Decline of drama at school prompts UK training drive for backstage work

London: The decline of drama as a school subject has had a serious knock-on effect on the live entertainment business. While it is harder now for a budding star to imagine a stage career, the more immediate impact is on theatres’ skills and craft departments.

The problem is a top priority for Indhu Rubasingham, two weeks into her high-profile job as artistic director at National Theatre. Now she and the NT’s executive director and co-chief executive, Kate Varah, are announcing a move to boost the supply of skilled workers across the country, from costume designers and makers to set creators and computer technicians.

“This is a fast-growing sector, but the scale of this problem is putting it all at risk. A nationwide training drive is the answer,” Varah told the Observer. “Performing arts subjects have seen a 68% drop in student numbers, while the figures for those taking GCSEs have dropped by 47% and A-levels by 29%.

“The result is that young people are not even thinking of theatre as a ­viable industry, whatever kind of backstage work they might otherwise have gone into.”

The NT is to fund expansion of its National Theatre Skills Centre over three years, with the help of a new and “significant” corporate partnership with Bank of America.

Kate Varah, the National Theatre’s executive director and co-chief executive, says a nationwide drive is needed to recruit more backstage workers.

The centre, based in the theatre on London’s Southbank, currently offers placements, training courses, apprenticeships and work across all the NT’s departments, from costumes, to scenery, to computer technology. The new money from Bank of America will allow the NT’s craftspeople to take time out to teach trainees.

One of those already benefiting is Sarah Ray-Dobson, an apprentice in the props department. “This is the first time I’ve worked in a theatre,” she said. “Prop making is a career I had never considered for myself, but I’m really enjoying it. I’ve also never seen an arts-based apprenticeship before, so I never thought that was even an available route.

“All of the skills I’ve learned here can be applicable to other areas. I’ve been learning carpentry skills, furniture making and painting, including wood graining and glazing, which would definitely be helpful with my future projects.”

Varah said: “We have a job vacancy rate of about 30% in the cultural sector and this is down to the skilled worker shortage. Things on the horizon, like AI, may change the landscape and could help around the edges, but it’s not really going to make a dent, and, what’s more, there are plenty of people who want to do it.’

Research by Ravensbourne University London shows that 75% of 18- to 25-year-olds want to work in the creative industries, she said. “But they don’t see how to get access to it, or what the first steps are. That’s our job and our brand, really, as the National Theatre; it’s part of our remit to make it clear to them.”

At the Nottingham Playhouse, chief executive Stephanie Sirr said they were “having to advertise vacancies two, three or even four times”.

“The shortage has taken us slightly by surprise. It is worrying,” said Sirr, who is also joint president of UK Theatre, the membership organisation for theatre producers, managers, owners and operators. The problem in Nottingham and elsewhere, she suggests, has been exacerbated by the dearth of old-fashioned apprenticeships.

“These always attracted clever, practical people who sometimes went into the theatre. It’s very ­different from a decade ago. People are not coming through the normal pipelines because kids are not doing drama in school and so are not making props, or doing the lighting, or painting scenery.”

The lack of new blood, Sirr added, meant that experienced workers were at a premium: “If we don’t have ­trainees, older workers can never retire. And some of these jobs are quite physical. We are also losing some trained young people to the live music industry, or to film and television, which pay better.”

Varah believes that merely publicising the existence of the centre, launched last autumn, outside London will establish it as a beacon for the whole industry. She believes the NT can point more trainees in the right direction and will benefit 15,000 people over the next three years.

Varah said: “The relationship between the creative industry and the education sector is at the centre of all this. It’s about ensuring there are sufficiently trained people to go forward, so we need teachers who can go into the expressive arts at GCSE level and start building the confidence for people to pursue a career in that area. But we also need to use a partnership like this to create the gateway for those who are trained. At the moment they’re not seeing that path, so it’s brilliant.”

Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, has welcomed the scheme. It would “open up opportunities and drive growth,” she said, adding: “We want to break down barriers to entering careers in our world-leading creative industries by ensuring that young people across the country are able to have access to skills and training.”

The government has identified the creative industries as one of eight “growth-driving sectors” in its industrial strategy, although its own data shows that 60% of theatres have reported worsening staff shortages since 2019.

This article was amended on 13 April 2025. An earlier version omitted to say that Kate Varah was the co-chief executive as well as the executive director.