Audiences demand West End 'wake-up' call

Theatre audiences believe the quality of West End performances has fallen, new research has revealed.

Many Londoners and tourists say they are not enjoying the productions - or the overall experience of going to the theatre - as much as they used to.

They also complain about the declining physical state of the capital's theatres - especially the condition of seats, lavatories, bars and box offices.

Other figures in the study, produced for the Society of London Theatre, expose the industry's growing reliance on older customers and foreign tourists, which does not bode well for the future.

The MORI survey, the biggest in the West End, saw almost 7,000 audience members at 45 different shows fill in a questionnaire.

Today theatre bosses said the answers were a " wakeup" call to the multimillion-pound industry. The results show:

Theatregoers appear to generally enjoy performances, with 70 per cent "very happy" - the highest rating. But that has slipped from 77 per cent in in 1997.

Satisfaction with the overall visit has fallen, with 61 per cent "very happy", down from 65 per cent in 1999.

With tourism in recovery - after September 11, foot-and-mouth, the Iraq war and Sars - numbers visiting West End theatres have remained stable at

11.6 million, up from 11.5 million in 1997.

The audience proportion from Britain was 73 per cent last year, down from 83 per cent in 1999.

Visitors from the US made up 17 per cent of audiences compared with nine per cent six years ago.

Twenty-nine per cent of the audience is now aged over 55, while 37 per cent is made up of under-35s. In 1986, the percentages were 11 and 58 respectively.