Judi Dench Backs Yvonne Arnaud in Funding Fight

Guildford’s Yvonne Arnaud Theatre may have lost Arts Council funding (See News, 1 Feb 2008), but it’s won the support of high-profile patrons including Dame Judi Dench (pictured).

Earlier this month, the Arts Council England confirmed that Yvonne Arnaud is amongst the 185 organisations that it’s cutting off from regular funding. From 31 March 2009, the theatre will no longer receive its annual grant, leaving it theatre with a shortfall of nearly £450,000 per annum.

In a letter of support to the theatre and the local community, Judi Dench described the decision as “devastating news, not just for the theatre and the people of Guildford but for the hundreds of performers and artists who work there every year.

The actress continued: “The Yvonne Arnaud is a wonderful theatre in a beautiful place. You always get an incredible welcome there – it’s an incredibly well run theatre. The programme of work in both auditoria is rich and varied … Guildford’s theatre is a place for the community; it is not just the performances but it is also a place people come to socialise and meet their friends and the work they do in the community, particularly the huge amount of work with young people, is exemplary.”

Dench expressed her gratitude to the Guildford community and urged them to continue backing their local theatre. “To all those people – the businesses, the Council and the individuals,” she said, “thank you for supporting this theatre and please carry on doing so.”

The Yvonne Arnaud has issued an array of facts and figures to dispute ACE’s justifications for funding withdrawal – that it has not managed to attract new audiences and that it is an organisation that “responds” rather than “leads”.

In 2007, Yvonne Arnaud mounted 619 performances in Guildford, playing to 155,000 people, while a further 107,000 people attended 533 performances of Yvonne Arnaud productions on tour. According to the theatre, 20 percent of bookings in the Guildford over the past seven months have been by new visitors. The theatre has recently co-produced two new plays with London’s Bush Theatre, which had its proposed funding reduction successfully reversed.

Named after the French actress and built with money raised by local people, the Yvonne Arnaud opened in 1965. The theatre houses a 590-seat main auditorium and an 80-seat studio. Over the past 17 years, it has produced or co-produced 125 new productions, 54 of which transferred to the West End.

Artistic director James Barber said: “It is extraordinarily sad that ACE now feels our work, and indeed our audience, is no longer worth supporting. Despite this, we are all determined that Guildford’s theatre will continue to present first-class work and flourish.”

Elsewhere, other newly ACE-unfunded organisations are also fighting on. London’s Drill Hall – the UK’s leading producer of lesbian and gay performance, which celebrated its 30th anniversary this autumn – cancelled its in-house programming and made 24 redundancies back in December, when it was first informed of ACE’s intentions to withdraw funding from 1 April 2008 (See News, 19 Dec 2007). Since its funding shortfall was confirmed this month, it has been focusing its “Save the Drill Hall” campaign on raising stopgap money.

An appeal on the Drill Hall website explains: “We believe that, with the funding we have in place for our education work, we can keep going until we re-establish a new revenue-funding stream. In the immediate future, we need to raise £100,000 to save the Drill Hall.”

Less happily, the troubled Derby Playhouse, which has been in administration since November and this month lost its £700,000 annual grant, cancelled its planned spring/summer season and closed its doors for good on 2 February 2008. Theatregoers who booked for upcoming performances are being refunded this month.

Amongst the cancelled productions was The Devil’s League, a new comedy drama by Stephen Lowe about former Derby County football manager Brian Clough, a follow-up to his successful Old Big ‘Ead in the Spirit of the Man. It was due to run at Derby from 16 February to 22 March 2008. Lowe told local press that he was “enormously disappointed” by ACE’s decision, which means that his new play, which was halfway through its production period, would have to be shelved for at least a year as no other theatre is available. Beyond the ramifications for The Devil’s League, he said the closure of the Playhouse is “really sad for Derby and for the region”.

– by Terri Paddock