Theatre

Theatre has to fight to survive in the increasingly crowded market of multi-media entertainment on offer, including cinema, TV, DVD's, internet surfing and online social networking. So it would be wise to play to its strengths – bearing in mind it's hard to beat the thrill of a live performance.
Its appeal relies partly on the special atmosphere of a shared experience, the immediacy of the interaction between performers and their audience.
The wide variety of drama now available on TV has led to viewers becoming increasingly sophisticated. Chances are they will be able to spot an obvious plot twist a mile off. So traditional theatres which still rely on a safe but predictable repertoire of comedies and whodunits may find their audiences dwindling.
Hence the call for "cutting edge drama" - cracking scripts which are spot-on in capturing current trends and ideas in evolution. A small theatre company can turn around a selection of short, sharp scripts and take them from page to stage in a matter of months. (Compare this to the year or more it takes to bring a movie or TV series to our screens.)
There is a thriving fringe theatre culture in and around London, where smaller venues offer an intimate and informal atmosphere, often pub-based, providing an opportunity to combine a few drinks with a reasonably-priced evening’s entertainment.
While cinema audiences may be lured by the latest blockbuster, theatre-goers are often more discerning, seeking an experience which will make them sit on the edge of their seats not through a car chase ending in a huge explosion, but through the verbal fireworks of dramatic conflict between well-depicted characters.
Stage and screen don’t have to be in direct competition - there is a symbiotic relationship developing between them. Stage plays can become screenplays, and vice versa. One way to attract movie-goers to the theatre is to put one of their idols on stage. Getting a celebrity in the cast is a great way to generate publicity and good box office returns.
Why do movie stars choose to tread the boards for a fraction of their usual salary? For the kudos, the physical and mental challenge of performing live every night and above all, the rapt attention of a live audience, the adulation, the applause.
Surprise, shock, laughter, tears, a roller coaster of emotional responses, all the ingredients of classic theatre, as first advocated by the dramatists of ancient Greece, are just as important today. But for theatre to remain relevant to modern audiences, the basic rules of survival apply – evolve, adapt and move with the times.