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There’s good news and there’s bad news. The good news is that finally, the government has woken up to the crisis in the UK’s theatre industry and is putting some real money into supporting

it. The devil will be in the detail, but given where we were a week ago, this is a good move that should be applauded (while also being properly scrutinised). The bad news is that where

theatre was last week is still where it is now. Last week the government released a five step plan for getting theatres back open — but there were no dates against steps three to five. There

was also no sense of how theatres would be supported to reopen while socially distancing. Now the government has indicated that it doesn’t see theatres opening again this year. Some I know

were hoping to do so in the autumn. This will mean months of lost work, lost creativity, lost experiences. Months where audiences can’t sit in the dark and get lost in the mind of another.

For those of us who love theatre in all its forms, that’s a deeply painful blow. It is true that, right now, theatres need money to survive. But in a crisis, our response can all too often

be utilitarian. Obviously, the first question in this time of pandemic is how do we survive with our health and economy intact? But what are we surviving for? Churchill never actually asked

the famous rhetorical question, but the sentiment is right. Life can’t be just utilitarian — it has to contain beauty. As the song has it, give me bread but give me roses too. When we are

asked to prioritise in times of crisis, bread does come first, but we must never forget the roses. The austere right will rail against spending money on theatres, arguing that the state has

no business in feeding our souls. The left are prioritising public services and will rightly point out that theatre has a huge diversity problem. It does. Of course it does. But one of the

key reasons for that is that the working classes and those more likely to be poorer — which includes BAME people and those living with a disability — have been priced out of making art for a

living. The response to that requires more investment, not less. The answer to this isn’t to narrow theatre ever further to either the classics or popular musicals (not that there’s

anything wrong with either of these). It’s to create far greater opportunities to see and create theatre for everyone. Money is needed not just for the biggest and most famous theatres, but

for the fringe theatres, for the groups that go into schools and inspire young people to take part, for the groups thinking creatively about how to take theatre into communities. When I was

15, I had a featured role in a youth opera. I was one of around 40 kids taking part from schools all over Hackney. We rehearsed after school for about six months and performed on the South

Bank as well as at the Hackney Empire. Nothing in my life has been more character forming than this opportunity. The discipline alongside the chance to be and feel creative changed who I

grew up to be in fundamental ways. To explore different ways to express myself and to be truly collaborative in supporting others in doing so was mind expanding. This was an opportunity that

created bonds of friendships across rival schools, across class, gender and racial divides. It gave me an abiding love of theatre as a performer then and audience member and critic now.

This kind of life changing opportunity should be more widely available. Access to seeing and participating in a range of theatre from the bizarre to the brilliant should be on offer to

people of all ages up and down the country. But that will only come from valuing not just the commercial potential of theatre, but the much more ephemeral gifts it gives everyone. It comes

not from simply investing in shows that make money, but shows that touch lives. The theatre industry is right to be pleased about this much needed investment. But to truly capitalise on the

full potential that this artform has to offer, we need to understand why it is so missed and why the government needs to do everything it can to enable theatres to reopen safely and soon.

The government has rightly invested money in the future of this vital cultural asset. Now I’d like to see them invest its imagination too.