Exclusive: Actors call for all parties to back investment as figures suggest 16% cuts since 2017

Imelda Staunton and Olivia Colman have called on all political parties to urgently invest in the arts as research by Equity suggested funding in the UK has dropped by 16% since 2017.

The research, commissioned by the performing arts union and carried out by the Autonomy Institute, drew on funding data from Arts Council England, the Arts Council of Wales, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Creative Scotland over the past decade.

Company performing Shakespeare classic formed of 12 members who moved to small Uzhhorod town during war

Vyacheslav Yehorov was working at a film school creating art therapy for children when Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, forcing millions of Ukrainians to flee their homes.

Many took refuge in the small western town of Uzhhorod, which borders four EU countries. It was here that Yehorov – a student of directing within the performing arts – decided to realise his long-held dream of staging King Lear.

King Lear, directed by Viacheslav Yehorov, will be staged at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, on 14 and 15 June.

Michael Landy’s east London installation plays on creativity of phrases such as ‘apples and pears’ and ‘chew the fat’

Would you Adam and Eve it? Cockney rhyming slang, the lyrical patter that once punctuated daily life in London’s East End, is at risk of dying out as young people abandon its use.

That is the view of one artist who wants to reintroduce the dialect to a new generation of Londoners and international visitors by drawing attention to its creative nature.

Exclusive: Bafta-winner to join actors and young asylum seekers in 24-hour fundraising ‘Shakespeare marathon’

The Bafta-winning actor Toby Jones has highlighted the dehumanisation of refugees arriving in the UK in boats, and called the Rwanda deportation scheme the latest “in a long line of challenges” that asylum seekers have to face “just to survive”.

Jones, known for his extensive character actor roles on stage and screen, is taking part in a 24-hour “Shakespeare marathon” to fundraise for Compass Collective, a charity that supports the integration of young refugees in the UK through the arts.