Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Britain’s favourite play by Shakespeare, Stoppard or Shaw?

An online survey of the public’s dramatic preferences by English Touring Theatre will tell us much about the state of theatre today.

'A Midsummer Night’s Dream': Dominic Cavendish's favourite play. What's yours?
'A Midsummer Night’s Dream', with Judi Dench: Dominic Cavendish's favourite play. What's yours? Photo: Alastair Muir
Do people know what’s good for them? In a fascinating exercise in devolved decision-making, English Touring Theatre (ETT) – under the directorship of Rachel Tackley – has posed a big question to the nation: what’s your favourite play?

The idea is to get a region-by-region snapshot, using an online survey, of what’s hot (and what’s not) and for the company to do its utmost, as it celebrates its 21st anniversary next year, to stage the best-loved works in some shape or form. Nine of the most popular plays will join the company’s regular touring schedule of 12 – making a neat 21 in total. The only stipulation is that the plays must be original, and written in English – which allows for a vast pool of eligible works, with everyone from Shakespeare, Sheridan, Shaw and Stoppard in the frame, to take an obvious letter of the alphabet for starters.

As an exercise in getting theatre-goers of every background and experience to rack their brains, and as a means of putting ETT on the map, it’s a shrewd move. Almost as soon as the curtain went up on the venture, it was the subject of much chatter, with amusing tweets from playwrights such as Mark Ravenhill requesting support from followers, and voting relayed in real-time over at the dedicated site, myfavouriteplay.com. It’s not exactly hold-the-front-page news to reveal that King Lear, Hamlet and Pygmalion were faring well initially but with some bold choices creeping in – Howard Barker’s The Castle, for instance – it’s no dead certainty what the final crop of favourites will be.

Of course, it’s hardly difficult to spot potential pitfalls. Producers worth their salt will have snapped up the rights to anything with half a hope of a profitable showing, and a living playwright may equally take a view that his or her work is best left on the shelf for the time being, rather than forming part of some touring jamboree. If you can rally enough support via social media, I suppose you could manipulate the results or sabotage them – some might find it a laugh to champion a dud. It will be interesting, too, to see whether in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, allegiances fall along nationalistic lines. 
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