Theatre crisis - 'We need to look west for the answers'

The King's is one of Edinburgh's best-loved institutions, known for good reason as "the people's theatre", and its Nicolson Street counterpart has forged its own place in the cultural life of the Capital over the last 17 years.

But their plight will leave many people wondering, after many years of financial struggle, whether anything can be done to put them back on the right track.

Is Edinburgh just too small a city to support three large theatres outside of Festival time?

There is a tale of two cities that our cultural leaders would do well to study - and it has nothing to do with Charles Dickens.

Both Glasgow and Edinburgh boast popular King's theatres built around a century ago which continue to be packed for their popular pantos. There the comparison ends.

Ours is about to be mothballed for 37 weeks of the year as it struggles to pay its way and to find the 12 million-plus needed to modernise the building.

By contrast, the Glasgow King's has rarely looked back since ticket sales soared by 37 per cent after the council handed over its running to the privately-owned Ambassador Theatre Group in 2002.

Crowd pleasers like Frankie Boyle and the Queen musical We Will Rock You have helped it thrive alongside the city's Pavilion and Theatre Royal. An impressive 600,000 has even been raised in 18 months towards its refurbishment thanks to an imaginative 1 levy on every ticket sold.

Before pulling the curtain on any more shows, we need to look west for answers to our theatre crisis.

Delayed departure

THE continuing expansion of Edinburgh Airport not only gives us an ever-greater choice of holiday destinations to fly to from our doorstep but also plays a crucial role in the success of the city's economy as a whole.

A direct road link from the M8 to the airport would not only support its future growth but also vastly improve transport links to and from some of the most promising development sites in Edinburgh. That might just make the difference between a major new employer choosing to locate here and opting for somewhere else.

But with a hefty price tag of 50 million, even without the city council's opposition, there is little chance of the project making much progress any time soon.