Dame Helen Mirren Talks the Importance of Theatre and Expresses Concerns About the Future

Dame Helen Mirren is the latest star to express her concerns about the future of the theatre in the UK, and call for urgent help for the industry.

"What is at stake ... is the loss of a cultural history and an identity of our nation that is embedded in what it means to be British," Mirren told BBC Radio 4's Today. "One of the great contributions that our country has made to the world is through theatre, through writing and performing."

She went on to say that the theatre is more than just a tourist attraction.

"It's one of the reasons that many tourists come to Britain ... It is a multibillion-dollar industry, but to me it's so much more than that," she said. "It's like what Venice is to Italy - that incredible beauty, history..."

Mirren is one of many calling on the U.K. government to help out.

"I think art forms in general in Britain have to have guidance ... and huge investment really quickly because they are collapsing," she said.

She also believes that theatre can not properly come back until there is a vaccine for COVID-19, but she has faith in theatre creators.

"Until there's a vaccine, that kind of (stage) performance is going to be very difficult," she said. But people "who create theatre are resourceful, full of imagination and creativity".

Read the original story on Yahoo! News.