“Is British Theatre Guilty of Failing the Working Class.”

I think (based on family experience) children, especially boys in working class areas can be subjected to bullying by their peers if they show an interest even in, sad to say, stuff like reading for pleasure (as a teenager reading a book on a bench in the street a car pulled up and some men shouted "f***ing student!" at me and drove off. Well, made a change from the usual misogynistic abuse from men in cars!). This wasn't the case for my grandfather's generation - he was a factory worker in a Left-wing workers' theatre group and had shelves of books, and poets and opera singers would visit the Dunlop factory to give readings and perform. I think the devastation of factory closures and flight of the middle classes from many Northern areas with the knock-on of theatres, cinemas and bookshops closing - certainly the case in my home town in the 80s and 90s - has created an understandable insecurity which at the school my cousin went to meant being interested in reading, showing enthusiasm in class was attacked by peers for being somehow unmanly, not 'one of us'. Even how you spoke was policed by peers - Liverpool is one of the few regions where the accent has actually got stronger to the extent I sometimes pass people in the shops and it takes a few seconds to realise it's not East European. 

Yes - I think a case of factories not only giving security but also to a degree a cultural hub with the Workers' Educational Association and performances (Mum said Kathleen Ferrier performed at Dunlops, while C. Day Lewis - Daniel's dad - came to their school.). Related to the Mark Thomas programme (thank you, I'll seek it out) I remember Mark Steel - I think - saying once that his Mum thought "BBC2 isn't for the likes of us" ! TV scheduling used to be amazing: I've probably said this before, but the listings read like BFI South Bank film programming, arts shows at reasonable hours of the day showed clips from current stage productions, there were lengthy interviews with writers etc. (I hope old Arenas and Omnibuses turn up on the new BBC streaming service). It felt like there was a genuinely concerted effort to reach out, educate and inform: the arts are for everyone, not hidden behind a paywall.

Just to say I second what @emicardiff said about Bravo Figaro.

Cultural snobbery is for me one of the most ugly and unpleasant traits a person can have. I had a colleague with whom I'd discuss culture especially theatre, and when she heard me saying I liked pop music and various things she considered beneath her and somehow unworthy of me, a like minded culturephile, she was actually shocked. It was as if I'd let the side down. She once even said "I don't understand why you're so populist, I've been trying to work it out." TRYING TO WORK IT OUT?! I said, well don't bother. I just like stuff. But she couldn't comprehend this, she seemed to think I actually had some kind of agenda!

The Attenborough/wildlife docs thing is hilarious. My Dad liked wildlife docs so I grew up seeing them and didn't mind them but I've grown bored of them. I can't be bothered with them. Good one for the Unpopular Opinions thread - Attenborough's shows are boring.

Side note - I love the shock and outrage that greets any revelation that not everything in those docs is filmed in situ and that sound effects are added in the studio etc.

It's fantastic, one of my favourite shows. It's clearly made with so much love and affection for the characters and audience. I was cheering out loud at the finale (I've shed a few tears too), and there are very few series that have me worrying about the characters' fates like that. It's also packed with lovely references which are a joy to spot but never threaten to overwhelm or pull you out, but are instead part of Endeavour's alternative universe where the Crossroads Motel is a real place to stay, Raymond Duck is on the 4th floor of the Charing Cross Road and Thursday reads 'The Lone Rider of Santa Fe'.

I had one episode recommended to me which I dutifully watched. It was OK and while I didn't dislike it, neither did I feel any urge to watch more. I absolutely see the appeal of it and I love Allam.

Nicholas. I know we can’t afford books and libraries anymore. And I know taking kids from school to theatres is difficult. But we should try. Interesting development re boos: bookshelves at tube stations by me, northern line. You can give and you can take, all sorts, some for kids. Brilliant idea I think. So you can get your kid to read a book on the tube instead of staring into space while you fiddle with your phone ( not you, but the woman on the train the other day opposite me. I was so annoyed I was about to start a conversation with the kid but then you can be hauled off to prison for less)

Endeavour, best thing on tv. I wasn’t aware of any snob thing about it? Was that because it is on ITV? When I was a kid, ITV was a bit 'common' to use Alan Bennet's word that his mum used. Ah, those were the days 😂

Don't they do any young person schemes? Many theatres have special offers and even free performances designed to get young people through the doors. Maybe there are other issues coming into play - health and safety type stuff? - that make it a bit of a headache for schools.

My school was clearly very skint (geography books with maps of countries that no longer existed, English books with names of teachers in the front from when they were girls, music room books dated 1906, desks with inkwells, lessons in prefabs) and in one of the poorest parts of the country but we still managed theatre trips, locally and all the way to London to the NT.

There may be a Catch 22 here - schools thinking "well, why bother taking them if we're pressed for time? Theatre, film, TV is dominated by the middle and upper classes so they wouldn't have a chance to get into it anyway". And thus it remains "not for the likes of them" There may also be cultural / language issues and objections.

I do know some teachers with that attitude, including a teacher friend in a very low income area told off by the head for telling kids about Spain "because none of these children will ever go there".

Yes, if you live in a rural or even suburban area it's difficult. I grew up on the rural outskirts but went to an inner city school (neighbour with big car dropped us in on the way to work) and if I wanted to see a show or go to the arts cinema I'd take a change of clothes and get the bus into the city centre or train to Manchester after school: friends joked about my special rucksack I'd bring in when I had something to go to.

The opposite for me, ITV was the default, the BBC rarely got a look in. As for the fabled BBC2, only when the cricket, Wimbledon or something similar was on. When we got a portable in the kitchen, when I was about twelve or so, I could then go and watch things that I wanted to. So much of my education came from television - The World at War, Disappearing World, World in Action (plus other programmes without world in the title....)

The main channels have become much less keen on educating, that’s for sure. Post the second world war there wa a realisation that the people who did so much to ensure its success deserved to be treated as intelligent human beings, not just cannon fodder. That has withered to virtually nothing now.

Regarding television, the idea that the current populist trend in programming is ‘giving people what they want’ is patronising and short sighted, the strength of a nation is built from the ground up and our collective lack of knowledge about the world and how it works alongside not being given the tools to make informed decisions leads inevitably to our current situation.

How can we prosper if voters have no concept of trade and economics for example? It may serve politicians to have a populus who are supposed to just trust them but the rising lack of that trust is vastly amplified because lack of knowledge creates a people who have become too reliant on others who do not have their interests at heart, who are thus volatile and who are capable of self destruction. It’s a truism that a team is only as strong as its weakest link and, as a result, we are a damaged nation.