Derby Playhouse
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Derby Playhouse was a theatre production company based in Derby, England and the former name of the theatre which it owned and operated from its opening in 1975 until 2008, when the company ceased operating after a period in administration. The theatre was subsequently reopened in 2009 as the Derby Theatre and is now owned and operated by the University of Derby, where it currently runs its Theatre Arts degree. During its tenure at the theatre, the Derby Playhouse company gained a national reputation for its productions, particularly the works of Stephen Sondheim. It also premiered new theatrical works as well as giving the regional premieres of several others.
The original Playhouse had opened as the Little Theatre in a converted church hall on Becket Street in 1948.[1][2] In 1952, the company moved to another converted venue in Sacheverel Street[3] and survived a major fire in 1956.[4][5][6] In the 1960s and early 1970s the British government invested in the Arts Council of Great Britain's "Housing the Arts" fund. The fund enabled cities to renovate existing theatres and commission new ones. In response, the company formed the New Theatre Trust to raise the local funding necessary for its own purpose-built theatre. Roderick Ham, who had previously designed the Thorndike Theatre in Leatherhead, was commissioned to design the new theatre.[7] The Derby City Council offered the land (part of the new Eagle Centre shopping development).[8] The new Derby Playhouse, with a seating capacity of 535, was officially opened on 20 September 1975 by the 11th Duke of Devonshire.[9]
The company experienced financial difficulties in 2002, running a trading deficit of £400,000, the biggest in its history, and nearly closed. By 2004 it had recovered and was breaking box-office records.[10] Geoff Sweeney, the company's Development Director at the time, suggested that it might seek new larger premises on the River Trent.[9] However, the company again ran into serious financial problems in 2007 which ultimately spelled its demise. On 29 November 2007, following the refusal of Derby City Council to advance £40,000 from their 2008 grant, the board of trustees of the theatre announced that it was going into voluntary liquidation and that performances would cease immediately.[11] Nevertheless, the cast and crew of Treasure Island went ahead and put on that evening's performance.[12] After the curtain call, the cast were joined on stage by the rest of the staff, with Karen Hebden (the theatre's chief executive and director of the show), Michael Hall, and Jonathan Powers (two former chairmen of the Playhouse board) who then addressed the audience and press, asking them to fight for the city's theatre and get the Playhouse open again.[13] The following day, the board of trustees announced that the company had been put into administration.[14]
The administrators allowed the Playhouse to reopen on 7 December 2007 to finish its run of Treasure Island.[15] The theatre was being operated by a skeleton of essential staff, initially working unpaid to get it up and running again. A fund was set up to accept donations to keep the Playhouse going, as it was now operating as a charitable trust relying on ticket sales and donations alone. Tickets for a modified Spring/Summer 2008 season, which had already been on sale for some weeks before the closure, were put back on sale during December and January while an appeal was made to the Arts Council. However, the Arts Council refused the appeal in January 2008, and the theatre closed after the last performance of Treasure Island on 2 February 2008.[14]
At a meeting on 30 July 2008 the creditors voted to accept a rescue package put together by the company's new board of trustees.[16] The theatre reopened on 13 September 2008 with The Killing of Sister George which ran until 18 October.[17] However, it proved to be the company's last production. The theatre was subsequently sold to the University of Derby and reopened in October 2009 as the Derby Theatre.[18]