Julie Hesmondhalgh warns funding pressures are eroding regional theatre identities
Actor Julie Hesmondhalgh has warned that UK regional theatres are losing their distinctive local identity due to funding pressures forcing increased co-productions with other venues. Rather than telling locally rooted stories that resonate with their communities, these financial imperatives push theatres towards generic productions, which matters because it affects the cultural distinctiveness of theatres across the nation and the types of stories audiences get to experience.
Hesmondhalgh pointed to James Graham's Punch, which premiered at Nottingham Playhouse in 2024 based on a true local story of a one-punch death, as an example of successful locally rooted theatre. The production earned her an Olivier award and progressed to the West End, UK tour, and Broadway, proving that local stories can achieve broader appeal. She is now guest curator for Oldham Coliseum's reopening programme, where she is championing "regionally specific work" and emphasised the visceral audience response to productions that genuinely resonate with their communities. This month, she receives a lifetime achievement award from Theatres Trust's Great British Theatres awards in recognition of her advocacy for equitable theatre access.
- Regional theatre funding crisis threatens loss of locally distinctive productions.
- Local stories succeed commercially: 'Punch' went from Nottingham to Broadway.
- Actor urges theatres to prioritise regional identity despite financial pressures.
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Regional theatres across the UK have traditionally created productions rooted in their local communities and stories. In recent years, many have faced significant financial pressures, leading them to share resources on co-productions with other theatres. This financial shift raises questions about what happens to theatre's local distinctiveness when budgets tighten.
Some theatre professionals argue that shared co-productions can erode the distinctive character traditionally associated with regional venues. Theatres may focus on producing more generic work instead of stories with particular resonance for their own communities. Actor Julie Hesmondhalgh has advocated for locally rooted productions, pointing to Nottingham Playhouse's 2024 production Punch—based on a true local story—which later reached larger audiences through West End and international transfers.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
The concern about preserving regional theatre identities reflects something genuinely important: these venues serve as cultural anchors for their communities and provide platforms for locally rooted stories that major commercial theatres wouldn't otherwise stage. As Hesmondhalgh demonstrates through Punch, audiences respond authentically and passionately to work that speaks directly to their lived experience, and such productions can achieve unexpected commercial success without compromising artistic integrity. The loss of this distinctive cultural role—driven by financial pressures forcing standardised co-productions—represents a real erosion of the diversity of voices and stories available within British theatre, potentially concentrating cultural production in London and reducing what makes regional theatres distinctive and valuable to their audiences.
The case against
Regional theatres face genuine financial constraints that make co-productions and collaborative ventures essential for survival rather than culturally corrosive compromises. Pooling resources across venues can improve production values, stabilise funding, and allow smaller theatres to present more ambitious work than they could alone—benefits that ultimately serve both artistic quality and audience experience. Moreover, theatres can maintain artistic distinctiveness whilst participating in partnerships; co-productions don't preclude locally rooted storytelling, and insisting on exclusively local work may actually limit the diversity of theatrical experiences available to regional audiences. The real challenge is ensuring financial sustainability so that regional theatres exist at all—and sometimes that requires accepting collaborative models that prioritise viability over a purist approach to local identity.
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Originally published by The Guardian as “Celebrity Traitors’ Julie Hesmondhalgh: theatres should be 100% faithful to ‘local stories’”.