed I am to have been asked to be here today and to
speak to you as part of this extraordinary conference, and at what feels like a critical
moment for theatre and the wider cultural industries. I mean when does it not feel like that these days?! But oof. This is a challenging period to say the least – in a million different ways – and at times like these, globally and locally, it can feel hard to promote art and culture as an essential part of how we live well.
Hearts starve as well as bodies
Give us bread but give us roses, the old folk song goes.
We know that so many companies, buildings and institutions are struggling right now, in
spite of everyone’s best efforts, and I stand here today in solidarity with everyone trying to provide the roses as well as the bread in these difficult times.
The world is indeed changing as the theme of this conference alludes, and finding new ways to not merely survive, but thrive, staying ambitious and not making every decision we make a scaled back, bland and diluted one.
The main reason, I’m sure, that I’ve been invited to speak today is because of my recent involvement in two huge regional theatre success stories. I was lucky enough to have been in the original production of James Graham’s multi-award-winning play PUNCH at Nottingham Playhouse in 2024, and was in the company that took it to the Young Vic and then to the West End, where we opened on the same weekend as the Broadway production.
This distinctly local Nottingham story was directed by Notts lad Adam Penford- Artistic
Director of the Playhouse, and has now been seen by 146,000 people worldwide, with more to come in 2027- in venues with representatives here today. It won the Olivier and the Critics Circle Award for Best Play in April, and was nominated for a Tony earlier this month.
Local to national to international in the space of 18 months, and with a universal message of redemption and forgiveness, yes, but also with a thoroughly uncompromising stance on how our failing education and criminal justice systems need completely overhauling.
The play – hailed by critics as “a state of the nation masterpiece” was discussed in
classrooms, courtrooms and the House of Commons, and held up as an example of how theatre can still spark important conversations about the world in which we live.
Alongside Punch, a huge part of my life in the last couple of years has been the campaign to save Oldham Coliseum. As you all know, I’m sure, “the Coli”- the beloved jewel in the crown of theatre making and culture in Oldham for 136 years, closed its doors for what was meant to be the last time in March 2023, after losing its NPO status from the Arts Council, and this sparked a local outpouring of grief and a national outrage. Petitions were signed, funds were raised, campaign groups were formed, panto flashmobs marched through the town, and hundreds of artists, from Ian McKellen to Suranne Jones, from Derek Jacobi to Shobna Gulati, signed an open letter to The Stage demanding that the Arts Council, and Oldham council, reconsider.
Compromises were offered, considered and refused – the town said no to a smaller, cooler new build in a different part of the town, which seemed destined to become a generic arts centre/receiving house, and which would crucially not have been equipped to put on the yearly world-famous pantomime – which has been forever your average Oldham schoolchild’s first experience of theatre.
And so it was that a magnificent and marvellous thing happened – the people spoke and kept speaking over many, many months, they would not let the issue die, they demanded that their theatre be saved and invested in, not just as a place of heritage, but as a living breathing playhouse. And unbelievably – miracle of miracles – the powers that be, in this case, OMBC, under the leadership of Leader Arooj Shah, listened.
The Coli would be saved.
All of us involved in the campaign at local level knew that although Oldham was well served for culture in loads of wonderful ways – not least through the world-renowned youth theatre Oldham Theatre Workshop – that for a post-industrial northern town to have its own working producing house theatre and one that engendered such a sense of ownership amongst its audiences, was a beautiful and rare thing – and utterly irreplaceable.
And if the stratospheric success of PUNCH has taught us anything, it’s that local theatre audiences are hungry for stories about their communities. That well-made plays with something to say about the world, however regionally specific, however “political” in content and critical of the systems under which we live (trust me – calling for a more holistic approach to crime and restorative justice as a tool for healing is not traditionally a vote winner!) – these plays have the ability to sell out huge auditoriums everywhere. BOOM.
But I want to reflect on the Coliseum victory for a second, because the impact of that
campaign and its success had repercussions and ripples way beyond Fairbottom Street. It gave people HOPE. In a time when ordinary people have often felt overlooked or downright forgotten, a grassroots campaign, led by the people of a town, worked. And not just the people of any town – Oldham! – a town it’s important to say has experienced more than its share of poverty and divisive politicking, a town that has often been derided and ignored, underinvested and misrepresented.
The people of Oldham spoke and were listened to. Dangerous and exciting stuff this! And what they were saying was that art matters, that culture is essential, not “even in a town like Oldham” but “especially in a town like Oldham”. And this is what we need to keep hold of.
It hasn’t been an easy or straightforward journey to reopening. There have been issues with the old girl that have needed more attention than was first anticipated- bloody asbestos!
Everything is taking a bit longer and costing a bit more than anyone planned for. ‘Twas ever thus. And with that comes a whole new set of challenges – taking the town with us, keeping them with us, drawing that loyal audience back when they’re out of the habit of going to see stuff. Chasing that elusive “new audience” to make the institution future-proof. Communicating somehow that the quiet, unshowy behind the scenes work of an organisation that doesn’t make good headlines, is the engine that makes everything possible – all those cups of tea and Teams meetings and strategising and costing.
Mistakes have been made along the way, of course they have, but on we’ve stumbled. Part of boldness, of ambition, is daring to fall down and then get back up again. Only two weeks ago we recruited the wonderful Nick Bagnall as Creative Director and this
heralds a new and exciting chapter. In Nick we feel we’ve found that elusive thing- someone to guide the ship, with vast experience, but who is also flexible and open and ready to learn.
The political landscape in Oldham, like many places across Britain, remains unsettled.
Recent elections reflected a borough wrestling with questions of identity, representation, opportunity and trust. Whatever our political perspective, it is clear that many people feel unheard, disconnected from decision-making and uncertain about what the future holds for themselves, their families and their communities. For those of us working in culture, this should not be viewed as somebody else’s problem. It’s our context. And our provocation.
I co-run a theatre collective in Manchester that responds to social and political events (it’s been a busy few years, guys!) and we don’t exist to indoctrinate anyone. We
unapologetically preach to the converted a lot of the time, actually. We exist to nurture an artistic community full of people with stuff to say about the world, to ask questions and wrestle with the answers, to create a space to express our hopes and fears, in solidarity with others.
Theatre can’t tell people what to think, or solve political division – it can only really hope to create the conditions in which people encounter one another’s humanity. It can at its best provide a space where difficult conversations are held safely, where complexity is allowed to exist, and where stories illuminate experiences different from our own.
I’ve witnessed the quiet and incontrovertible shifting of consciousness too many times in my career to not believe in the power of art to change things:
From the sea-change in attitudes towards trans people when the nation fell in love with
Corrie’s Hayley and Roy…
To the recognition of alternative communities as being victims of hate crime after Black
Roses (the story of the murder of Sophie Lancaster, a young goth)…
From the national campaign for justice for the post office workers after Mr Bates…
To the very real recalibration of many many audience members’ thinking around the
possibility of forgiveness, after watching Jacob and Joan’s story in Punch.
But sometimes the best we can hope for is to just bring people together and help them feel less alone, to embolden each other and elevate voices that stand for peace and justice and equality and all those old-fashioned ideas.
That role feels increasingly important at a time when public discourse is often reduced to slogans, algorithms and opposing camps. One of the great strengths of live performance is that it asks us to sit together in the same room, share the same experience and wrestle collectively with questions that rarely have simple answers.
This is one of the reasons why the reopening of Oldham Coliseum matters. The theatre is returning as a building and as a producing house. But it is also returning as a civic space. A place where people from different backgrounds, generations, faiths, cultures and political viewpoints can gather around stories and ideas. A place where debate is encouraged but dignity is protected. And emphatically, I want to add, where we challenge racism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia and misogyny at every turn. That’s important. We mustn’t mistake tolerance of the views of others for the normalisation of values that are recklessly pedalled by people who seek to gain from the discontent and disconnection in our communities. And in the conversations taking place in venues across the UK, and today in this conference, we must, as the BAC’s Tarek Isklander recently asserted, “understand where our red lines are” – and this will be a huge challenge. The challenge of protecting free speech but not at the expense of human beings whose rights and dignity are imperilled. The very real risk of cuts to the arts in the coming years pose an existential threat to theatre.
But as we all know, the stripping back of culture has been going on for decades. We have experienced a concerted (and I would posit) strategic eroding of arts subjects in schools over many years. Not all schools of course- mainly just state schools.
My Alma mater the once great Accrington and Rossendale College has shut down its art department, its catering course, its music, film and media suite and its theatre course, razing the studio performance space to the ground. The theatre course that changed the lives of scores of working-class young people who went on to go to drama school and to pursue careers in performance, including me. At LAMDA in 1988, I was one of FIVE Accy College alumni, outnumbering Etonians 5-1. That’s what a well-funded Further Education college can do. Accrington is a different town since its demise.
Meanwhile, Eton’s fantastically resourced arts syllabus continues to thrive, spewing out prime ministers and Oscar winners in almost equal measure. Independent fee-paying schools have always, it seems, recognised the value of a good arts education to instil in their pupils the qualities of self-confidence, good communication, lateral thinking and leadership. And consecutive governments (often led by those arty ex Etonians themselves) have been decrying and diminishing the arts as “soft subjects with no career prospects” for their state school peers for years. Hmmm.
Labour’s promise to scrap the EBacc is a promising start but it will take a generation to
reverse the cultural shift that has played out in the way we teach arts subjects in schools, and how we view the arts and humanities as worthwhile career pursuits for working class young people. But reverse it we must. And this, I feel, has to be the starting point for our entire industry as we look to the future.
Many of you here today are doing what you can to try and bridge the gap in some way with your schools, community and schools outreach programmes. Of members surveyed for SOLT & UK Theatre’s “Theatre in the UK Report 2026”, 95% of venue respondents deliver programmes contributing to social good and 86% run workshops with local schools. Every respondent operates free or discounted ticket schemes. This should and needs to be applauded, but that is not enough.
School trips are often the only means by which many young people experience live
performance. As has often been the case in Oldham. However, both parents and teachers report a significant decline in such trips – most acutely affecting the most disadvantaged students, with participation dropping by 68% compared to 44% in more affluent areas. Without intervention, we risk shutting out a generation of talent from formative cultural experiences. Go Live are doing amazing work in this area, and our Go Live PUNCH schools matinee will be forever one of the most memorable experiences of my working life. 90% of that audience had never set foot in a theatre before, and 98% of them said they would like to do so again. Munya Chawawa’s fantastic Black Boys Theatre Club came along too.
Are we doing enough as organisations to support these groups who are doing so much leg work in terms of access? Is there a way that we can share the wealth a little?
Our incredible producers in the West End, Kate Pakenham and Phyllida Lloyd of KPPL donated their producer profits to roll out a schools tour and educational programme around the themes of the play . I recognise that this can’t happen all the time–but it is a possible example to enable this kind of work to have a social and cultural impact beyond the traditional London West End audiences.
Meanwhile, back in Oldham, we’ve been given a real opportunity. The theatre was gutted on closure, and the organisation, alongside the building, has had to start from scratch to some degree (our CEO Martina Murphy calls it a legacy start-up) and this period has been really useful.
There has been time to reflect on the many brilliant things that the Coli has always
represented- its commitment to new writing, to union contracts and actor hours, the benefits of the theatre to the high street, hospitality and nighttime economy- all of whom have suffered during this period of closure- providing a stark but useful reminder of the importance of cultural spaces to economic growth. Theatre functions as civic infrastructure, supports over 100 thousand jobs, contributes £2 billion annually in added value to the economy, and for every £1 of public investment returns £11 to the Treasury. Politicians, take note.
Access, diversity and representation of all the different communities across Oldham have been front and centre of policy there for years- the wonderful annual South Asian women’s festival- Khushi- being a prime example of that engagement.
At its heart, the Coliseum has always been a place where working-class people have gone for a reet good night out- a loyal and local, blue-collar audience many theatres across the country can only dream of. Every regional venue has an audience with its own distinct character as we know. And the SOLT/UK Theatre’s 2026 report found that those audiences absolutely mirror the communities they serve. The Coliseum’s loyal audience, as anyone who has ever performed there will tell you, is somewhat interactive!
No passively watching the action unfold there- it has always been the stuff of legend- the way the Oldham audiences like to get involved and chat back to the actors on stage – that town likes an immersive experience, they like to tell you what they think, let me tell ya.
So let’s work with that, yes, whilst also acknowledging that there are huge swathes of people in the borough who do not feel that the theatre is a place for them at all. Who feel it’s not “for the likes of them.”
This period has also given the organisation a chance to start afresh, to look at where and how people might have felt excluded, despite the best intentions of all involved, and to ask big questions about what Oldham needs now, in this moment, and what could the Coliseum be and do in response to that? The dogged, determined and dedicated bunch of Save Oldham Coliseum campaigners have now become the Friends of the Coliseum action group, made up of residents and artists from the town, who are part of shaping the organisation’s manifesto. That’s our starting point.
We’re in constant dialogue with people across the borough – in libraries and shops, places of worship, community centres and cafes- about how we can make real this commitment to making the work accessible, without apology. A commitment to developing talent without gatekeeping. To sharing leadership, rather than imposing it. Listening, basically. Oldham is Greater Manchester’s designated Town of Culture this year, and the spotlight is on us. Yes, we are rebuilding a theatre.
But more than that, we are building a vision of a true Town of Culture, bringing all the many brilliant makers and artists and groups together as part of a Cultural Campus, with the beloved Coliseum at its heart. We recognise that people’s relationship with culture is changing. For generations, theatres could rely on audiences finding their way through the front doors because theatre itself was the primary offer. Today, we live in a world of endless choice, competing demands on people’s time, changing working patterns and increasingly diverse cultural habits. If cultural institutions are to remain relevant and sustainable, we must meet people where they are rather than expecting them to come to us on our terms.
That doesn’t mean abandoning theatre. Quite the opposite. And it certainly doesn’t mean discounting or abandoning our traditional core audiences- not on my watch.
It means recognising that a theatre building can be a playhouse, yes, but also a home for music, dance, live art, family events, artist development, literature, digital creativity, gaming, immersive experiences, conferences, community celebrations and civic conversations. We want the building to be alive throughout the day and evening, welcoming people who may never previously have considered stepping inside a theatre.
For some, the first encounter might be a pantomime or a play. For others it might be a music event, a gaming tournament, a spoken-word night, a discussion about local history, a festival celebrating culture and identity, or a workshop exploring emerging technologies. What matters is not how people enter the building. What matters is that they enter, participate and feel that the space belongs to them.
This approach isn’t simply about audience growth. It is about long-term sustainability and resilience. We’re all learning that the most resilient cultural organisations are increasingly those that are porous rather than closed; organisations that collaborate rather than compete, that create multiple pathways for participation and multiple opportunities for communities to see themselves reflected in cultural life.
For Oldham, this feels especially important. Ours is a borough of many communities, many stories, many traditions and many ways of expressing identity. No single artform can speak to all of those experiences. But a cultural institution committed to curiosity, openness and collaboration can create the conditions in which those experiences sit alongside one another.
Arts Emergency, a brilliant organisation whose mandate is widening access to cultural
careers, have a saying that has become much-used in the industry: You can’t be what you can’t see.
You may be a great set builder or painter, or producer, or dressmaker, or designer or actor or director, but if you’re not even aware that those jobs might exist and be available to someone like you, in your town, minutes from where you live, you don’t stand a chance. The journey to a creative career ends before it even begins.
So what if this is our starting point?
Enabling people to see what they can be? Literally. Bringing what has always been the slightly mysterious “back of house” on to the high street.
How can we be trailblazers?
As a northern post-industrial metropolitan borough with a playhouse of its own, where professionals openly share their skills and knowledge in accessible surroundings, demystifying the process, rehearsals, theatre-making, production, for people who’ve never considered that that world might be “for the likes of them”?
Talent is everywhere, opportunity isn’t.
Only 10% of people working in the creative industries now identify as working class. We’re in a unique position in Oldham in that we’re perhaps able to create something new, something that opens the gates and allows that opportunity to be accessed by everyone, whatever their background, beginning with those who haven’t been able to see what they can be. And crucially we want to make real the vision of a future where young people in the town can see a pathway into this industry that doesn’t require them to leave their identity or their community behind.
The question we ask of ourselves is- How can we make Oldham somewhere where people grow up, learn, train and STAY?
But alongside this grassroots work, as a community of theatre makers and producers-
especially those with access to policy shapers- we need to be much more ambitious in our thinking. I truly believe that a healthy society is one where culture is front and centre in government policy and funding- right up there alongside health and education.
We need to reclaim the territory and inspire our elected leaders to think in new ways about how to allow us, in this- the fourth richest country in the world, let’s not forget- to celebrate and share the rich heritage of our culture, across all cultures, and put theatre, dance, music, art, making, at the centre of our education system, but also of our society as a whole. We need to put an end to this begging bowl system of funding, where independent creatives and subsidised organisations are pitted against each other to fight for the few scraps at the table.
We will keep facing the same struggles, the same challenges, the same criticisms, unless something changes.
What we definitely need are new, radical, emancipatory policies to help us flourish as human beings, and funding to properly embed those policies. We need the academy to look at ways in which we can shift the landscape, bringing together great minds and experts in the field- economists, cultural commentators, alongside theatre companies and drama teachers, dancers and producers.
And perhaps we can question our default position of always invoking the language of
capitalism when we talk about art (“Look at the GDP! Look at how the artists have
regenerated this town!”) by normalising serious conversations about FLOURISHING,
CONNECTION, JOY. Reframe how we define what’s valuable.
Let’s shift the narrative in the (very important) discussions around AI and play to our strengths- people have always needed, and wanted, communal spaces and the opportunity to experience things, live in the moment, in rooms or fields or halls or mosques or pubs or churches or clubs or cinemas or synagogues, with other human beings. That has never gone away. In a time when so much of our lives is mediated through screens, algorithms and increasingly personalised worlds, live cultural experiences remain one of the few places where strangers willingly gather together in shared space and shared time.
People will save up to see that football match, that stadium gig, that musical in the West End. That chance of joy. That human quest for connection is theatre’s true strength in a time of social isolation and late-stage capitalist malaise.
I would love us all to leave today’s event with the provocation:
HOW, IN OUR WORK AND OUR LIVES, CAN WE HELP OUR SOCIETY FLOURISH?
That, I believe, should be our driving force as we look to the future. What can theatre offer that nothing else can? How can we play to our strengths as we face political and digital uncertainty?
It should be our primary motivation as makers, artists, movers, shakers to remember that we will always need the bread but we are nothing without the roses.
Thank you.
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