British Theatre Before & After Covid

Professor Dan Rebellato (Royal Holloway) joins Professor Sos Eltis and Professor Kirsten Shepherd to discuss his groundbreaking new report: British Theatre Before & After Covid.

Released in November 2025, the report was written by Dan and playwright David Edgar and produced by the British Theatre Consortium. Based on aggregated box office data from 139 commercial, not-for-profit and subsidised theatres throughout the country, it asks what really happened to theatre before and after Covid.

Did theatre activity decline or did it quickly recover? What happened to drama, musicals, new work and adaptations? Did London's dominance increase or decrease, and did ticket prices go through the roof? Did the proportion of new plays written by women reduce or grow?

Read the report, and join us for a discussion on the state of British theatre today.

Seminar room 00.063.