It’s an age thing

Rupert Penry-Jones’ comment (APe-Mail 17 February) that young people need to be lured into a theatre now or suffer empty theatres in 15 years assumes that without free tickets at 20, we won’t consider buying one at 40. I wholly endorse the principle of investment in the arts for young people, but I have number of concerns with this scheme. Its basic premise that we won’t go to the theatre when we are older if we didn’t go as young adults is not applicable to all. Even if it were true, we’d have to give away a lot more than 618,000 tickets in two years to make an appreciable difference in 15. There’s a risk that free tickets places a false value upon artistic endeavour.

More importantly, you don’t find Saga Holidays offering free taster weekends in Bournemouth to the under 25s for fear of losing them when they become prime market prospects some 30 years on. It’s an age thing. There comes a time when you enjoy the pleasure of discovery at an age when you’re ripe for it. We shouldn’t panic. Large numbers of children experience the magic of theatre at a much more influential stage – pantomime or Roald Dahl-type shows. No need to dispense free tickets to fill theatres for such shows. Young people grow up pursuing their choice of creative pursuit more in tune with their hormones and attention spans. As maturity to sets in, the allure of the spoken word, while seated thigh-to-thigh in a darkened room, acquires an appeal.
My final concern is that just as theatres learn how best to invest this money, it’ll be whipped away. There are more effective ways of to inspire young people and market our theatres than a free ticket. If intended as more than a quick-fix political gesture by the government. Arts Council England and its clients must be given time to discover them.