theatres after revealing a "catalogue of horrors" including dirty dressing rooms, fleas and even mice on stage.

Equity is pressing for urgent talks with theatre employers and TV companies and called for public funds to be withheld from venues that do not agree to make improvements.

A survey of working conditions in London's West End found that several theatres were infested with fleas, dressing rooms were dirty, toilets were broken and conditions were cramped.

More recent research of the London fringe was even more alarming, with some venues having no dressing rooms.

Performers had to change in toilets in many fringe and pub theatres, and buckets often had to be put on stages to catch leaking water.

A union spokesman said: "For too long Equity members have put up with working conditions that are often awful, sometimes disgraceful and occasionally a danger to their health and safety.

"It must stop. No other profession would put up with it. This campaign is an opportunity to bring this scandal to the attention of not only the employers but also the arts funding bodies and the politicians."

One performer told Equity: "It is a scandal that the manager has received grants, does tours, gets West End transfers and still keeps the building in a disgraceful and unsafe condition."

Equity's vice-president, TV personality Tony Robinson, has criticised the use of lottery funds to refurbish the front of theatres while backstages remained in an "appalling" state.

The union is conducting a survey among actors and actresses about good and bad theatres and is working on the idea of having Equity-approved venues.

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