I have been astonished in the past months by the incredible talent and diversity among writers of new British musical theatre. The BEAM festival hosted by Mercury Musical Developments (MMD) and Musical Theatre Network (MTN) in March 2016 demonstrated the range and depth of talent among writers/composers as over 40 works were pitched or showcased in a couple of days. Since then, while exploring the possibility of employing some of these writers/creative teams to develop their work with our students at the University of Winchester, I have been impressed by the diversity of musical styles and the range of narrative structures being used. Musical theatre in this country incorporates a rich and varied melting pot of styles, genres, dramaturgies and creative processes.

The difficulty these incredible creative teams face is that there are insufficient outlets or audiences for new work. Universities around the country, like Winchester, have taken notice and are doing what we can by offering development opportunities for writers. This allows students to understand the creative process, to interact with emerging writers, to experience different dramaturgical processes and to input into devising or creating roles where there is no existing performance template. In the future these students may be the creators, the performers or the audiences for this new work, but there is a mountain to climb first.

We need more outlets for first, and crucially second and third, performances of these exciting new works – they need to be seen and heard. We need subsidised companies at all levels consciously to support new British musicals, and we need greater support for fringe and regional companies who are providing venues for new work.

Musical theatre is expensive simply because there are more people involved – it is the great collaborative art – so what to do? If each theatre-goer decided to attend one extra performance – and made it a new British musical – a ground swell of change might begin. Let’s lobby the Arts Council for support, but more importantly, lobby your local theatre to programme a new British musical – and then, crucially, get a crowd together to go and see it. As audiences let’s choose to support this great British art form by taking a chance on a new musical in whatever fringe, regional or national venue it appears. Audience interest changes arts policy, so let’s start now to support our writers and composers in social media, in print and with our bums on seats. Let’s sing new songs and tell new stories so that musical theatre remains a dynamic reflection of contemporary British culture.