Sunderland theatre looks for community support

Sunderland’s 86-year-old Royalty Theatre is facing closure as audience figures plummet.

Oscar-winning producer David Parfitt has now stepped in and is urging Wearsiders to help save the city’s oldest community theatre.

The theatre recently raised £150,000 through a series of fundraising events to help revamp the building. But the 200-seat theatre is facing financial difficulties, with its December panto, Old King Cole, struggling to hit a 60% audience level compared with a few years ago when 90% of the tickets were snapped up.

Sunderland-born Mr Parfitt, who scooped an Academy Award for best picture in 1998 for Shakespeare in Love, was made the theatre’s patron in 1999.

He said: “Theatres like this are so much part of the community. “It’s incredibly important that people support the Royalty as they do very, very good work and many small theatres are the starting place of not only actors but also writers too. We would all miss it if it went.”

November’s production, Come Back to the 5 and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, saw audience levels reach their lowest in the theatre’s 86 year history, with just 33% of seats filled.

Anna Snell, Royalty vice-chairwoman, said: “Our message is a simple one – use it, or lose it. “Over the last few months, we have raised a huge amount of money through our own efforts and many organisations have responded positively to our fundraising applications.

“But the commitment and interest being shown by these bodies is just not being matched by the people of Sunderland.”