Picture: The Tate Modern, London Michael Nicholson
People in the United Kingdom have widespread access to the arts, covering drama, music, opera, dance, cinema and visual arts, and London is one of the world's leading cultural centres. It has around 100 theatres showing musicals, modern dramas, classical plays, and comedies. Musicals are popular attractions along with the works of the subsidised theatre companies, the royal National theatre and the royal Shakespeare Company. The Globe Theatre, where William Shakespeare performed, has been reconstructed near its original London site. Most other big towns and cities have arts facilities and some, such as Birmingham and Manchester, also have world famous orchestras.
About 500 professional arts festivals take place across the United Kingdom each year. Some are celebrations of national cultures, such as the royal National Eisteddfod of Wales which was instituted in 1880. In Scotland the annual Edinburgh International Festival is the largest arts festival of its kind in the world and celebrated its 54th year in2000. Pop and rock are by far the most popular forms of music in the UK, and British groups continue to achieve international success. There are some 1,800 cinema screens in the UK with attendances of around 2 million a week. Leading actors and playwrights include Robert Carlyle, Dame Judi Dench and Kate Winset, and Harold Pinter and Alan Bennett.
About 500 professional arts festivals take place across the United Kingdom each year. Some are celebrations of national cultures, such as the royal National Eisteddfod of Wales which was instituted in 1880. In Scotland the annual Edinburgh International Festival is the largest arts festival of its kind in the world and celebrated its 54th year in2000. Pop and rock are by far the most popular forms of music in the UK, and British groups continue to achieve international success. There are some 1,800 cinema screens in the UK with attendances of around 2 million a week. Leading actors and playwrights include Robert Carlyle, Dame Judi Dench and Kate Winset, and Harold Pinter and Alan Bennett.
