The recent warnings from Paul Roseby OBE—discussed with Christopher Eccleston on BBC Radio 4’s Artworks—address a crisis that extends beyond the theatre; they describe a dismantling of our social infrastructure.
As Roseby and Eccleston investigated the decline of drama in schools, the message was clear: when school stages are removed, a vital cultural pipeline is severed. The “outliers” who do not fit a standard academic mould are being structurally excluded from our national story.
The Last Harvest, NYT – Credit & copyright: Helen Murray
This is a matter of access.
We saw the raw talent and physical vitality of these actors at Soulton; that energy should not be a luxury reserved for those who can afford it.
Soulton Hall’s involvement is a matter of historical consistency. Sir Rowland Hill, was a primary architect of this cultural pipeline. In the 1500s, he and John Gresham revived London’s Midsummer Watches and he supported the St Catherine’s Fair in Ludlow to ensure performers had a public platform during a time of national instability.
National Youth Theatre perfoing THE LAST HARVEST at Soulton Hall
The architecture of the house itself is a physical commitment to this principle. Built as a literal theatre screen, it features a cavea and a chorus in the Epidaurus Court—a space directly inspired by the geometry of ancient Greek theatres. It was designed to provide a physical setting for human harmony and to protect cultural “seeds.“
This history is reflected in As You Like It, where Shakespeare renamed the hero’s father “Old Sir Rowland” to acknowledge Hill’s role in providing “responsible accommodation” for those in exile. Our Dancing Pavement—a physical record of the “Dance of Harmony” from the play—serves as a blueprint for a stable society.
The National Youth Theatre performing Animal Farm at Soulton
Soulton Hall has acted as a shield for the arts for centuries.
We stood with the NYT and Paul Roseby in 2020 when the pandemic closed the theatres, and we stand with them now against policies that undermine the foundations of the national imagination.
