The Nottingham Arts Theatre announced in July that it would close due to a financial crisis. The amateur theatre laid off all its staff and cancelled both in-house and visiting productions. However, a group of volunteers are determined to bring the institution back to life.

The theatre was set up and funded by the Co-Operative Society in 1948. Seven years ago, they decided that they no longer wished to be involved and a new company was created to continue the theatre's activities in the same building.

You may be forgiven if you have never heard of the Nottingham Arts Theatre. Their productions, many of which have been run-of-the-mill musicals and World War Two sing-a-longs, have appealed to a loyal but ever dwindling and ageing audience. Performances were often moribund affairs, the atmosphere not helped by the poor acoustics of the rather shabby building. Little wonder, then, that the Board of Directors announced that the theatre had run out of money.

However, David Shackleton, the theatre's Press Officer, pictured below playing the butler in Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, believes that the theatre has an important role to play.
"The theatre is a training ground for a whole load of talent. Local dance schools use the theatre a great deal to put on their shows and it is a great experience for the children to be performing in a real theatre. The local universities run drama courses and the theatre is very important for them too."

David readily admits the problems of the past, "As an organisation it hasn't marketed itself enough and has relied on appealing to its old audience. The choice of plays has not been very adventurous. That will need to change. I would like to see us producing more exciting plays that appeal to younger audiences and that are much more socially relevant."

An appeal was launched to find the £65,000 pounds that are needed just to keep running. Although attempts to claim public funding have so far failed, in just three months they have raised over £24,000 from their supporters. Perhaps more importantly, there is a new determination to turn the Arts Theatre around.

"A lot of people who haven't taken an active part in the running of the theatre,including a lot of younger people, have suddenly become very active."

With the renewed vigour shown by the theatre's company, they have decided to try and run productions until the end of the year before deciding whether it is viable to continue. The money raised in the appeal will not be spent during this time. Rather, the theatre will be staffed entirely by volunteers and run on a shoestring. Although visiting companies have already found new venues, some of the dance schools have remained loyal and the company itself is staging three shows. The first, Noel Coward's 'Waiting in the Wings' was performed last week.

David is keen to see the quality of productions raised in the future.
"Some plays in the past have done much better. The rock musical 'Return to the Forbidden Planet' started slowly but word got around and by the end of the week, the theatre was full. It was wonderful to see the theatre full of people all singing and dancing along. That's something we need to do more. I don't want us to be doing simple bourgeois farces."

It must be tempting for them to look enviously at Nottingham's other amateur theatre, The Lace Market. Despite a much smaller auditorium, they produce a varied and challenging programme. On the back of this success, they have recently launched an ambitious £3 million appeal to improve their building.

At the moment, the future for the Arts Theatre is uncertain. Whilst their current building offers a desirable location in Hockley and room for large audiences, it is old and in need of regular, expensive repairs. When it was purchased, very cheaply, from the Co-Op, a covenant was placed on it that it must be used as a theatre for 21 years, making it difficult for the company to relocate. The prospect of once more being able to pay staff looks to be quite distant. However, the theatre company seem determined to turn the situation around and to recreate the Arts Theatre as a new and vibrant venue.

"This crisis is a turning point and I see it as a wonderful opportunity to make the theatre better. We are just running until Christmas initially to see how we go. We have to see how we get on with just a volunteer staff before we can decide what to do long-term"

If you would like to get involved or if you would like to support the appeal, you can find out more on the the Nottingham Arts Theatre website

Journey's End runs from Mon 5th to Sat 10th Nottingham 2007.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarves runs from Sat 8th to Sun 16th December 2007.
Tickets: 0115 947 6096 or 0115 947 5925 between 10am and 2pm - leave a message outside these times.

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