DEAR Editor – I had to check the year when reading your front page on Thursday’s front page (Theatre ‘woke clique’ under fire, December 2).

What on earth is Cllr Alan Amos on about? Apparently he (with zero authority) is threatening to cut the grant to Worcester Theatres on the basis that they had decided to pull the show by so-called funny man Andrew Lawrence.

Mr Lawrence was one of many who in the summer, decided to tweet his thoughts on the missed penalties by three members of the English football team.

In isolation his comments are as funny as a bout of Covid but they were part of a concentrated body of deeply unpleasant racism aimed at three young black footballers.

Worcester Theatres would not have been driven by any sense of ‘wokeness’ but by a sense of doing what they and other theatres thought was the right thing to do which was they pulled the show. Frankly, it’s up to them. 

Cllr Amos, like an increasing number of right wing politicians, wants to have his 70s cake and eat it.

He complains of a clique within the theatre and that audiences should be allowed to see what they want. Problem is for decades some of what has been on offer has been narrow, outdated and offensive. Programmes have failed to represent the increasingly diverse audiences that are out there.

In other words, the motive of Cllr Amos is to maintain an outdated status quo which increasingly is as redundant as hopefully he will be at the next council election.

Oh, and may I suggest Worcester Theatres putting on The Seagull especially for him in their next season.

Steve Wilson

Worcester