Lean times for children's theatre

On The Guardian Theatre Blog, Mike Kenny argues that there is a desperate need for more original plays for children to be commissioned and performed.

Be honest, can you name a person working consistently as a children's playwright? If you can, have you ever seen one of their plays? In such a landscape, you might wonder why I still plug away. Funnily enough, I entered the business in a boom time. For a while, from the late 60s till the 80s, theatre in education flourished. Every major city had an ensemble creating original work for children. Coventry Belgrade's Rare Earth Trilogy, and Killed, Theatre Centre's 1985, Leeds TIE's Raj, Cockpit's The First Casualty, Ludus's Power – all great lost pieces from companies cut in the 80s. We haven't got near to that quality and output, and now we're facing cuts again.