NEWS: Keswick's Theatre By The Lake reveals new sustainability plan to try and secure its future.

THEATRE BY THE LAKE REVEALS SUSTAINABILITY PLAN TO SAFEGUARD ITS FUTURE

Theatre by the Lake has announced its plan to ensure the Cumbrian producing theatre is able to reopen in 2021, once Covid-19-related social distancing measures are removed for theatres nationally, and audiences are willing to return in numbers.

Public funding accounts for just 20% of the theatre’s turnover which means that the theatre is heavily reliant upon earned income, normally over £2.5m each year, through trading, donations and, most of all, ticket sales; as such, it has been severely affected by the closure and the loss of this earned income.

Plans include:

• The cancellation of the Christmas production of The Borrowers
• Managing and maintaining the theatre with a smaller team, who will plan for reopening at the appropriate time in the future, whilst continuing to creatively engage communities
• Implementing staff redundancies

The theatre had already cancelled their Summer rep Season and with no confidence in audience numbers returning to sustainable levels by Christmas, made the decision to cancel the programmed seven week run of The Borrowers in addition.

Following the recent announcement of changes in the Government’s Job Retention Scheme, the theatre has also confirmed that they are having to consider significant staff redundancies to reduce their annual payroll costs of just under £1m and will be consulting with staff over the next two months.  The theatre has reluctantly concluded that the best way to preserve jobs in the long-run is to ensure that the company comes through this crisis.

Executive Director James Cobbold and Artistic Director Liz Stevenson said:

“Our industry is facing an exceptionally challenging situation for the foreseeable future.  We’ve come to the incredibly difficult conclusion that we have to take action now to ensure Theatre by the Lake survives this challenging period of disruption and uncertainty.  If there is to be theatre in Keswick, and if we are to provide employment opportunities in the future, then we have no choice but to consider these actions in the short term.”

Theatre by the Lake is the only year-round producing theatre in Cumbria and one of the few repertory theatres in the country. It serves one of England’s largest and most rurally isolated counties, mounting over 400 performances of home produced work, presenting 700+ events and four festivals annually across its two performance spaces.  In 2019 it celebrated its 20^th birthday, had its most financially successful year to date, and appointed a new Artistic Director whose inaugural season included five world premieres, exciting partnerships and national tours, including working with producer David Pugh and Wise Children on Emma Rice’s Malory Towers and a rural tour of One Side Lies the Sea with Pentabus.

Whilst the theatre has been closed, the team has been planning a number of digital initiatives to engage audiences including Come to Where I Am with Paines Plough to co-commission four Cumbrian playwrights to write a short play about where they live. Over the coming months they will continue to deliver an artistic programme that responds to the needs of the local community during this challenging time.

Adding their voice to the industry’s calls on the Government to consider specific support for theatres, they added: “For the theatre industry to survive this crisis, we must see further investment quickly.  Over recent years, theatres have worked hard to operate on reducing levels of public subsidy by increasing their reliance on high ticket sales and as a result are at greater threat in this unprecedented crisis.  Britain’s world-class reputation for theatre, its vital positive impact upon health and wellbeing, and the significant contribution it makes to the economy must be protected for the future.”