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You miss the point completely and posit a howling inaccuracy.

Theatre is all about the live experience; the establishment of tension and the resolution thereof. Once the live music has been removed from the equation, half of the enjoyment has been consigned to the dustbin.

Everything else is just playing catch-up, with varying degrees of success.

The howling inaccuracy, and you should be ashamed of this, is the assertion that Matthew Bourne has always used recorded music. What nonsense! I worked with him frequently, on Swan Lake and Car Man, and the music was live, vital and integral to the evening.

The fact that, due to financial constraints, he has now decided to use mainly recorded music for the performances, is a purely financial decision. One which I feel he will come to regret as it diminishes the performance as a whole.

Quite rightly there were protesters outside the theatre. And long may they continue until music and the musicians which perform it are given the recognition that they deserve. For, without them, a great evening is demoted to the simply bland.

I LOVE Northern Ballet Theatre. I loved working with this company. It is the hardest working of all the UK companies. Depriving them of the essential musical support reeks of the first step in disassembling it, diluting it into an anodyne version of its former self and waving it goodbye.

This needs to stop. Now.

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