Feature: 2024 ET Wrapped

What we achieved in 2024 and what’s planned for 2025

So we did it, we made it through another year in one piece. It might sound easy, but keeping a beast like Everything Theatre going is anything but. It takes countless hours of people’s time, all given for free, and a little bit of money! That time isn’t just to review, it means editing, publishing, social media, and it even means looking at every email that comes in, usually at the rate of at least a couple of hundred each week! People thing we’re joking when we say ET takes more of our time than the full time jobs most of us do to pay the bills, but little do they know!

At the start of 2024, we set ourselves a couple of simple targets; 200,000 unique visitors to this site. and 600 reviews. Did we manage it? Well, not quite, but oh my, we came very damn close, smashing the web visitors but falling just four reviews short. We had a little hiccup mid-year when we discovered that we wouldn’t be doing Edinburgh in the same numbers as previously (Edinburgh proving too expensive to commit to this year). This set us back on our targets, which makes it all the more remarkable that we came so close to 600 reviews! But what we lost in Edinburgh we gained in London, with 561 reviews in 2024 compared to 463 in 2023. We also managed more Fringe/ OffWestEnd than ever, with 450 (387 in 2023), and we’ve always said this is the core of what we do, so it’s the stat we are most proud about. We additionally managed 40 TYA (Theatre for Young Audiences), which we’re also rather proud of, showing our support for a sector that is often overlooked yet so full of innovation, inclusivity and specialist skill.

But that was last year, and we’re all for looking forward. So, as we hurtle into 2025, we’re stronger than ever, and our team are refreshed and ready to start all over again: meaning we need to set some new targets for the coming 12 months. These are (drum roll please):

• 650 reviews in total, with at least 600 in London
• 200,000 web visitors – which isn’t an increase on 2024, but frankly, we’re not sure there’s much more room to grow there!

We realise this is more a case of carrying on with what we do so well, but perhaps just a little differently. This year we want to push our boundaries further outside of London – and that doesn’t only mean Edinburgh. Rather we want to build some coverage all around the country. We tried this a few years back with limited success, then Lockdown happened, and we lost all our momentum. Now it’s time to try again. We’ve already made a start, having recently published our first reviews from Sheffield, and we’re now actively looking for new reviewers around the country to contribute as well.

So, how do we go about making this happen? Firstly, we need to find new reviewers from all across the country, people who want their writing published on a site that averages over 17,000 readers a month. You don’t need tons of reviewing experience, just a passion for theatre and writing, we can help you merge those two things together. If this sounds like you, then get in touch with us here.

Of course we need help in finding those reviewers as well, so if you’re a regional theatre looking to grow your audience, why not help us by reposting our social media posts (on X here, Bluesky here, Insta here) reaching out for new reviewers, or by putting a link to this article on your own channels. We’d love to review more non-London productions, so let’s work together to make that happen.

We’re also interested in chatting to those involved in non-London venues, so if you fancy being involved, get in touch here (via our form here). We’d love to run a series of interviews with venues but can only do that with your help.

And with all this extra content we need some sharp-eyed editors on the case. Could that be you? Then get in touch here.

In 12 months’ time we will hopefully be able to look back on these targets and say yes, we managed them all. Why not come on the ride with us, whether as a reader, a reviewer, an editor or someone whose work we may have reviewed? Whatever the role, we’d love to hear from you.