Kwame Kwei-Armah masterminded box office hits like Oklahoma! but eventually the battle to make theatre pay got too much
“The system is fundamentally flawed and something needs to be done about it.” From his attic study in his north London home, Kwame Kwei-Armah is explaining why he is leaving his job running the Young Vic after six years. Six years in which successes such as Death of a Salesman, Oklahoma! and Best of Enemies went from the south London theatre to the West End. Six years in which the theatre also went from having its finances ticking over to recording a £2.5 million net loss in 2022-23 — almost £900,000 of which can be put down to a musical called Mandela that had more than 40 per cent of its performances cancelled owing to illness. Six years in which, crucially, costs kept rising but funding kept falling in real terms.