By Lorna Nickson-Brown

BIRMINGHAM, UK – For centuries, theater has been at the forefront of a Brit's leisure interest, with theater-going being a regular activity among most families. But nowadays, the theater is increasingly replaced by the play-station game, and the once desirable evening performances ditched for a reality TV show.

In Shakespeare’s day, whether standing in an open courtyard or sitting in a covered gallery, theater was enjoyed by all spectators from all divisions of society. In a recent survey taken at Kings Norton Girl’s School in Birmingham (UK), however, only one out of 100 young people, aged between 14-16, named theatre as their preferred leisure interest. The majority of the teenagers described their experience of the theater as either "un-cool" or simply "too expensive."

The survey, carried out by Year 12 Theater Studies students, supported findings carried out by the Gallup Organization in February 2007. This study showed that the theatre is the chosen leisure activity of a mere 16 per cent of young Europeans, aged between 15-30, while watching TV comes out with 19 per cent.

These results are supported by figures of consumer spending. According to The Stage, a UK-based newspaper that covers the performing arts industry, £850 million are spent in Britain each year on tickets for live performances, while £26 billion is spent on recorded performances.

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But what can be done to rekindle this once thriving industry among Britain‘s youth? Many argue that young people need to made aware of and provided access to the numerous theatrical opportunities surrounding them.

Jasmine Woodcock-Stewart, a Theater Studies student in Birmingham, described the lack of motivation among young people to pay "£50 for a ticket about Shakespeare when they can just as easily watch Eastenders, for free, on TV." She believes that "most theatre nowadays is not accessible to young people and this needs to change."

In Birmingham, which is considered UK’s second [largest?] city after London, there are a large number of community-based projects available to young people. Despite this, many people are unaware of them or carry the general view that this so-called elite culture is unapproachable.

Organizations such as the National Youth Theater of Great Britain pride themselves on working with people from a range of backgrounds who would not usually engage with the theater. Local theaters in the UK have set up satellite theatre workshops in disadvantaged areas, encouraging people who cannot manage to travel to mainstream theatre to still be involved in the theatrical world.

Richard Watson, assistant director of the Birmingham Rep's satellite youth group, believes that "the best way to get young people interested in theater is to enable them to see a great show." Many believe that the lowering of ticket prices and advertizing a range of shows in regional venues, not only in London’s West End, will help introduce many more young people to the unique experience of the theatre.

Nicolas Abbey, a theater student at Birmingham’s Young Rep, described the thrill of theatre’s "immediacy and its live danger and risk," in a note of optimism toward theater's revival among today’s generation.

Former artistic director of the National Theatre, Sir Richard Eyre, has also voiced his confidence in the future of British theatre. In an interview with the BBC, he said: "People will continue to come to the theatre if it's more intense than ordinary life, if it's ambitious in form and content, and if the seats are cheap."