Applause! Applause! More dramatic success for London’s theatre-land

Audiences from home and abroad continued to flock to London’s theatre-land to be entertained, despite global economic conditions.

And UK expertise in this field continues to be a vital “artistic export” as many top musicals, plays and other productions travel and open in countries across the world.

West End theatres that put on plays, musicals, dance and opera enjoyed a record year, with box-office takings reaching half a billion pounds for the first time. In a remarkable year, 2009 saw receipts increase by 7.6 per cent, to almost 505 million pounds on a like-for-like basis on 2008. Audience numbers rose to almost 14,258,000, an increase of 5.5 per cent on the same period in the previous year.

The Society of London Theatre (SOLT) - the trade association that represents West End producers, theatre owners and managers of the main London theatres - announced that 2009 marks the seventh consecutive year that both records have been broken. SOLT president Nica Burns said: “Britain’s artistic community continues to create exceptional work. The extraordinary quality and breadth of productions available nightly in London explains these record figures in such a difficult year economically.”

Increased interest in plays, opera and dance

Plays saw a 26-per-cent increase in attendance over 2008, with audience figures of 3,637,000 earning revenues of 97 million pounds. Opera, dance and entertainment were up seven per cent, earning revenues of 78 million pounds.

Nica Burns added: “While our musicals continue to flourish, 2009 was an outstanding year for plays - proving that audiences respond to challenge and stimulation as well as toe-tapping entertainment. Excellence is everything - look no further than London’s theatre, which adds a great deal more to London’s revenue than just the ticket sales.”

Helping to attract audiences were star performances by actors from the worlds of TV and films - such as Jude Law’s Hamlet. Waiting For Godot did itself no harm by starring Ian McKellen (who appeared in The Lord Of the Rings, X-Men, The Da Vinci Code among many) and Patrick Stewart (of Star Trek, X-Men and many more), scoring a great success. Now, it is on a world tour.

Nica Burns added: “Having recognisable names definitely makes a difference. In difficult economic times, people are very careful about how they choose to spend their money and their leisure time. Audiences need to feel safe, to know that they are going to have not just a good evening but a great evening. Seeing an actor they know and love is a big part of that.”

Set to the world-loved sounds of popular Abba songs, the hit musical Mamma Mia! (also a successful film) played to packed houses. And so did Billy Elliot, and Oliver! while Wicked welcomed its two millionth theatregoer last summer. Sister Act, an adaptation of the hit Whoopi Goldberg film, sold 500,000 tickets and broke box-office records at the London Palladium.

This year has got off to a strong start, with Legally Blonde: the Musical winning rave reviews. Love Never Dies, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s long-awaited sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, has opened and is booked up for a year. Another premiere was one of 2010’s most eagerly anticipated plays, a new production of Noel Coward’s Private Lives - starring Sex And The City actress Kim Cattrall - one of 2010’s most eagerly anticipated plays and the subject of rave reviews.