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Arts

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Bragg, for introducing this important topic and for speaking so wonderfully about music in schools, which I entirely endorse. I hope the House will forgive me if I confine myself to an area where I obviously have a particular interest, which is theatre, particularly in the West End. I was interested in the noble Lord’s comments about the huge renaissance of the arts in the cities and the pride that cities have now in their theatres, new opera houses and centres. When one thinks of theatre, and West End theatre in particular, one thinks of Broadway and the extraordinary way in which the mayor’s office in Broadway, which has far wider powers than our mayor’s office, got behind Broadway and made it the centre, the reason for coming to New York. London, of course, has not been able to do that. Although there have been many initiatives by West End theatre owners and producers, it is much more difficult to get to grips with the situation in London because there is no office which has that overall power. But, interestingly, whereas in 2005 there were 11.5 million visitors to Broadway theatres, there were more than 12 million visitors to West End theatres. That is an extraordinary statistic. Another statistic which makes me feel very proud of what the West End has done is that commercial theatre is a net exporter to the world whereas film and television are not; they are net importers. That brings me to something in which, obviously, I am very personally interested. I have had the fortune to have had an exceptionally lucky career in musical theatre, but we are not seeing the young writers or the risks being taken in that area in the way that I would like to see. I was talking to a friend of mine, Sir Cameron Mackintosh, the other day. We felt that it would be very unlikely that we would have been able to bring forward the musical, ““Cats””, which, others will agree, has probably changed our lives. The investment and the risk involved in something as completely different as ““Cats”” was in its day would probably mean that it would not be achieved today. That leads me to suggest something about which I feel very strongly. Would it be possible, without asking for subsidy, for the same tax advantages that are given to film and television to be extended to commercial theatre? If they could be, it would be of extraordinary value, not just to musical theatre but to the many who are trying to produce plays commercially. I think of the ATG Group and Bill Kenwright. An extraordinary amount of activity is going on in the West End. Such a measure would completely transform what everyone is trying to do.