Bec Martin [New Diorama Theatre]

THE new artistic director of the New Diorama Theatre has vowed to support neglected mid- career performers and directors who are currently “falling through the cracks”.

Bec Martin will continue the work started by David Byrne, the outgoing artistic director who has left the theatre after more than a decade to take up the helm at the Royal Court.

Under Mr Byrne’s leadership, the theatre in Regent’s Park positioned itself as a centre for emerging writers and performers in the capital.

Ms Martin said: “There are actually quite a lot of opportunities for emerging artists – people writing their first play or making their first show.

“Where I think there’s a gap is: you’ve made your third show, really what you need now is a producer and financial support and people to take you on and nurture you into that next phase of your career.

“That’s where I think there’s a real dearth and where a lot of great artists are falling through the cracks.

“I’m Australian, and something that I am quite surprised by in the UK is the constant [focus on the] new. It’s like: ‘new play, new writing, new work, new artists.’ But once you’re not new any more – does that mean you don’t have a career?”

Ms Martin added: “Being working-class is an enormous barrier to accessing the arts.

“The majority of artists have got the time to make a show, have got the time to find somewhere fringey to put it on, and don’t have the time to be doing all of the networking and all of the meetings, because they are working to support their art.

“That’s where one of the gaps is.”

Despite cuts to funding in the arts – provincial theatres are currently most under threat – Ms Martin is confident the UK won’t end up like her home country.

“The culture here takes pride in the arts. Think of our West End: people don’t want to lose that sense of a hub of culture in London.”

Ms Martin said she and her predecessor David Byrne had shared an ethos of supporting, celebrating and developing theatre companies and vowed to support the next generation of theatre-makers as they find a foothold in the industry.