The Stage

Creditors to again decide on future of Derby Playhouse

Published Tuesday 2 December 2008 at 16:05 by Alistair Smith

Derby Playhouse’s future will again be in the balance this month, when creditors meet to discuss the latest set of proposals to save the beleaguered venue.

Another creditors meeting has been scheduled for December 16, when two new options will be considered. One sees former artistic director Stephen Edwards offering £45,000 of his own money to buy the theatre’s board more time to find a long-term investor, after an earlier proposed investment fell through.

The second is an offer from Derby City Council to purchase the venue’s fixtures and fittings. The local authority wants to use the venue as part of its Derby Live programme of work, for which it receives support from Arts Council England.

An earlier plan from Edwards and the theatre’s board to rescue the Midlands producing house failed in October when the £300,000 they believed they had secured to pay back creditors fell through. Following its failure to raise those funds, the theatre, which is currently in administration, was forced to go dark by administrator Tenon Recovery.

It has not hosted a show since then and will not be reopening for its planned Christmas production.

The saga will have been ongoing for more than a year by the time the creditors meet later this month. Last December, the theatre’s then board took the decision to close the venue prior to the opening of Christmas show Treasure Island. The theatre temporarily reopened in September for a production of Killing Sister George, but was forced to close again a month later.