Theatre for people who don’t do theatre

If your mental image of theatre is three hours of people shouting in tights, the calendar has moved on without you. The growth end of live performance is short, cheap and funny: hour-long comedies, improv nights, play readings, works-in-progress where the ticket costs less than the interval wine.

The sceptic’s entry point

Start with anything described as an hour, no interval. The commitment is smaller than a film and the hit rate is higher than you’d guess — and unlike the big touring shows, if it’s not for you, it’s over by nine and the night is still yours.