1990s | oldstokereptheatre

The 1920's

The 1990s

Happy Ending

The Nineties would be a remarkable decade for the Players. With the launch of their 71st Season in Autumn 1990 the society built on the announcement from January that year that they were looking for a new home. The Rep playbill for 1990-91 carried the news that the Players were busy looking to their future to improve ‘the scope and range of our productions and the facilities available to our regular supporters’. It stated that the company had ‘reached the point in our development where we need to expand, provide proper parking space, storage and administration space if we are to realise our full potential, and, as much as we love our present home, we are well aware that the sweeping changes we have in mind simply cannot take place on the site we have’.

October 1991 saw a double-page spread in the Evening Sentinel detailing the Stoke-on-Trent Repertory Theatre Appeal. The advertisement feature reflected on ‘seven decades of hard work’ and stressed that “The Rep is not short of money – it simply doesn’t ‘earn’ enough to buy a new house”.

Stoke-on-Trent had recently been described as a ‘cultural desert’ in the national press and the Players were adamant that, as far as they were concerned, this was not the case. House Manager Andy Morrey was quoted as saying, “At the Rep especially, it’s a well-watered and extremely fertile oasis”. The article included an artist’s impression of what the purpose-built structure would look like.

But it would come at a cost. £450 000 to ‘transform today’s scenic vision into tomorrow’s bricks and mortar’. It went on to explain that the Players were ‘seeking cash from individuals and companies, donations of materials and services and offering seat and further major sponsorship opportunities’.

Reaction to the one-off appeal was generally positive, although the following day’s edition of the newspaper contained a piece by reporter John Abberley in which he stated “Shelton Rep.. haven’t got a cat in hell’s chance of raising that kind of money, but good luck to them.” He described the project as ‘over-ambitious…when money is tight.” He did remind readers that the Players had never asked for any public or private subsidy and recognised their 70 year history of “providing first-class entertainment. I hope they continue in that way”.

This was the hope of the membership too. There was much to do to turn this dream into a reality.

An Evening Sentinel interview with Chairman Peter Dutton in October 1991 provided the public with further details about the reason for the move and the reality of its realisation. “The building we are in at the moment is coming to the end of its natural life. We cannot develop there. The cost of any form of re-building would be quite horrendous. And it wouldn’t solve the problems. We have solved the first part of it. We have got the land. That has taken quite a time. It is more than two years since we started talking about it. It is obviously a very delicate negotiation. At first we were offered a site on the Festival Park, but when we got down to the economics of it, it was way, way beyond anything we could manage. But, we have no choice. Either we get a new theatre, or we close. It is as stark as that. Our target is for £450, 000, but our starting point is putting up the shell. Our members are going to do a lot of the work, and friends will offer professional expertise. But if we want to give the city a theatre which we think the city deserves, and if we achieve the ideal, it is going to cost that much.”

In April 1992 members were informed, through the first issue of the theatre’s newsletter REPort, that the sales of seats for the new theatre was going “reasonably satisfactorily” but the response to the covenanting scheme had been “disappointing and a major setback”. The idea to launch a public appeal was based on the model used by the New Victoria Theatre in Basford. The Rep scheme was carefully devised to achieve three things – raise a large sum of money, avoid putting a strain on members’ financial resources and provide a constant income stream. On a more positive note it was reported that the box office returns had been “excellent with every show a near sell out”. The third production of the 1991-92 season, Anybody For Murder, had just 9 unsold seats for the whole run, resulting in 99.95% capacity sold. This was partly accounted for by a new policy on ticket collection plus the option for customers to purchase their tickets by credit card. The box office itself had recently received a face lift with most of the modifications being carried in the interests of security.

Alongside the continued support from the public was a need for members themselves to get more involved in the operational aspects of the theatre. Further help was needed with manning the box office, serving coffee, collecting tickets and selling programmes. It was noted that without the support of Young Rep members and the stage crew some shows would only have been staffed by the F.O.H. Manager, Andy Morrey. For the 1992-93 season a New Theatre Information Desk was set up in the Beresford Street auditorium. The idea was to keep visitors up to date with the latest news which included the structural engineer’s designs and latest cost figures. There was also a range of Rep merchandise that could be purchased in aid of raising funds.

In December 1992 the Players shared the surprising news that an alternative future home for the Rep could be a possibility as members were investigating reviving the Empire Theatre in Longton. It had had several reincarnations being a cinema until 1966 and a bingo hall until 1991.

This historic venue was Grade II listed and it had been one of the places where the Players had performed some of their earliest productions in the 1920s. The theatre was described as “particularly intimate and a fine example of the work of well-known Victorian theatre architect Frank Matcham”.

This idea came to a sudden halt when the Empire went up in flames on New Years Eve 1992. The Players were just two days away from closing the deal when the suspected arson attack occurred. Local fire crews were still at the scene 18 hours after the blaze started and it was clear that the building was beyond repair.

Not surprisingly, the incident took up the front page of the New Years Day edition of the Evening Sentinel. It reported that the heat from the fire could be felt more than 500 yards away as “the roof was brought down by the ferocity of the inferno”. It also “raised pavements around the property and showered adjoining premises with burning debris”. Traffic had been diverted, but the spectacle did not stop New Year revellers and other members of the public from stopping to watch.

Smoke from the blaze could be seen for miles around.

Over the following week there were numerous news stories, including the fact that investigators believed the fire had been started by trespassers. There were calls for a public enquiry, and later, an action group was set up to ‘Save The Empire’ whose mission was to purchase the site and raise funds through a public appeal to provide an entertainment centre for Longton.

In June 1993 an application to have the remaining stone façade and frontage block demolished was made by the then owners of the buidling, Gala Leisure Limited. Eleven letters of objection were received from individual members of the public with further representations from the Theatres Trust, the Potteries Heritage Society, English Heritage, the Ancient Monuments Society, and a town centre solicitor’s practice, all urging the Council to resist any further demolition and to explore the feasibility of rebuilding a new theatre or other cultural complex on the site.

Ultimately, all efforts to save the remaining parts of the Empire building failed and the final remains were demolished in Spring 1997, just a few months before the new Repertory Theatre opened on Leek Road.

The launch of the National Lottery in 1994 gave the Players an opportunity to finally see their original Leek Road plan realised. The company applied to the Arts Council for a grant to build the new theatre. To be successful the bid had to meet all of the relevant criteria – full access for the disabled had to be assured, the building design and quality of future productions had to be checked, and the Rep also had to explain how they would be able to afford the running costs once the venue was open. After the application was reviewed by the West Midlands Arts Board a grant of £765, 000 was given and an opening date of October 1997 was announced.