Time Out at 40

See all Time Out's 40th birthday London heroes

Who are your London heroes?
‘Lilian Baylis. She was pretty amazing. She mapped out the theatre landscape of London and had a real sense of wanting to bring really good theatre to a really wide audience. And Joan Littlewood was really amazing for that as well. They were both just people that you would really want to meet – eccentric, gutsy ladies who went into working-class areas and said, “You really deserve the best theatre,” and made it happen against all the odds.’

What’s the biggest thing to happen in theatre in the past 40 years?
‘I think I am going to go for Martin Crimp’s "Attempts on Her Life" at the Royal Court in 1997. It was a whole new way of making theatre. It broke all the rules and it was a really exciting event to be at. It just felt like this whole thing called theatre was completely reinventing itself.’
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What is the future for theatre in London?
‘I think theatre in London is quite a long way behind the development of theatre in a lot of mainland European countries. I think there will come a point where theatre will suddenly realise it is a bit stuck in the nineteenth century. There’s a reliance on our literary tradition and somehow theatre’s just come to be associated with something a bit cosy and a bit well-behaved. I just think it’s weird because the same audience can go to the Tate Modern and expect something surprising and innovative and walk down the road to the National Theatre and expect something quite recognisable and familiar. But that will change.’

Complete the sentence: London is…
‘…a handjob round the back of the Vauxhall Tavern.’

See all Time Out's 40th birthday London heroes