"Absolutely," says Crowley, who is not strictly convinced about the 'civilised society' part. "Completely, which means there's got to be a story behind it. There's theatres after all! All closed up, not doing anything. So there used to be that stuff here. Until something happened."

But what? Crowley really needs to know. Did someone in charge just hate theatre? Had a messy breakup with someone in the industry? Gang warfare between rival theatres tore the place apart? Some play was so bad everyone got banned from making more?