The Stage

Derry Playhouse reaches Restoration final

Published Friday 6 August 2004 at 10:25 by Ruth Gillespie

Derry Playhouse has been announced as one of seven historic buildings to qualify for the national final of BBC television competition Restoration.

Having won the telephone vote for the Northern Ireland heat, the Playhouse has become the only theatre and arts organisation to go through to the final, which will take place at Hampton Court Palace, in London, on Saturday, August 7.

Pauline Ross, founder and director of the theatre, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have won the Northern Ireland heat. Since we started the Playhouse 12 years ago, people have really taken the buildings and the work that we do to their hearts and this result illustrates that fact.”

Now in its second year, the series asks viewers to vote for the building they would most like to see restored, with the winner receiving a minimum of £2.5 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund towards its redevelopment plans.

Last year the Playhouse, Northern Ireland’s only producing theatre in the north-west, received preliminary funding for a £2.5 million development of its premises from the HLF, Arts Council Northern Ireland and European Union Programme for Peace and Reconciliation in Northern Ireland. Future plans include the full restoration of the venue and the addition of disabled access, new workshop rooms and an upgraded auditorium.