Portsmouth South MP Flick Drummond has praised the city’s two regional theatres during a Westminster debate on the subject.
Flick said that the Kings Theatre was undertaking important work training people in backstage skills with a course in stage pyrotechnics taking place this weekend.
'This kind of activity is a great thing for local theatres to be supporting and it's really important that theatres appeal to people with an interest in what happens backstage as well as on it,' she told the Westminster Hall Debate.
She also explained to MPs that the recently refurbished New Theatre Royal now has a key partner in the University of Portsmouth, which is sharing part of the site.
'This kind of collaboration between theatres and education is a great way to safeguard the future of our theatres,' she added.
Will Quince, MP for Colchester, organised today's debate on regional theatre as they fight the dominance of the London theatre scene.