The Stage

Sevenoaks council forced us to close, insists Playhouse

Published Tuesday 8 August 2006 at 12:25 by Nuala Calvi

Managers of Sevenoaks Playhouse have accused local councillors of forcing through the theatre’s “completely needless” closure, after the venue shut this month following the failure of a last-ditch fundraising attempt.

Artistic director Julian Woolford and executive director Helen Winning claim they had successfully relaunched the former Stag Theatre as a professional venue and increased audiences by 25% since being brought in 2003 but were rewarded by subsidy cuts of almost 75% over three years from Sevenoaks District Council. They say warnings that the reduction would lead to the venue’s closure fell on deaf ears.

However, the council insists it was forced to make the cuts because of its own funding restraints and says it cannot be held responsible for the financial difficulties of an independent company.

Sevenoaks Playhouse Ltd inherited debts of more than £100,000 and announced in March that it needed an urgent cash injection of around £250,000 to keep going. A fundraising campaign raised less than half the amount needed and the company has now handed control of the venue back to the council, leading to fears it could revert to being an amateur venue.

Woolford told The Stage: “We were enjoying our most successful season ever before the problems started. We had been told the [subsidy] was likely to keep declining by £10,000 a year but in the autumn of 2004 they announced they had to make bigger cuts and that it would go from £180,000 to just £50,000 by 2007/6. That’s an absolutely massive withdrawal of funding. We told them very, very clearly this would close us.”

In recent years, the venue had begun hosting shows by Birmingham Stage Company, Hull Truck and others and producing shows in a new studio space. It also secured money from the local Sevenoaks Town Council for an education programme and had attracted funding from Arts Council England for the first time in its history.

Felicity Broomby, district council cabinet member for the arts, claimed some of the artistic decisions of the management team had not proved as popular as it had hoped.

She said: “From the district council’s point of view it’s very sad - no one likes to see this sort of thing happen. However, on a more positive note we are going out to consultation now to see what residents of Sevenoaks really do want to see here that will encourage them to use the theatre more.”