It is only appropriate that a play about suffragettes should be the first play written by a living woman to be presented in the National Theatre in London. Her Naked Skin, written by Rebecca Lenkiewicz, appeared there last year in the Olivier auditorium to high acclaim from both critics and the theatre-going public.

While Lenkiewicz had written several other successful dramas prior to her debut at the National, there are a lot of new female voices being heard in the theatres, and Her Naked Skin will undoubtedly be only the first of many to appear on Britain’s most venerable stages.

Playwright Polly Stenham is only 22 years old, and her second hit play, Tusk Tusk, ran to sell-out crowds at the Royal Court in London this spring. Stenham’s first play, That Face, was written when she was 19, and that one got the 2007 award for Best New Play.

Lucy Prebble reportedly has commissions from the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Court Theatre. Her first full-length play, The Sugar Syndrome, won the Best New Play award for 2004 and her second, ENRON, about the great financial scandal and the people who perpetrated it, has been hailed as a “major theatrical event”.

Another woman in the impressive line-up is Ella Hickson. Her offbeat play Eight has been picked up by Nick Hern, the most respected theatre publisher in the U.K. Hickson, at 24, is the youngest playwright ever to have that honour. Eight won the Fringe First at Edinburgh in 2008, made a smash hit in New York early this year and will be opening in Trafalgar Studios in July.

Look for Atiha Sen Gupta’s What Fatima Did . . . among other great new offerings at the Hampstead Theatre’s autumn season.

In 1974 Brooks Atkinson, an American drama critic, wrote, “Nothing is really important except the performance on stage. The sole function of a theatre is to provide a place where people can assemble and enjoy the schedule.” This viewpoint is coming into question now, specifically by the guardians of London’s most venerable theatres.

At the Theatres Trust 2009 conference, titled “Experiencing Theatres”, the consensus appears to have been that the old, prestigious theatres of the West End are beginning to drive away their own clientele. According to Adam Kenwright, founding director of the advertising, marketing and design agency AKA, theatre owners and producers are allowing these grand buildings to deteriorate at the expense of customer comfort.

Kenwright stated that many theatres are inconvenient, uncomfortable and overpriced. He said feedback from theatregoers and focus groups indicates that people are going to the theatre less often and spending less money in the West End than at the National Theatre.

The reason, he says, is simple: at the National seats are more convenient, drinks are cheaper, and the line for the toilet is shorter.

Upgrading the facilities seems to be working for a Northern Ireland venue. John Botteley, director of the Grand Opera House theatre in Belfast, told the conference that income from the bar, catering services etc. had tripled since the investment in a makeover.

The opinion of Mr. Kenwright is that effort and money should be invested in improvements such as air conditioning for the old buildings. Other changes might result in a return of the many disillusioned audience members. The bottom line seems to be that no matter how uplifting the show, sharp springs in the seats and a 20-minute wait for the loo can really dim the luster.