Drama ignoring older generation says Julie Walters Walters also raised concerns over the lack of original plays in the West End. She said that too many "old stories" adapted from films were dominating productions, starving theatreland of new material because directors and producers were "too afraid" to take on new work. Walters, who was Oscar-nominated for her role in the film Billy Elliot, which was later adapated into a West End musical, said British theatre risked becoming "boring" if it continued to rely on recycled storylines. She said: "I think it is part of the recession, people get frightened to go for new and different stuff, they think, 'we have to keep away from taking risks on new material." We have to take risks with art. If we don't, it all becomes a bit boring. But people in theatre are too afraid to go for new material, and that's a shame. All the old stories were new stories once upon a time, and that's what made them good, but we shouldn't just keep relying on old stories. The West End has recently been dominated by productions based on Hollywood films, including Billy Elliot the Musical, Ghost the Musical, Legally Blonde, Shrek the Musical, Singin" in the Rain and The King's Speech, which was originally a play by David Seidler, but only secured its first West End run earlier this year following the success of the film adaptation starring Colin Firth. A new stage production of the 1981 film Chariots of Fire will also open at the Hampstead Theatre next month and transfer to the West End later this year. Walters will return to the stage for the first time in seven years in June, taking the lead role in The Last of the Haussmans, the debut play by the actor and writer Stephen Beresford. She will play Judy Haussman, an "anarchic, feisty but growing old high society drop-out" alongside Rory Kinnear and Helen McCrory who will play her "wayward" children. The play is described as a "touching and sometimes savage portrait of a family that's losing its grip." The production will be part of the Cultural Olympiad London 2012 festival, a 12-week programme of arts events across the country to mark the London 2012 Olympics.