In November 2024, I relaunched Exeunt – building a new home for the much-loved online theatre magazine on Substack, as a way to deliver in-depth, inventive, fierce and playful writing about theatre, straight to inboxes.
Exeunt was founded as an online magazine in 2011 by Natasha Tripney and Daniel B Yates, and quickly established itself as an oasis for writers. Exeunt offered space to stretch out in, time to think deeper and write more freely about all aspects of theatre. And it became essential reading for theatre-lovers, in the UK and beyond – for both the reverence and irreverence with which it treated the artform.
I loved Exeunt, as a journalist and as a reader: where else could I review an interactive show with my video-game obsessed brother or attempt to sum up a play with a dodgy palindromic poem? Where else could I read about meta-theatricality as a feminist act; a scorching essay on the limits of satire; a lyrical meditation on a decade of Edinburgh fringes, or a critic arguing with their own gut reaction to a play? Where else published odes to pure theatrical joy and hilariously petty lists of theatrical pet peeves?
In 2016, Alice Saville took over as editor, and steered the website and a dedicated community of writers until it became financially unsustainable in 2022. When the website shuttered, I mourned the loss. Arts coverage in the media is shrinking everywhere, with fewer pieces and less space – losing somewhere free from those constraints was particularly gutting. A stunted critical discourse is bad news for theatremakers, bad news for audiences, and terrible news in terms of whose voice gets heard.
Eventually, I decided something should be done and… well, relaunching Exeunt was it. Consider the Substack a new green shoot for Exeunt – or a re-potting, perhaps, taking a cherished thing and planting it gently in fresh soil. Exeunt gives critics the freedom to expand beyond tight deadlines and brutal word counts, and to give theatre and performance the consideration and thought it deserves across essays, longform reviews, investigations, dialogues and debate.
I now edit the Substack, with Alice and Natasha return as contributing editors. Between us, we have more than 50 years experience of writing about theatre, reviewing, writing and editing for places like Time Out, The New York Times, The Stage, The Guardian and The FT.
Exeunt as a newsletter will undoubtedly grow in new ways, new directions. But it is starting small: two newsletters a week, one free and one paid. In this space, we will obviously not be attempting to review every show in the country – but do offer the same sort of in-depth essays, lively group debates, longform and boundary-pushing criticism, and essential investigations into under-reported issues within British theatre.
We’re currently in an impossibly difficult climate for journalism. We want Exeunt to be a space that works better for writers, readers, and everyone who loves theatre. But no matter how much you love it, writing about it for free isn’t healthy or sustainable. Theatre criticism shouldn’t be the preserve of the wealthy.
So if you missed Exeunt while it was gone, or think independent criticism sounds like a good thing, subscribing is the very best way to help make it viable and sustainable. A paid subscription costs just £5 a month – that’s less than a single drink in most theatres – or £55 a year.
Or become a Founder member, and help high-quality and exciting writing about theatre thrive by choosing to support us with a higher-tier subscription of £100 a year. Substack takes ten per cent, and all the rest goes directly to paying writers and editors. By paying for the journalism you read, you’ll help Exeunt to host the very best writers, and give new and emerging critical voices the support and exposure they deserve.
Want to really help us thrive? You can make a one-off donation – with no upper limit! – by clicking below. Make sure to include your email address to ensure you get signed up for a year’s subscription.
You can also help us out by sharing the word. Tell your friends, lovers, bosses, parents, students, or anyone you find yourself sitting next to in the theatre that Exeunt is back.
Exeunt has always been about supporting and nurturing new and unheard voices, and we’d love to hear from writers who have something to say, or want to play with new ways of saying it. Send us your most exciting, urgent, angry, or whimsical ideas at: exeunt.inbox@gmail.com. Voices from under-resourced and under-represented backgrounds, and those outside London, are especially encouraged.
I hope this will be an exciting next stage for Exeunt – please do join us.