A very interesting article, thank you. The arguments and frustrations that you articulate so well have been around for ever and part of me thinks that will never change. Ewan MacColl and Joan Littlewood formed a theatre company in Manchester during the Thirties which after the war developed into Theatre Workshop. It was they who championed Shelagh Delaney, Brendan Behan Lionel Bart and many others and most of their actors in the early days were working class. They fought the established theatre world, The Arts Council, and anyone and everyone who tried to stop them putting on plays. Through belligerence, anger and bloody hard work they got somewhere. Could that be done today? I hope so but I am not sure. We need their energy and sense of anarchy now.
Excellent article - however this is an opinion piece rather than investigative journalism that (lest we forget) The Mill prides itself on.
Can we see some of the middle class journalists within the publication (you know who I mean, the ones who play tennis) get out there and ask difficult questions of the people in charge of the arts in Manchester please. That would make for a far more interesting read.
If The Mill wants to give the impression of being in the slightest bit interested in this topic why has it delegated the task to someone who is clearly passionate about the topic but whose view has ultimately been tainted by their experiences.
Wonder how many working class kids from Rusholme work at The Mill…..
Of course - but I can get opinion from anyone anywhere at any time. I’d like to have seen the arbiters of taste and the arts in Manchester taken to task. Missed opportunity.
Hey Felix, you raise an interesting point! Obviously journalism has the same class problem that theatre does — and the Mill isn't any great exception to the rule here, with mostly middle-class writers/editors. Since you seem to cite Joshi in particular (didn't he mention tennis in an article this week?) and call for our in-house journalists to ask people in charge of the arts in Manchester difficult questions, I'd refer you to his fantastic Royal Exchange piece in which he does exactly that: https://manchestermill.co.uk/p/brutal-layoffs-and-a-cancelled-show, his interview with HOME's Dave Moutrey: https://manchestermill.co.uk/p/have-the-arts-been-colonised-by-the — or indeed my own Aviva Studios piece, in which I spoke to John McGrath, the creative director: https://manchestermill.co.uk/p/its-vast-its-beautiful-but-does-anyone . I'd push back on the idea that we don't do this — asking arts people tricky questions — already.
I didn’t mean this as a reproof! Just more like — if that’s what you’re interested in reading, head this way…btw I see you're also a Post subscriber. This piece investigating the suspiciously short tenure of the Everyman and Playhouse's former creative director Suba Das might also be up your street: https://www.livpost.co.uk/p/the-everyman-hired-a-young-director
Just as a bit of background, Felix. The idea for this article came from the interview Joshi did with Dave Moutrey of HOME and the comments I made on that and Sophie's piece. Only the Mill, nationally or locally are covering these subjects which is one of the reasons I subscribe and am happy to pay for good writing and journalism. I should also say that only The Mill are actually calling for, commissioning and paying people like me to write about this and other subjects. I can tell you from direct experience that is not the norm - especially in Manchester - where people expect you to give your time and work for free for 'the exposure'. Thanks for the nice comments though. It's very much appreciated.
I feel compelled to speak in defence of some of the work that is being done to address the class problem in the arts in Manchester. Particularly of the work the Royal Exchange has done with its den project , which was created to try and open access and give agency to people in less privileged areas of Manchester (currently in Rochdale with a programme curated by people from the town) and with massively discounted tickets. I can attest to the brilliance and passion of the outreach team there who are working alongside housing associations and committing to taking theatre to the people who might not normally venture into the Exchange. Factory, the Lowry and HOME also do hugely discounted tickets, and Contact is somewhere that has nurtured work by young working class artists and especially writers for ever. Bolton Octagon is a jewel in the crown of regional theatre, creating world class theatre for and of that town.
Theatres often use community players to form choruses. In Queens of the Coal Age at the Exchange, these choruses were made up of the Elders and Young Companies mainly, fantastic and well-supported organisations within the building. They aren’t professional artists, and gained huge experience and joy from being part of such an important story. That’s certainly how it felt in the building. I did feel, Robert, that calling out Maxine on hypocrisy was wildly unfair. She has dedicated her working life to telling working class and women’s stories, and gives literally weeks of her time to support organisations and artists from the WBCU (working/benefits/criminal/under-class) including the homeless. She puts her head above the parapet constantly to give voice to the voiceless and her work has practically single handedly kept the amazing Working Class Movement Library going. I have no skin in this game. I have spoken many times about the inequalities around access to arts across all the intersections of disadvantage. There is certainly a problem nationally with WBCU access to arts. But I see the constant efforts and funding put into bridging those gaps from all the major theatres. And then there are organisations like Box of Tricks who are all about supporting NW playwrights. The Edge in Chorlton run a wonderful drama group with the Booth Centre. 53Two champion underrepresented voices, and. Hope mill runs a fantastic theatre school for local kids. And as for Oldham. Watch this space! The fight to save that passionately and unapologetically working class theatre is far from over. Audiences and artists alike have rallied to save that beloved theatre, and the dogged determination of that campaign and its campaigners is making real progress.
I don’t think anyone anticipated the strength of feeling when it closed its doors. It is really really hard to be a writer. There are even fewer opportunities than there are for actors, and I really wish you well Robert. I hope you enter the Bruntwood Prize at the Exchange, an entirely anonymous-entry playwriting competition, with support and cash for the shortlisted every two years. Please look at going to the see the work of the Den in Rochdale this summer. And if you haven’t already, pop to Take Back’s free writing sessions for all level writers at 53Two and connect with the incredible Box of Tricks. There is so much going on in our city, so much creative community and mutual support, so much effort to open up our theatres to audiences from all backgrounds, and I do feel we need to give recognition to everyone who is working so hard. I see it for myself all the time. Perhaps theatres need to get better at banging their own drum about the access work they are doing. I wish you all the best Robert and hope to see your opus at Factory very soon!
Thank you for all of this, Julie. It’s exactly the response I anticipated when I wrote the article and it's all good to hear.
Firstly, I am not part of the working/benefits/criminal/underclass. I know this is a relatively new category invented about 5 minutes ago by the fashionable to categorise the unfashionable because they thing that working-class, criminals and benefit recipients are one amorphous blob. I’m not buying it. This is exactly what I meant when I said that the arts have a very narrow view of what the working classes are - thank you for confirming my suspicions. I suppose WBCU is now just another useless acronym we’re going to have to get used to. Just to be clear, I’m not offended by it, I’m just tired of the assumption that just because I’m working class I’m closer in morals and circumstance to the criminal class. I represent the criminal classes every day of my life and have done so in over 10,000 cases over the last quarter of a century. They are not me and I am not them. Because I have the same accent as many of them, I live in the same postcodes and I work in criminal defence there is the assumption amongst some people that I am somehow part of them and therefore a bit disreputable or dishonest or worst still, as criminal as they are. If I can quote an old neighbour of mine from a few streets away in Gorton who was older than me but had a very similar upbringing to me and lived a few streets away who went on to achieve a certain fame of her own, writing in her unpublished autobiography: “I am a child of Gorton, Manchester. Infamous I have become disowned. But I am one of your own.” - Myra Hindley. I am emphatically not one of Myra’s own.
Which brings me neatly on to Maxine, who gave such an excellent performance as Myra in the TV production of the Moors Murders (and if that’s not the clumsiest segue ever written I don’t know what is.) I stand by exactly what I said about unpaid performers and if anything your responses have underlined my entire argument for me. The feeling and joy you may have felt in the room from watching people perform for nothing might nourish your soul but it does not put bread on their table. I absolutely stand by everything I said about unpaid work. I know the argument is that they are not professional performers so they are not entitled to the same pay, or any pay at all, but a waitress is not a professional chef and nor is the dishwasher and I still expect them to get paid for their part in the process of making dinner for paying customers. Sorry to say, but if you’re justifying this behaviour then you’re one of the gatekeepers I’m complaining about. It’s not just Maxine, Simon Stephens did it as well with Fatherland. Aeschylus gets a pass because he’s been dead for about two and a half millennia now. It might take me the same amount of time to come round to agreeing with you on this one.
All of those places you’ve mentioned are great and as I said in my piece, the fringe scene in Manchester is positively open to everyone. I stand by that too and yes, I would love to come and see some stuff from the Den. The first play I ever wrote was performed for a paying audience at the Contact - and I was paid for it as well. Not much, but it was something. As you know yourself, it’s quite the feeling to hear people applauding and cheering your words and getting the recognition for it you didn’t think was possible, especially because I was well into my 50s when it happened and had little experience of theatre even as an audience member. Given all those places you’ve mentioned and all the positive work that’s being done and you being by far and away the most high profile commentator on this thread you will find my question very easy to answer: who, right now, from a working class background in Manchester and surrounding areas, is writing plays that people will still be packing out theatres for in 50, 60 or 70 years time? Because I’m not seeing any. If you and others are the Joan Littlewoods of our time then where are the Shelalgh Delaneys, or the Trevor Griffiths? Lots of people on this thread have mentioned their favourite writers of working class origin - how many of them are even still alive? That should be telling us something. Maybe that’s the subject of a connected but different conversation.
Sorry, but I have no interest at all in Take Back, your activist theatre group. I know a lot of people like that kind of thing and a few people on this thread have mentioned their favourite left wing theatre groups of the past. Fair play if that’s the kind of thing you like, but I wouldn’t join in with it any more than I would a right wing theatre group, if such a thing could ever exist. You’ve worked hard to put all that together and you deserve the success you have. But I’d rather make my own way thanks all the same. Who knows, maybe something in the future will throw us together. Even though I fundamentally disagree with you on many things, life has a strange way of working out like that.
Thank you for your good wishes. I also wish you well. Terrific work on The Great Post Office Scandal, by the way. I mean that. Just don’t get me started on the middle and upper class barristers who persuaded clearly innocent people to plead guilty to offences they hadn’t committed. That really will get my hackles up.
Lots to cover here but I want to pick up on just two things:
1.) The reason for that question about parents' jobs at the age of 14 is specifically to be able to support working class people.
There are lots of people working in the arts making no money and their class can't be parsed from their current scoio-economic information. For instance, my job title marks me out as middle class. My parents' jobs when I was younger speak to my working class roots.
Conversely, there are people who have been able to exist by scraping a living in the arts because they come from generational wealth. The answer to that question makes it clearer.
The organisation I work for has benefitted from that approach to understanding socio-economic factors as it's a similar story for the rest of my team and Board of Trustees. This has helped us secure Arts Council funding for some projects.
By the sounds of it, the writer would benefit from that too. Yes, anyone can lie but then they can lie about lots of things in an application can't they? There has to be some trust somewhere.
2.) Some of the things asked for are underway.
The Arts Council isn't perfect and they could possibly benefit from, say, a music industry A&R approach with specialists seeking and nurturing new talent. However, they have recently implemented a programme where relationship managers hold local surgeries for artists and organisations who haven't been funded by them to seek advice on how to apply.
On a related note, in the GM borough where my organisation is based the bigger arts orgs run a collective which is deigned to support new and developing artists or people who want to work in the sector. We do this with small, easy to apply for grants, match-funding for Arts Council grants. We've just launched a bursary fund to provide self-employed artists with funding to attend network meetings and training events. This is done with a mix of funding from GMCA, the Cultural Development Fund and Arts Council money.
It's also worth pointing out that when arts orgs jump through hoops to get funding from grantmakers such as the Arts Council, Children In Need, The Postcode Lottery, etc and foundational trusts we often have to include monitoring data about who benefits from the funding- staff, artists, contracted workers, participants and audiences. Metrics include diversity and economic factors. In fact, some funders won't consider any organisation unless they are working in deprived areas. This definitely cannot be lied about because it's based on government data on a public database which maps to postcodes.
It's not perfect - it never will be- but there is a lot happening to democratise arts and culture. I'm sure the author hasn't missed the fallout from the last round of Arts Council National Portfolio funding with elite arts orgs like the ENO being directed away from London? That is the plan to diversify in action.
The Arts Council killed off our local theatre Oldham Coliseum which appeared to tick all the boxes: good local support, good community links, a working-class audience who would never go to the Royal Exchange so frankly employing "relationship managers" does not impress me.
I'm afraid it's well documented that The Coliseum was poorly managed. There's a publicly availabble independent report produced by the CEO of the local VCSFE support organisation- Action Together- who have no connection to The Arts Council (ACE), on what went wrong. I have read the report because I had heard rumours and wanted to ensure my own organisation is managed and governed correctly.
The Coliseum management and Board were consistently warned about ACE's concerns in the year or so in the run up to the NPO funding round where they were unsuccessful. They failed to heed these warnings or allay ACE's concerns about their failure to use public money properly. It wouldn't be right for ACE to fund a plan that wasn't viable. The Arts Council didn't kill The Coliseum off I'm afraid. The Coliseum did.
Don't forget that Oldham will have new premises in which The Coliseum will ride again, funded by... The Arts Council.
Btw- the Arts Council has always had relationship managers. They work with funded organisations. The change is that they are being made available to artists and organisations who aren't funded to provide advice to help them secure funding in what can seem like a closed shop to outsiders. The objective is to make public money available to more people who might feel unable to try. It's a positive move in democratising arts and culture.
If a bid for funds is written that doesn't meet the criteria in a fair, transparent and competitive process, then it's not the failing of the Arts Council, it's the failing of a bid. One can criticise the system of bidding for funds (all charities have to bid for funds), and we can debate what criteria looks like, but a bid that doesn't score the right amount of points is a bid that doesn't get public money and that can never be blamed on the funder of any kind. All funders who have public money must ensure it is spent correctly and so the system that is used is the bidding one. I guess until someone changes that system across the country that is the situation charities are in. A bid that doesn't meet the criteria cannot be blamed on the funder.
I enjoyed your piece and I share your concerns about arts & culture being less than viable as a career for many. I thought it was worth sharing there is at least some desire to tackle this on the part of the Arts Council and other funders.
Classism is still deeply embedded into our society and one of the clumsiest and most offensive ways that people are stereotyped or popped into ‘their place’ is by their accent.
Whether through conscious or unconscious bias, the gatekeepers are still the white middle class and as a - ‘judged to be’ - working class person, you spend so much mental effort your entire life trying to battle through such prejudice.
The best article on class that the Mill has published so far (and I welcome opinion pieces in The Mill) . There was a brief period in the 60s and 70s when drama about class and connected issues could be seen on television in series such as Armchair Theatre, 30 Minute Theatre, The Wednesday Play, Play for Today etc although mostly written by men with the odd exception such as Julia Jones, Nell Dunn, Paula Milne, Naomi Lethbridge etc. In the theatre, there was a wave of politically committed theatre groups eg Red Ladder , Monstrous Regiment, CAST, 7: 84 and locally, North West Spanner but the grants were chopped and the political atmosphere swung to the right and they folded . (recommend "Blood Red Roses" created by 7:84 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okNc0ohF1ew) The arts is dominated by the middle class and upper middle class, seemingly in thrall to identity politics with no conception of how class works or its complexity. On television Johnny Speight's "Till Death Us Do Part" showed a working class Conservative brilliantly portrayed by Warren Mitchell. Judging by the support for Reform he and his views have not gone away but this would never be commissioned now. The Mill should make Robert your drama correspondent and reviewer.
There is an article about them by Ernie Dalton in an issue I edited of the North West Labour History, no 27, 2002, on the North in the 1970s https://www.nwlh.org.uk/?q=content/back-issues
Really interesting read - and great writing. It would be interesting to hear about examples or initiatives (if there are any)that are addressing this issue and are having some success - even if this were outside the region.
Sorry Robert, just to clarify- the Take back writing sessions aren’t a left wing thing, just so you know. They’re just run by us to create a kind environment to write in and support each other, to create a bit of a community when it can feel very lonely sometimes as you know. In answer to your question about exciting working class writers in Manchester right now, I can offer up David Judge, Lauren-Nicole Mayes, Cathy Crabb, Lauryn Redding, Zoe Iqbal, Rebekkah Harrison, Laura Harper, Eve Steele, James Harker.
I feel your response to me was a little bit more combative than invited by my comment, Robert! I hope our paths do cross and I hope I didn’t upset you with my thoughts on your interesting article. Obviously I would prefer everyone to be paid and properly! I’m a trade unionist. But I did want to nod to the huge amounts of work being done behind the scenes to open up our theatres to people from all backgrounds.
And yes I get it about the acronym. I think perhaps it’s come about less to lump us all together, but to acknowledge that within the class there are levels of disadvantage- and if you come from a family where there has been incarceration, that comes with its own huge challenges. And it is a different thing to grow up in a working class home like I did, and a home where people are struggling on benefits or in temporary homelessness, or are carers, or have fallen out of the system altogether. That’s why I used it because I think sometimes we think of working class as one thing when it actually encompasses many things. I just wanted to explain why I chose to use it. Wishing you all the best x
Sorry to come to this late. I agree it was an interesting article but it could have been (and almost certainly was) written any time in the past fifty years (possibly longer). I think, though, there are two different issues relating to who gets access to the arts - audiences and artists.
Theatre has not been a mass market medium for a long time - replaced first by film, then TV and now the online/digital world. The exception being in outdoor arts (full disclosure - it the area I work in) which does attract people from all strata of society - come to SIRF (www.sirf.co.uk) to meet an informed and knowledgable working class audience.
Theatre. as a profession, did attract people from the working class in its heyday because it was a possible route to fame and fortune if you were talented and/or lucky (as sport is nowadays). I suspect that creative individuals from working class or poorer backgrounds now choose music or various forms of digital media to express themselves in the hope of reaching a big audience (or just enjoying themselves).
This is just a gut reaction and maybe I’m wrong but isn’t it all about what you like?
It’s mostly the culture you grow up in. As a child from a working class home I was taken to the dog races, to football, once to a pantomime and of course to the ‘pictures’ as we called the movies then. That’s what I was used to - and what I enjoyed. It doesn’t seem to me any less valid than any other form of entertainment. And you don’t have to get stuck there if you don’t like - you can go to the theatre (much cheaper than football these days) if you like. My intro to the theatre was a series of Dario Fo / Franca Rame farces in Manchester and Oldham. (I know they’re about very serious things but those productions were so funny!) I got some people from the community centre to go to a couple and they loved it. And I saw then how powerful the theatre could be - engaging and respecting its the audience while entertaining them as well as challenging them. But that’s my choice. If your idea of entertainment is relaxation with loads of special effects and action - (and we have to acknowledge this kind of entertainment pays its own way because it’s so popular) so be it. I don't see it matters that different classes tend to like different types of entertainment. Ofcourse some films and some plays/productions can span class cultures - like e.g the Warhorse stage production. Then it’s magic but that also demands genius which we can’t expect every time. In the meantime different classes tend to enjoy different things. Why is that a problem?
It isn't a problem to enjoy all of those things that you mention but the article does in my view hit a number of sore points about the British class system that allows the more economically privileged to determine what is 'good' for the masses and act as a filter for the less educated to provide a narrower focus on the arts.
I appreciate that money is the driver for the pap that fills commercial theatre and much of tv, but the £200m plus spent upon Factory International could have seeded half a dozen rep theatres such as the Library Theatre through which I came to appreciate live theatre (I watched "Play for the day" too on tv as a child too as my parents were weirdly relaxed about these things).
Having prestige venues may look good for the metropolitan image that Manchester's movers and shakers seek to cultivate but it reduces the funding to support a more socially or racially inclusive set of writers,directors musicians and backstage technicians. I don't believe that the public which supports these decisions via its taxes gets much of a chance to shape what we experience in the arts nor indeed in public broadcasting as exemplified by that bastion of privilege the BBC .It is the "Same old same old" just as in education and training and the myriad of other areas that could be influenced by the users of these services but isn't.If Engels the adopted local lad (yes he did live in Manchester when not fox hunting in Cheshire,) were alive today he would probably write about the struggles between the producer and consumer classes to shape public opinion and outcomes not purely those struggles of the worker versus rentie to extract a living wage.
Still miss the Library Theatre which had a good audience amongst Mancunians for its productions - Brecht, Ayckbourn etc , almost none of whom I suspect transferred to Home
A superb article Robert that gets to the roots of the difficulties experienced In 'getting a foot in the door' of the creative industries even today.
I'm old enough not to be classless or part of that 'we're all middle class now' ideology.
I was brought up in North East Manchester close to town and resolutely working class but my Dad who'd been denied a Grammer school education due to cost was aspirational for his four children. I was the only one who went into higher education but it was by the back door having failed my 11+ . I transferred to the amazingly unique Manchester High School of Art that stood opposite to Strangeways prison thanks to an art teacher at my secondary school.
I suppose you could say that opportunity was not available to all but there was a sizeable group who due to their artistic abilities joined the school post 11+ having failed that exam and most were from poorer homes across the city .
The school closed in the early 80s and Manchester is the poorer for it. Where the kids of today can hone their creative skills apart from the voluntary sector ,I don't know.
While not necessarily agreeing with everything in the article and being nauseated by everyone’s continuing obsession with an outmoded concept of ‘class’, the Royal Exchange is a true bastion of privilege; posh shows for posh people at posh prices. While they were putting out urgent and affordable work in the studio I was happy enough to- but now that’s gone I give it a swerve. However I’m not fussed as I see lots of terrific, inclusive work at all manner of places (especially 53two and the kings arms) and at bargain prices.
"outmoded concept of 'class'" ? the mill workers are now care workers and pickers at Amazon, while the gaps between rich and poor is wider than it was in C19th and little has changed. Much of the fringe theatre we have seen recently seems obsessed with "identity" and ignores issues of poverty, exploitation, stoking of racism, class, the modish antiwomen agitation of much of the left etc.. The writers should look at the work of Brecht, Jim Allen, Trevor Griffiths, Johnny Speight etc
i didn't mean that the divide between rich and poor had improved any - i just think the way we try to define people and their problems through the prism of 'class' is unhelpful, backward-looking and self-fulfilling. the drama i'm seeing at smaller places i find socially relevant. all the best simon
You can ignore the elephant in the room if you wish..but it's still there, Simon. ps Brecht's poem "A Worker Reads History" still seems very relevant https://allpoetry.com/A-Worker-Reads-History
Interesting opinion piece, thanks to Robert for writing it. I think about the issue of networks, privilege, financial stability and the way they dictate who does and doesn't get a break a lot. I have my own experiences that colour my opinion, but I'm aware that I'm in my 50s and my life experience is vastly different to that of people in their 20s who are from a similar working class/socioeconomic background to me. I'd love to read an opinion piece by someone from the current generation who can speak to what it's like now to pursue a career in the arts. From his comment here, David A might know someone. Sophie/Jack/Joshi are you up for that? (I will now check the archive in case you've run a piece and I missed it.)
Interesting article, but frustrated by not knowing what HOME was! I am no longer a Manchester resident! Going to the theatre in London (if you can afford it), it’s almost a 100% white audience. Saw the Boys From The Blackstuff production, a couple of weeks ago! Can’t believe it could not have been done better! Saw The Jungle Book at Aviva, our 5 year old grandson slept through it, that again was very poor! What is going on?
Thanks, James, and my apologies for not making clear what HOME is. Not sure when you last lived in Manchester but HOME was meant to incorporate what was the best of Cornerhouse and the Library Theatre, both of which closed a few years back. While I can't speak for everyone I think the general consensus is that the cinema part (Cornerhouse) has been pretty successful. The theatre part of HOME, however, might generously be described as - a bit patchy.
A very interesting article, thank you. The arguments and frustrations that you articulate so well have been around for ever and part of me thinks that will never change. Ewan MacColl and Joan Littlewood formed a theatre company in Manchester during the Thirties which after the war developed into Theatre Workshop. It was they who championed Shelagh Delaney, Brendan Behan Lionel Bart and many others and most of their actors in the early days were working class. They fought the established theatre world, The Arts Council, and anyone and everyone who tried to stop them putting on plays. Through belligerence, anger and bloody hard work they got somewhere. Could that be done today? I hope so but I am not sure. We need their energy and sense of anarchy now.
Excellent article - however this is an opinion piece rather than investigative journalism that (lest we forget) The Mill prides itself on.
Can we see some of the middle class journalists within the publication (you know who I mean, the ones who play tennis) get out there and ask difficult questions of the people in charge of the arts in Manchester please. That would make for a far more interesting read.
If The Mill wants to give the impression of being in the slightest bit interested in this topic why has it delegated the task to someone who is clearly passionate about the topic but whose view has ultimately been tainted by their experiences.
Wonder how many working class kids from Rusholme work at The Mill…..
As far as I know The Mill welcomes 'opinion pieces' along with investigative journalism . That's one of the reasons I signed up.
Of course - but I can get opinion from anyone anywhere at any time. I’d like to have seen the arbiters of taste and the arts in Manchester taken to task. Missed opportunity.
Hey Felix, you raise an interesting point! Obviously journalism has the same class problem that theatre does — and the Mill isn't any great exception to the rule here, with mostly middle-class writers/editors. Since you seem to cite Joshi in particular (didn't he mention tennis in an article this week?) and call for our in-house journalists to ask people in charge of the arts in Manchester difficult questions, I'd refer you to his fantastic Royal Exchange piece in which he does exactly that: https://manchestermill.co.uk/p/brutal-layoffs-and-a-cancelled-show, his interview with HOME's Dave Moutrey: https://manchestermill.co.uk/p/have-the-arts-been-colonised-by-the — or indeed my own Aviva Studios piece, in which I spoke to John McGrath, the creative director: https://manchestermill.co.uk/p/its-vast-its-beautiful-but-does-anyone . I'd push back on the idea that we don't do this — asking arts people tricky questions — already.
Thanks Sophie - I’ll catch up on these. Then climb back into my box…..
I didn’t mean this as a reproof! Just more like — if that’s what you’re interested in reading, head this way…btw I see you're also a Post subscriber. This piece investigating the suspiciously short tenure of the Everyman and Playhouse's former creative director Suba Das might also be up your street: https://www.livpost.co.uk/p/the-everyman-hired-a-young-director
Thanks keep up the good work!
Just as a bit of background, Felix. The idea for this article came from the interview Joshi did with Dave Moutrey of HOME and the comments I made on that and Sophie's piece. Only the Mill, nationally or locally are covering these subjects which is one of the reasons I subscribe and am happy to pay for good writing and journalism. I should also say that only The Mill are actually calling for, commissioning and paying people like me to write about this and other subjects. I can tell you from direct experience that is not the norm - especially in Manchester - where people expect you to give your time and work for free for 'the exposure'. Thanks for the nice comments though. It's very much appreciated.
Yes, I'm not saying that's not needed too. I would welcome that but this piece has got the opinion ball rolling.
I feel compelled to speak in defence of some of the work that is being done to address the class problem in the arts in Manchester. Particularly of the work the Royal Exchange has done with its den project , which was created to try and open access and give agency to people in less privileged areas of Manchester (currently in Rochdale with a programme curated by people from the town) and with massively discounted tickets. I can attest to the brilliance and passion of the outreach team there who are working alongside housing associations and committing to taking theatre to the people who might not normally venture into the Exchange. Factory, the Lowry and HOME also do hugely discounted tickets, and Contact is somewhere that has nurtured work by young working class artists and especially writers for ever. Bolton Octagon is a jewel in the crown of regional theatre, creating world class theatre for and of that town.
Theatres often use community players to form choruses. In Queens of the Coal Age at the Exchange, these choruses were made up of the Elders and Young Companies mainly, fantastic and well-supported organisations within the building. They aren’t professional artists, and gained huge experience and joy from being part of such an important story. That’s certainly how it felt in the building. I did feel, Robert, that calling out Maxine on hypocrisy was wildly unfair. She has dedicated her working life to telling working class and women’s stories, and gives literally weeks of her time to support organisations and artists from the WBCU (working/benefits/criminal/under-class) including the homeless. She puts her head above the parapet constantly to give voice to the voiceless and her work has practically single handedly kept the amazing Working Class Movement Library going. I have no skin in this game. I have spoken many times about the inequalities around access to arts across all the intersections of disadvantage. There is certainly a problem nationally with WBCU access to arts. But I see the constant efforts and funding put into bridging those gaps from all the major theatres. And then there are organisations like Box of Tricks who are all about supporting NW playwrights. The Edge in Chorlton run a wonderful drama group with the Booth Centre. 53Two champion underrepresented voices, and. Hope mill runs a fantastic theatre school for local kids. And as for Oldham. Watch this space! The fight to save that passionately and unapologetically working class theatre is far from over. Audiences and artists alike have rallied to save that beloved theatre, and the dogged determination of that campaign and its campaigners is making real progress.
I don’t think anyone anticipated the strength of feeling when it closed its doors. It is really really hard to be a writer. There are even fewer opportunities than there are for actors, and I really wish you well Robert. I hope you enter the Bruntwood Prize at the Exchange, an entirely anonymous-entry playwriting competition, with support and cash for the shortlisted every two years. Please look at going to the see the work of the Den in Rochdale this summer. And if you haven’t already, pop to Take Back’s free writing sessions for all level writers at 53Two and connect with the incredible Box of Tricks. There is so much going on in our city, so much creative community and mutual support, so much effort to open up our theatres to audiences from all backgrounds, and I do feel we need to give recognition to everyone who is working so hard. I see it for myself all the time. Perhaps theatres need to get better at banging their own drum about the access work they are doing. I wish you all the best Robert and hope to see your opus at Factory very soon!
Thank you for all of this, Julie. It’s exactly the response I anticipated when I wrote the article and it's all good to hear.
Firstly, I am not part of the working/benefits/criminal/underclass. I know this is a relatively new category invented about 5 minutes ago by the fashionable to categorise the unfashionable because they thing that working-class, criminals and benefit recipients are one amorphous blob. I’m not buying it. This is exactly what I meant when I said that the arts have a very narrow view of what the working classes are - thank you for confirming my suspicions. I suppose WBCU is now just another useless acronym we’re going to have to get used to. Just to be clear, I’m not offended by it, I’m just tired of the assumption that just because I’m working class I’m closer in morals and circumstance to the criminal class. I represent the criminal classes every day of my life and have done so in over 10,000 cases over the last quarter of a century. They are not me and I am not them. Because I have the same accent as many of them, I live in the same postcodes and I work in criminal defence there is the assumption amongst some people that I am somehow part of them and therefore a bit disreputable or dishonest or worst still, as criminal as they are. If I can quote an old neighbour of mine from a few streets away in Gorton who was older than me but had a very similar upbringing to me and lived a few streets away who went on to achieve a certain fame of her own, writing in her unpublished autobiography: “I am a child of Gorton, Manchester. Infamous I have become disowned. But I am one of your own.” - Myra Hindley. I am emphatically not one of Myra’s own.
Which brings me neatly on to Maxine, who gave such an excellent performance as Myra in the TV production of the Moors Murders (and if that’s not the clumsiest segue ever written I don’t know what is.) I stand by exactly what I said about unpaid performers and if anything your responses have underlined my entire argument for me. The feeling and joy you may have felt in the room from watching people perform for nothing might nourish your soul but it does not put bread on their table. I absolutely stand by everything I said about unpaid work. I know the argument is that they are not professional performers so they are not entitled to the same pay, or any pay at all, but a waitress is not a professional chef and nor is the dishwasher and I still expect them to get paid for their part in the process of making dinner for paying customers. Sorry to say, but if you’re justifying this behaviour then you’re one of the gatekeepers I’m complaining about. It’s not just Maxine, Simon Stephens did it as well with Fatherland. Aeschylus gets a pass because he’s been dead for about two and a half millennia now. It might take me the same amount of time to come round to agreeing with you on this one.
All of those places you’ve mentioned are great and as I said in my piece, the fringe scene in Manchester is positively open to everyone. I stand by that too and yes, I would love to come and see some stuff from the Den. The first play I ever wrote was performed for a paying audience at the Contact - and I was paid for it as well. Not much, but it was something. As you know yourself, it’s quite the feeling to hear people applauding and cheering your words and getting the recognition for it you didn’t think was possible, especially because I was well into my 50s when it happened and had little experience of theatre even as an audience member. Given all those places you’ve mentioned and all the positive work that’s being done and you being by far and away the most high profile commentator on this thread you will find my question very easy to answer: who, right now, from a working class background in Manchester and surrounding areas, is writing plays that people will still be packing out theatres for in 50, 60 or 70 years time? Because I’m not seeing any. If you and others are the Joan Littlewoods of our time then where are the Shelalgh Delaneys, or the Trevor Griffiths? Lots of people on this thread have mentioned their favourite writers of working class origin - how many of them are even still alive? That should be telling us something. Maybe that’s the subject of a connected but different conversation.
Sorry, but I have no interest at all in Take Back, your activist theatre group. I know a lot of people like that kind of thing and a few people on this thread have mentioned their favourite left wing theatre groups of the past. Fair play if that’s the kind of thing you like, but I wouldn’t join in with it any more than I would a right wing theatre group, if such a thing could ever exist. You’ve worked hard to put all that together and you deserve the success you have. But I’d rather make my own way thanks all the same. Who knows, maybe something in the future will throw us together. Even though I fundamentally disagree with you on many things, life has a strange way of working out like that.
Thank you for your good wishes. I also wish you well. Terrific work on The Great Post Office Scandal, by the way. I mean that. Just don’t get me started on the middle and upper class barristers who persuaded clearly innocent people to plead guilty to offences they hadn’t committed. That really will get my hackles up.
All the best.
Thanks Julie for this valuable information .
Lots to cover here but I want to pick up on just two things:
1.) The reason for that question about parents' jobs at the age of 14 is specifically to be able to support working class people.
There are lots of people working in the arts making no money and their class can't be parsed from their current scoio-economic information. For instance, my job title marks me out as middle class. My parents' jobs when I was younger speak to my working class roots.
Conversely, there are people who have been able to exist by scraping a living in the arts because they come from generational wealth. The answer to that question makes it clearer.
The organisation I work for has benefitted from that approach to understanding socio-economic factors as it's a similar story for the rest of my team and Board of Trustees. This has helped us secure Arts Council funding for some projects.
By the sounds of it, the writer would benefit from that too. Yes, anyone can lie but then they can lie about lots of things in an application can't they? There has to be some trust somewhere.
2.) Some of the things asked for are underway.
The Arts Council isn't perfect and they could possibly benefit from, say, a music industry A&R approach with specialists seeking and nurturing new talent. However, they have recently implemented a programme where relationship managers hold local surgeries for artists and organisations who haven't been funded by them to seek advice on how to apply.
On a related note, in the GM borough where my organisation is based the bigger arts orgs run a collective which is deigned to support new and developing artists or people who want to work in the sector. We do this with small, easy to apply for grants, match-funding for Arts Council grants. We've just launched a bursary fund to provide self-employed artists with funding to attend network meetings and training events. This is done with a mix of funding from GMCA, the Cultural Development Fund and Arts Council money.
It's also worth pointing out that when arts orgs jump through hoops to get funding from grantmakers such as the Arts Council, Children In Need, The Postcode Lottery, etc and foundational trusts we often have to include monitoring data about who benefits from the funding- staff, artists, contracted workers, participants and audiences. Metrics include diversity and economic factors. In fact, some funders won't consider any organisation unless they are working in deprived areas. This definitely cannot be lied about because it's based on government data on a public database which maps to postcodes.
It's not perfect - it never will be- but there is a lot happening to democratise arts and culture. I'm sure the author hasn't missed the fallout from the last round of Arts Council National Portfolio funding with elite arts orgs like the ENO being directed away from London? That is the plan to diversify in action.
The Arts Council killed off our local theatre Oldham Coliseum which appeared to tick all the boxes: good local support, good community links, a working-class audience who would never go to the Royal Exchange so frankly employing "relationship managers" does not impress me.
I'm afraid it's well documented that The Coliseum was poorly managed. There's a publicly availabble independent report produced by the CEO of the local VCSFE support organisation- Action Together- who have no connection to The Arts Council (ACE), on what went wrong. I have read the report because I had heard rumours and wanted to ensure my own organisation is managed and governed correctly.
The Coliseum management and Board were consistently warned about ACE's concerns in the year or so in the run up to the NPO funding round where they were unsuccessful. They failed to heed these warnings or allay ACE's concerns about their failure to use public money properly. It wouldn't be right for ACE to fund a plan that wasn't viable. The Arts Council didn't kill The Coliseum off I'm afraid. The Coliseum did.
Don't forget that Oldham will have new premises in which The Coliseum will ride again, funded by... The Arts Council.
Btw- the Arts Council has always had relationship managers. They work with funded organisations. The change is that they are being made available to artists and organisations who aren't funded to provide advice to help them secure funding in what can seem like a closed shop to outsiders. The objective is to make public money available to more people who might feel unable to try. It's a positive move in democratising arts and culture.
If a bid for funds is written that doesn't meet the criteria in a fair, transparent and competitive process, then it's not the failing of the Arts Council, it's the failing of a bid. One can criticise the system of bidding for funds (all charities have to bid for funds), and we can debate what criteria looks like, but a bid that doesn't score the right amount of points is a bid that doesn't get public money and that can never be blamed on the funder of any kind. All funders who have public money must ensure it is spent correctly and so the system that is used is the bidding one. I guess until someone changes that system across the country that is the situation charities are in. A bid that doesn't meet the criteria cannot be blamed on the funder.
Thanks for all of this, David. Some fantastic points in there and thanks for taking the time to give a broader picture.
Thanks Robert.
I enjoyed your piece and I share your concerns about arts & culture being less than viable as a career for many. I thought it was worth sharing there is at least some desire to tackle this on the part of the Arts Council and other funders.
Great article, well done.
Classism is still deeply embedded into our society and one of the clumsiest and most offensive ways that people are stereotyped or popped into ‘their place’ is by their accent.
Whether through conscious or unconscious bias, the gatekeepers are still the white middle class and as a - ‘judged to be’ - working class person, you spend so much mental effort your entire life trying to battle through such prejudice.
You remind me of when my daughter, who has a PhD, was at an Oxford seminar where she was the only person with a Northern accent and was told by a
delegate that the reason educational attainment was lower in the north is that “there are no universities up there”.
The best article on class that the Mill has published so far (and I welcome opinion pieces in The Mill) . There was a brief period in the 60s and 70s when drama about class and connected issues could be seen on television in series such as Armchair Theatre, 30 Minute Theatre, The Wednesday Play, Play for Today etc although mostly written by men with the odd exception such as Julia Jones, Nell Dunn, Paula Milne, Naomi Lethbridge etc. In the theatre, there was a wave of politically committed theatre groups eg Red Ladder , Monstrous Regiment, CAST, 7: 84 and locally, North West Spanner but the grants were chopped and the political atmosphere swung to the right and they folded . (recommend "Blood Red Roses" created by 7:84 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okNc0ohF1ew) The arts is dominated by the middle class and upper middle class, seemingly in thrall to identity politics with no conception of how class works or its complexity. On television Johnny Speight's "Till Death Us Do Part" showed a working class Conservative brilliantly portrayed by Warren Mitchell. Judging by the support for Reform he and his views have not gone away but this would never be commissioned now. The Mill should make Robert your drama correspondent and reviewer.
Totally agree. Btw it was nice to be reminded of those smashing left wing theatre groups, especially Spanner, whose members I knew.
There is an article about them by Ernie Dalton in an issue I edited of the North West Labour History, no 27, 2002, on the North in the 1970s https://www.nwlh.org.uk/?q=content/back-issues
Really interesting read - and great writing. It would be interesting to hear about examples or initiatives (if there are any)that are addressing this issue and are having some success - even if this were outside the region.
Sorry Robert, just to clarify- the Take back writing sessions aren’t a left wing thing, just so you know. They’re just run by us to create a kind environment to write in and support each other, to create a bit of a community when it can feel very lonely sometimes as you know. In answer to your question about exciting working class writers in Manchester right now, I can offer up David Judge, Lauren-Nicole Mayes, Cathy Crabb, Lauryn Redding, Zoe Iqbal, Rebekkah Harrison, Laura Harper, Eve Steele, James Harker.
I feel your response to me was a little bit more combative than invited by my comment, Robert! I hope our paths do cross and I hope I didn’t upset you with my thoughts on your interesting article. Obviously I would prefer everyone to be paid and properly! I’m a trade unionist. But I did want to nod to the huge amounts of work being done behind the scenes to open up our theatres to people from all backgrounds.
And yes I get it about the acronym. I think perhaps it’s come about less to lump us all together, but to acknowledge that within the class there are levels of disadvantage- and if you come from a family where there has been incarceration, that comes with its own huge challenges. And it is a different thing to grow up in a working class home like I did, and a home where people are struggling on benefits or in temporary homelessness, or are carers, or have fallen out of the system altogether. That’s why I used it because I think sometimes we think of working class as one thing when it actually encompasses many things. I just wanted to explain why I chose to use it. Wishing you all the best x
Sorry to come to this late. I agree it was an interesting article but it could have been (and almost certainly was) written any time in the past fifty years (possibly longer). I think, though, there are two different issues relating to who gets access to the arts - audiences and artists.
Theatre has not been a mass market medium for a long time - replaced first by film, then TV and now the online/digital world. The exception being in outdoor arts (full disclosure - it the area I work in) which does attract people from all strata of society - come to SIRF (www.sirf.co.uk) to meet an informed and knowledgable working class audience.
Theatre. as a profession, did attract people from the working class in its heyday because it was a possible route to fame and fortune if you were talented and/or lucky (as sport is nowadays). I suspect that creative individuals from working class or poorer backgrounds now choose music or various forms of digital media to express themselves in the hope of reaching a big audience (or just enjoying themselves).
This is just a gut reaction and maybe I’m wrong but isn’t it all about what you like?
It’s mostly the culture you grow up in. As a child from a working class home I was taken to the dog races, to football, once to a pantomime and of course to the ‘pictures’ as we called the movies then. That’s what I was used to - and what I enjoyed. It doesn’t seem to me any less valid than any other form of entertainment. And you don’t have to get stuck there if you don’t like - you can go to the theatre (much cheaper than football these days) if you like. My intro to the theatre was a series of Dario Fo / Franca Rame farces in Manchester and Oldham. (I know they’re about very serious things but those productions were so funny!) I got some people from the community centre to go to a couple and they loved it. And I saw then how powerful the theatre could be - engaging and respecting its the audience while entertaining them as well as challenging them. But that’s my choice. If your idea of entertainment is relaxation with loads of special effects and action - (and we have to acknowledge this kind of entertainment pays its own way because it’s so popular) so be it. I don't see it matters that different classes tend to like different types of entertainment. Ofcourse some films and some plays/productions can span class cultures - like e.g the Warhorse stage production. Then it’s magic but that also demands genius which we can’t expect every time. In the meantime different classes tend to enjoy different things. Why is that a problem?
It isn't a problem to enjoy all of those things that you mention but the article does in my view hit a number of sore points about the British class system that allows the more economically privileged to determine what is 'good' for the masses and act as a filter for the less educated to provide a narrower focus on the arts.
I appreciate that money is the driver for the pap that fills commercial theatre and much of tv, but the £200m plus spent upon Factory International could have seeded half a dozen rep theatres such as the Library Theatre through which I came to appreciate live theatre (I watched "Play for the day" too on tv as a child too as my parents were weirdly relaxed about these things).
Having prestige venues may look good for the metropolitan image that Manchester's movers and shakers seek to cultivate but it reduces the funding to support a more socially or racially inclusive set of writers,directors musicians and backstage technicians. I don't believe that the public which supports these decisions via its taxes gets much of a chance to shape what we experience in the arts nor indeed in public broadcasting as exemplified by that bastion of privilege the BBC .It is the "Same old same old" just as in education and training and the myriad of other areas that could be influenced by the users of these services but isn't.If Engels the adopted local lad (yes he did live in Manchester when not fox hunting in Cheshire,) were alive today he would probably write about the struggles between the producer and consumer classes to shape public opinion and outcomes not purely those struggles of the worker versus rentie to extract a living wage.
Still miss the Library Theatre which had a good audience amongst Mancunians for its productions - Brecht, Ayckbourn etc , almost none of whom I suspect transferred to Home
I'm 100% with you on missing the Library Theatre.... I genuinely still do!
A superb article Robert that gets to the roots of the difficulties experienced In 'getting a foot in the door' of the creative industries even today.
I'm old enough not to be classless or part of that 'we're all middle class now' ideology.
I was brought up in North East Manchester close to town and resolutely working class but my Dad who'd been denied a Grammer school education due to cost was aspirational for his four children. I was the only one who went into higher education but it was by the back door having failed my 11+ . I transferred to the amazingly unique Manchester High School of Art that stood opposite to Strangeways prison thanks to an art teacher at my secondary school.
I suppose you could say that opportunity was not available to all but there was a sizeable group who due to their artistic abilities joined the school post 11+ having failed that exam and most were from poorer homes across the city .
The school closed in the early 80s and Manchester is the poorer for it. Where the kids of today can hone their creative skills apart from the voluntary sector ,I don't know.
Thank you, Anne.
While not necessarily agreeing with everything in the article and being nauseated by everyone’s continuing obsession with an outmoded concept of ‘class’, the Royal Exchange is a true bastion of privilege; posh shows for posh people at posh prices. While they were putting out urgent and affordable work in the studio I was happy enough to- but now that’s gone I give it a swerve. However I’m not fussed as I see lots of terrific, inclusive work at all manner of places (especially 53two and the kings arms) and at bargain prices.
"outmoded concept of 'class'" ? the mill workers are now care workers and pickers at Amazon, while the gaps between rich and poor is wider than it was in C19th and little has changed. Much of the fringe theatre we have seen recently seems obsessed with "identity" and ignores issues of poverty, exploitation, stoking of racism, class, the modish antiwomen agitation of much of the left etc.. The writers should look at the work of Brecht, Jim Allen, Trevor Griffiths, Johnny Speight etc
i didn't mean that the divide between rich and poor had improved any - i just think the way we try to define people and their problems through the prism of 'class' is unhelpful, backward-looking and self-fulfilling. the drama i'm seeing at smaller places i find socially relevant. all the best simon
You can ignore the elephant in the room if you wish..but it's still there, Simon. ps Brecht's poem "A Worker Reads History" still seems very relevant https://allpoetry.com/A-Worker-Reads-History
bit garbled that - can’t find an edit button, sadly.
Try the ....on the right hand side.
Excellent article
Hasn't changed in 20 years it must!
I don’t know where to start with dance.
Interesting opinion piece, thanks to Robert for writing it. I think about the issue of networks, privilege, financial stability and the way they dictate who does and doesn't get a break a lot. I have my own experiences that colour my opinion, but I'm aware that I'm in my 50s and my life experience is vastly different to that of people in their 20s who are from a similar working class/socioeconomic background to me. I'd love to read an opinion piece by someone from the current generation who can speak to what it's like now to pursue a career in the arts. From his comment here, David A might know someone. Sophie/Jack/Joshi are you up for that? (I will now check the archive in case you've run a piece and I missed it.)
Interesting article, but frustrated by not knowing what HOME was! I am no longer a Manchester resident! Going to the theatre in London (if you can afford it), it’s almost a 100% white audience. Saw the Boys From The Blackstuff production, a couple of weeks ago! Can’t believe it could not have been done better! Saw The Jungle Book at Aviva, our 5 year old grandson slept through it, that again was very poor! What is going on?
Thanks, James, and my apologies for not making clear what HOME is. Not sure when you last lived in Manchester but HOME was meant to incorporate what was the best of Cornerhouse and the Library Theatre, both of which closed a few years back. While I can't speak for everyone I think the general consensus is that the cinema part (Cornerhouse) has been pretty successful. The theatre part of HOME, however, might generously be described as - a bit patchy.