The Stage

Cinema operator throws lifeline to Sevenoaks Playhouse

Published Tuesday 17 October 2006 at 13:20 by Nuala Calvi

Sevenoaks Playhouse is to temporarily reopen under new management as a receiving house, just two months after it closed its doors in the midst of a financial crisis.

The district council has agreed to let cinema operators Kino Holdings Ltd run the complex, which includes a cinema and theatre, for six months until a permanent solution can be found.

Opposition councillors have warned that any new management will struggle to operate the theatre without public subsidy. The venue’s previous managers accused the council of forcing the theatre to close by making substantial cuts to its funding, despite a successful programme of work.

Liberal Democrat councillor Audrey Gee said: “We have very grave doubts whether without some subsidy of some kind it could ever work. All the other local theatres in nearby areas are heavily subsidised. It really does need a subsidy behind it and it is only the district council that could do it, yet it was their starvation of the venue that caused it to close last time.”

Kino Holdings Ltd says it is planning to renovate the bar area of the complex and install new digital technology in the cinema. It will reopen the theatre in a matter of weeks as a receiving house, showing professional and amateur productions.

However, former artistic director Julian Woolford warned: “Exactly how much live performance and professional theatre there is, and how much of it is actually produced in Kent, remains to be seen.”

Felicity Broomby, Sevenoaks District Council cabinet member with responsibility for the arts, commented: “We know from our consultations that reopening the Playhouse was a top priority for many of our residents and local businesses in Sevenoaks town. We have acted swiftly on their wishes and I am delighted to say that we have appointed a new interim operator for the Playhouse. Kino Holdings Ltd is an innovative, forward-looking company that is already planning to invest in the facility.”