Some of the biggest West End shows could be forced to temporarily close during a “summer of turbulence” in London after union members voted to move towards strike action over a dispute about pay and conditions.
An indicative ballot held by the performing arts union, Equity, was overwhelmingly backed by its membership: 98% voted yes to potential strikes. The result means the union now has the right to have a statutory ballot on taking industrial action.
A recent report into British theatre found that demand for live performance had never been higher, with 37 million people attending shows around the UK in 2025 and more than 17 million opting for the West End.
Despite the record number of people attending shows, theatre producers are facing financial challenges with the cost of production doubling in a decade.
Ticket prices in London, meanwhile, remain much lower than on Broadway.
Equity general secretary, Paul W Fleming, said: “The West End has had a very successful three years. Our members want to share in that success and they’re tired of antiquated working conditions. They really have snapped.”
Equity and the Society of London Theatre (Solt) have been negotiating their multi-year agreement since December 2025, but have come to an impasse caused by disagreements over pay, holidays and how injuries caused while performing are handled.
The union has proposed a 7% pay increase for its members every year for the next three. It’s also pushing for better holiday and incapacity pay if a worker is injured on a production.
Fleming said he was hopeful industrial action could be avoided as it was in 2023, but if it did happen it wouldn’t mean that the whole of the West End would “go dark”; instead the big weekend shows that were economic drivers for producers would be targeted.
Equity has about 1,000 members including performers and stage managers in the West End working on 44 shows, including hits for producers such as Cameron Mackintosh and Sonia Friedman.
If an agreement is not reached when the two sides meet on 10 June, then the union could ballot its membership on whether they’d be prepared to take part in a strike, which would impact Saturdays when matinees and evening shows would be affected.
Fleming said: “If Solt doesn’t come back with a proposal that implements the proposal we’ve just balloted our members on, then we will be balloting for industrial action.”
A spokesperson for Solt said: “Constructive, good faith discussions are ongoing, and we have already made meaningful progress together in a number of areas.
“We look forward to our upcoming meeting with the Equity team and remain committed to the jointly agreed process, and to continued productive discussions to reach a fair, sustainable minimum terms agreement as soon as possible.”
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