Victim of Dumbing Down or Recession?

We went to a production of Tom Kempinski's play Duet for One at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre last night. It proved to be a totally engaging evening with excellent performances by Haydn Gwynne and William Gaunt. Sadly the theatre was less than one third full. What is the problem? Surely the good citizens of Guildford and SW Surrey are not suffering that much from the financial downturn that they can't afford a night out at the theatre? Or are they simply unwilling to engage in something that requires a little smidgin of intellectaul effort? Either way, this is not good news for theatre in this corner of the world. We already have a dark Redgrave Theatre and a severely dumbed-down Thorndike - surely the Yvonne Arnaud (for all its faults - and it has a few) cannot go the same way - or will it?