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Why we must save our theatres
As funding in the arts continues to be slashed, actor and director SAMUEL WEST outlines the aims of the My Theatre Matters campaign

Where does theatre belong in a healthy society? It’s one of the last great unmediated experiences — it’s not edited, packaged or spun. It allows children to stare. It allows adults to believe, or not. 

Surely theatre shouldn’t just be a dream palace but a mirror, a place to consider the most basic questions: what kind of people do we want to be? What kind of world do we want to live in? 

I’m touring the country at the moment, speaking at any regional theatre that will have me. I’m talking from the stage about My Theatre Matters, a campaign to get audiences to tell councillors and MPs how much they value their local theatre.

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