DERBY PLAYHOUSE

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Unless the Playhouse board can find private annual investment of more than £700,000 a year, then the theatre company will not be able to bridge the gap left by the Arts Council decision to stop its grant. Instead, the Arts Council has given nearly £2.3m over the next three years to Derby City Council to fund homegrown theatre. Derby Playhouse Ltd owns the 94-year lease on the theatre building, which would be transferred to Derby City Council if the company is wound up. Artistic director Stephen Edwards, who believes this is behind the Art Council's decision not to restore funding, said, "It's about the lease. It has always been about the lease. That's what they want to take off the company. That's why they want to knock us over."

Laura Dyer, executive director of Arts Council England East Midlands, said they were not convinced that Derby Playhouse Ltd would have been able to go forward, even if the funding had been granted, and that had influenced the decision to stop the funding. She said, "We have invested significant amounts of extra funding into Derby Playhouse to try and resolve the difficulties they have had. Since 2000, that has been an extra £1.6m but that hasn't brought to fruition the long-term future we had hoped for." The city council has pledged theatre will stay in the Playhouse building. (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Feb/08)

The Arts Council has put in a bid to administrators to reclaim the £1.469m it had given the theatre to aid its financial recovery. The move has doubled the amount of cash the theatre owes to creditors and could kill off all hope that a consortium led by Jonathan Powers will come up with an 11th-hour plan to plug a financial gap with private money.

The Arts Council said the money was lottery cash and was given 18 months ago as part of a recovery plan. The body said because that plan had not been seen through it had a duty to recover the money. A spokesman for the Arts Council said there were strict conditions governing lottery cash. They said, "We have a particular duty as both the lottery distributor and also as a charity to show great care and diligence around how those resources are used."

Dilip Dattani, of Tenon, said, "We have not yet accepted the claim from the Arts Council, that's something we will have to adjudicate on. If the money was handed over to the Playhouse in the form of a gift or a grant, then they will need to show contractual evidence that the money should be repaid. I don't expect that the decision on whether to accept the claim will be an easy one and it may go right down to the wire before the creditors' meeting."

Administrators are studying the Arts Council's claim, which is the most substantial so far. Previously, 256 companies and individuals had lodged claims totalling £1,167,739.23. Mr Dattani said if the Arts Council's claim was accepted, then it would affect the pot of money to be shared between the other creditors. But the Arts Council would only have the same precedence as other creditors. (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Feb/08)

The Playhouse could soon be under city council control. Derby Playhouse Ltd is in administration after the Arts Council and city council withdrew funding over disagreements about its management. Now the authority has revealed its plan for future theatre productions, with shows and concerts to be allocated to the most appropriate venue. It has put in a bid for those parts of the Playhouse its lease does not cover.

The plan, called Derby Live, will make use of the Great Hall and the Darwin Suite at the Assembly Rooms, the Guildhall Theatre and open spaces such as the Market Place, Cathedral Green and the River Gardens. If its bid for the Playhouse is accepted, the venue will be added to the portfolio. The council said the format would allow it to make the best use of performance space in the city and mean it can make produced theatre a financial success.

Councillor Alan Graves, cabinet member for culture, leisure and direct services, said, "Our plans will reconnect Derby with its theatre. The new arrangement is designed to give producing theatre and the Derby Playhouse building a firm future as decisions are made on Derby Playhouse Limited. Theatre produced in Derby will be as strong under the new arrangements as before and will have greater freedom in use of venues. Quality will not be sacrificed on any account. Derby Live will be quality."

The plan to bring together the different venues means that produced theatre, theatre made and performed in the city, will not necessarily always take place on the Playhouse's stage but could instead be shown at the Guildhall or smaller venues, making it more of a financial success. (Source: BBC News, Feb/08)

The council has promised it will only put the Derby Live scheme in place if Derby Playhouse Ltd, which is currently in administration, is wound up after a creditors' meeting to discuss the company's future. It has said that, no matter what happens, it will not spell the end of the Playhouse as a venue. Under the scheme, the theatre and its studio would come under the council's control and it is preparing to put in an offer to administrators Tenon Recovery for the fixtures and fittings, which it expects to be accepted.

Karen Hebden, chief executive of Playhouse Ltd said she did not think the public would get a top-quality offer under the council's plans. She said, "What this doesn't give Derby is what it had before, a producing theatre in the city, a venue dedicated to it and with the people experienced in making it. Having one brand as such would make financial sense because you only have to run one box office, but it doesn't match up to what the city had before."

Jonathan Powers, chairman of the Playhouse Ltd board, which was brought in to try to get the company out of administration, said, "If produced theatre continues to get the same high ratings as it has at the Playhouse then I would be surprised but I think the people of Derby will hold the council to account if they do not get those ratings." The council said theatre would have to make money and all the arts forms would be expected to make a profit under Derby Live.

It has predicted that by its second year more than 350,000 people would have attended Derby Live venues, bringing in a box office turnover of around £2.5m. Peter Ireson, who manages the Assembly Rooms and Guildhall Theatres, and the council's head of arts and events, Pete Meakin, said they were confident the city would have the broadest mix of programmes of any arts organisation in the UK with the Derby Live brand and said quality theatre would not be sacrificed. (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Feb/08)