National Theatre director Nicholas Hytner thanks the British government for its generous funding. But it’s time to stop asking artists to do the heavy lifting for social good, he writes. “There’s evidently a thing called the young audience and everybody accepts that it’s a good thing. And there’s also a white, middle class, middle-aged audience and it’s a very, very bad thing indeed. Until recently, the National Theatre’s audience was getting worse reviews than some of its shows. Then somebody noticed some kids in the house with studs through their noses, and the reviews looked up. We have to call a halt to this. There’s nothing inherently good about any particular audience. We mustn’t judge the success of an artistic enterprise by its ability to pull in an Officially Approved Crowd.”