David Hare wonders about the lack of ambition of British theatres and audiences compared to playwrights. “It is clear that much of the free theatre we once loved has become sclerotic, choked up by damp-palmed development officers and fetid sponsorship deals, and patrolled from the watchtowers by a bureaucratic Arts Police that has sought to rob the activity of its very point – its spontaneity – it is remarkable how many of us feel that even if it has been a lifetime of failure, it has not been a lifetime of waste.”