‘This is a lifeline’: Northampton theatre bosses 'thrilled' to be awarded more than £2m to aid recovery

A popular Northampton theatre has been awarded a lifeline to recover from the pandemic closure, which is ongoing.

Royal & Derngate will benefit from the sum of £2.1 million from the Government’s Cultural Recovery Fund.

Since the theatre had to shut seven months ago, the business has been running without 90 percent of its expected income, as hundreds of shows have been cancelled or postponed.

The lifeline funding will help sustain the business until 2021, aiding the reopening of the Filmhouse and the plans for the reopening of the main venue in the New Year.

Jo Gordon, chief executive, said: “We are thrilled. This is lifeline funding for us and it means that we have short term survival.

“We can now start planning for a very exciting future.

“We are not yet at a point where we can reopen and start generating our own income, but the idea behind this funding is to help support us until we can start doing so again.

“It will fill a gap until the end of the year for us.”

James Dacre, artistic director, added: “It is an essential part of ensuring we are able to start planning towards our future and to start introducing audiences to our auditoriums again.

“This is welcome news and a great relief for us, but much of the good news is still to come around the work we are doing on our stages and in our community.

“We are really looking forward to sharing this news with our audiences over the coming days and weeks.”

The Filmhouse at the theatre will reopen next month with Covid-secure measures in place.

In terms of reopening the main stages, the team has laid about a plan A, B and C and are ready to implement whichever plan is needed.

“It’s baby steps getting things back going again,” Jo continued.

“Our plans for reopening will be in place only when it is absolutely safe to do so and when we are completely Covid ready and this investment allows us to do that.

“We already have socially distanced versions of the both auditoriums, but we do have some shows that this does not work for and we have others where the whole tour has been moved.

“People will need good times coming out of this pandemic and we will play a vital role in this.

"We are hoping to announce in the coming weeks what these shows will be and what we are crafting for our stages.”

James went on to explain the importance the team puts on making sure that audiences will feel ‘comfortable and confident’ and as though they can trust the local theatre experience when it is allowed to resume.

Both Jo and James were also keen to extensively thank the public for their support, whether that has been through fundraising, writing to MPs, accepting gift vouchers or booking tickets for future shows.

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