What's in a name? West End casting directors raise concerns about celebrity trend

From Ncuti Gatwa in Born With Teeth to Alicia Vikander in The Lady from the Sea and Susan Sarandon in Mary Page Marlowe, there is no shortage of starry celebrities being cast for the West End in London right now.

- Nadia Khomami

It is a phenomenon happening in subsidised theatre too: Indhu Rubasingham's inaugural season at the National Theatre features the likes of screen favourites Paul Mescal and Nicola Coughlan.

But over the past few years, the propensity to cast film and TV stars for the stage has become a point of contention in an industry still struggling from funding cuts and changing audience habits after the Covid pandemic. While some believe big names can help entice audiences and sell tickets, others say they stop risk-averse theatres from taking a chance on smaller productions with unknown casts.

It was a debate freshly renewed this week when Nadine Rennie, co-chair of the Casting Directors' Guild, warned that the trend was "killing" the industry, and mid-scale theatres would be the first to go - despite being where the household names of the future cut their teeth.