Theatre doors shut as musicals and credit crunch take hold

Five leading West End theatres are in darkness amid fears that traditional plays are being squeezed out of theatreland by the economic downturn and an excess of musicals.

Only seven non-musical plays are being staged in the West End at the moment, including two long-running productions, The Mousetrap and The Woman In Black.

This compares with 24 musicals, such as Mamma Mia! and Dirty Dancing, which helped fuel last year's record box office takings of £470 million in the West End.

Three of the temporarily shut theatres, the Apollo, the Lyric and the Gielgud, are in Shaftsbury Avenue. The other two are the Comedy and the Novello.

Playwright Alan Ayckbourn has said he believes "straight" plays are "doomed" due to a decline in regional theatre. Leading producer Bill Kenwright is said to have almost given up on them because of losses sustained on previous productions. Evening Standard theatre critic Nicholas de Jongh writes in today's paper: "There is a danger the West End may soon become a virtual Disneyland, festooned with musicals, many theatres converted to house stand-up comedy shows, cabaret, lap-dancing or casinos."

But Terri Paddock of Whatsonstage.com said: "We just have to think differently. The shape of the theatre world has changed beyond recognition.'' She pointed out that summer was traditionally a quiet time for all theatres.

Ms Paddock added: "The theatre is being affected by the economy because audiences will always see it as a way to tighten spending."

Nica Burns, chief executive of Nimax Theatres, which owns the Apollo and Lyric, said: "When times are hard, people are more likely to spend what little money they have on being cheered up by a musical."

The Apollo will reopen at the end of this month with Josh Hartnett in Rain Man. Ms Burns said: "We have budgeted for the Apollo to be closed for refurbishment until Rain Man opens and advance sales are very good.

"The West End has always been a mix of plays, musical and other entertainment. It has got harder to produce a straight play, as opposed to a musical, mainly because television has created a shortage of theatre actors.

"But it is a cyclical thing and next year we might see more plays than at the moment and London's theatres announcing record profits again."

The Gielgud, which is owned by Cameron Mackintosh, will reopen in September with a transfer from Chichester of Rupert Goold's acclaimed production of Six Characters In Search Of An Author by Luigi Pirandello, starring Ian McDiarmid.

The Novello will reopen on 9 September with a musical, Eurobeat, and return to presenting plays with the Royal Shakespeare Company's winter season, opening with Patrick Stewart and David Tennant in Hamlet at the end of the year.

The Lyric's next show is Flamenco Flamen'ka, which begins previews on 18 September. The Comedy's last show, Dickens Unplugged, closed early.