Here’s a list of qualities that British theatre productions seem to think they need to possess in order to “succeed” in the U.S. market:
1. A cast of actors, most of them speaking in middle-class Home Counties accents with just one or two “regional”-accented actors (e.g. a token Welshie or Scouser) thrown in for color.
2. Period costumes.
3. Live music, preferably played on period instruments.
4. Live animals on stage or beautifully-constructed puppets.
5. A bare-bones approach to scenery (it’s all about the actors after all).
6. Shakespeare (or references to Shakespeare if not the performance of one of the Bard’s plays.)
7. At least one comical septuagenarian actor with a neatly-trimmed beard.
8. Microphones.