The Stage

Plymouth Theatre Royal to expand

Published Thursday 26 January 2012 at 16:58 by Natalie Woolman

Plans to expand Plymouth Theatre Royal with a two-storey extension and a new education space have been submitted to the venue’s local council.

The theatre has filed a planning application with Plymouth City Council to redevelop its public spaces. The proposals include building a creative learning space within the theatre’s existing basement, replacing the building’s exterior aluminium cladding, renovating the front of house areas and re-landscaping the area outside the venue.

According to the planning application, the new education space in the basement will be used to host workshops and events for people from disadvantaged backgrounds. Meanwhile, the two-storey glass extension will enable passers-by to look at activities going on in the building and is aimed at developing “a more open and inviting appearance” according to the planning document.

The restaurant and foyer will also be extended under plans designed by Andrzej Blonski Architects, which oversaw a previous refurbishment of the auditorium.

However, Adrian Vinken, chief executive of Theatre Royal Plymouth, said that the theatre would have to raise the necessary funding for the capital project to go forward.

He commented: “Our aim is to modernise and make major improvements to the Theatre Royal to ensure it remains Plymouth’s cultural centre of excellence for the next 50 years. Our ability to realise this vision will depend on whether we are able to raise the necessary scale of funding.”

Theatre Royal Plymouth was designed in 1977 and opened in 1982. Blonski worked as the project architect when the theatre was original built, designed by the Peter Moro Partnership.