When a venue gets recognised as UK Theatre’s Most Welcoming Theatre in 2023, following on from its pre-covid recognition by The Stage as Regional Theatre of The Year in 2019, Nottingham Playhouse must be doing something right in programming for its local community.

The Grade II* listed venue is currently under the leadership of Stephanie Sirr MBE as Chief Executive and Adam Penford as Artistic Director, and we went along to discover how they are approaching the challenges of running a regional playhouse which acts as a producer as well as a receiving house, with a 750 seat Main House and a 100 seat Neville Studio.

Stephanie Sirr reflects on what makes Nottingham Playhouse special: “There’s an absolute dedication in every fibre of every department, to making sure that Nottingham Playhouse serves its local community. It runs through everything we do, from programming to participation activities, to supporting local artists and engaging with local businesses. That means we sometimes have to produce challenging theatre which speaks hard truths and asks questions. And sometimes, we just have to entertain people and give them a feeling of family and belonging, through a top night out at their local panto. But both are created with the same drive to produce world-class theatre.

“We have a rich history to uphold, we need to be ambitious, and we’re interested in investing in local talent to help the industry thrive. We are also one of the leaders in Sustainability in Theatre because that’s another hard truth that has to be addressed.”

The building, situated near the picturesque Wellington Circus, was designed by Peter Moro, the co-architect of the Festival Hall and opened in 1963, replacing the cramped theatre that had housed the city’s Repertory Company since 1948. Despite the modern external appearance and the circular auditorium walls, the theatre has a proscenium layout. Since 1996, it has been a Grade II* listed building and in 2004, the theatre was sympathetically restored and refurbished with a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

During Covid when the venue was forced to close, it initially focussed on re-releasing existing video pieces, such as Mass Bolero, as well as moving their participation and artist development programmes online. In May 2020, they launched the first piece of new digital theatre with an interactive Zoom play for children called Noah and the Peacock. Having partnered with the National Theatre in 2018 with the cinema broadcast of their production of The Madness of George III, they were able to release the capture as part of NT at Home in June. During October and November 2020, Nottingham Playhouse staged the Unlocked Festival of live and live-streamed events, to both in-person and digital audiences. In December 2020, a digital version of Cinderella was made available on demand through its new website, with integrated paywall to the Spektrix ticketing system, enabling members of over 3,500 households and students from 69 schools to get their annual panto fix. These important innovations kept it connected to its community and supported the reopening in summer 2021.

The current charitable operator of the venue was incorporated on 7 March 2005 as Nottingham Playhouse Trust Limited and started to trade on 1 July 2005. Its mission is stated as “Nottingham Playhouse: we make bold and thrilling theatre. It is world class, made in Nottingham and as diverse as our community.” Over the history of the site, it has indeed produced some bold and thrilling theatre.

The first production in the new theatre in 1963 was Shakespeare's Coriolanus in a production by Tyrone Guthrie. This included a young Ian McKellen as Tullus Aufidius and his association with the theatre was recognised when Sir Ian McKellen included the venue in his 80 venue tour of Ian On Stage in 2019 which produced £54,000 of funds for young people participatory activity to the theatre.

The terrifyingly funny The Comedians by Trevor Griffiths was premiered in Feb/March 1975, with Jimmy Jewel and Jonathan Pryce in leading roles, directed by Richard Eyre and designed by John Gunter before transferring to London.

In 2013, an adaptation of The Kite Runner by Matthew Spangler was produced by Nottingham Playhouse and became the theatre's best-selling ever drama up to that point in time. Autumn 2014 saw a successful UK tour with UK Productions and in summer 2022, a Broadway revival at the Helen Haynes Theatre.

Autumn 2021 saw the world premiere of Mark Gatiss’s adaptation of A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story before a London transfer to the Alexandra Palace. A filmed version was released in cinemas in 2022. It was revived in 2023 starring Keith Allen and again transferred to Alexandra Palace.

In 2024, the world-premiere of James Graham’s play Punch, based on the story of local Nottingham lad Jacob Dunne and his book Right from Wrong, and featuring Julie Hesmondhalgh, provoked an extraordinary, emotive response from both audience and critics. As a result, the issue of restorative justice was raised in the House of Commons and a Derbyshire Judge referenced Punch when sentencing someone for a violent attack. An extensive wraparound programme included a Talking Circle, a physical installation outside the theatre, which allowed wider discussions of the play’s themes, with talks led by local community leaders. The play is transferring to London’s Young Vic in Spring 2025.

Its success was further recognised in the recently announced UK Theatre Awards, the winners of which will be announced on 20 October, with the venue being nominated for Excellence in Inclusivity for Punch, Best Performance in a Play for David Shields in Punch, Excellence in Sustainability, and the Workforce Award.

Just opened, the first brand-new production of Dear Evan Hansen, outside of London's West End, is being co-produced with ATG Productions. The new production is directed by Nottingham Playhouse's Artistic Director Adam Penford, and premiered there on 9 September 2024 prior to an extensive UK & Ireland tour.

Adam says of the piece: “It’s a real honour to be given the opportunity to direct the first non-replica production of the show. We are the first time that a UK company has been granted permission to re-imagine the show, so it’s a new set, new choreography, new everything. We’ve also introduced an ensemble, which allows us to create a sense of community that Evan exists in but also doesn’t feel a part of. It’s amazing to take an iconic show but be able to really look at the material afresh.”

Running a regional venue is a delicate balance between the risks and rewards. Nottingham Playhouse’s stock in trade, own productions (helped by Theatre Tax Relief), receiving plays, comics and musical tribute acts that drive attendance and programming activity to serve the local community. In the year to 2 April 2023, the Charity Turnover was £6.7m and it sold 123,797 tickets for 323 events generating income of £2.26m. Its co-production income was £541k and as an Arts Council of England NPO, it received £1.39m. Its 63 community programmes reached 58,000 participants. It continues to operate a Pay What You Can Scheme and 50:50, a Pay It Forward scheme that subsidises low price tickets. All this managed to generate net Income of £79,412 in 2023.

As we have seen, the regional theatre sector has in recent years had to grapple with rising costs of the building and staff. Nottingham Playhouse is better placed than most to cope with these pressures. In 2014–15, it underwent a complete environmental upgrade including insulation of the fly tower, secondary and double glazing and installing PV panels. The works were jointly funded by Arts Council England, Nottingham City Council, patron donations and philanthropist Sir Harry Djanogly. The award-winning works have been calculated to cut annual energy usage by over 35%. The venue is an industry leader in reducing carbon footprint.

Of course, like any regional venue, the pantomime is an essential, even crucial part of the programming year and Nottingham Playhouse produces its own show as an alternative to the Crossroads production at the nearby Theatre Royal Nottingham. In the first post Covid year, it staged the delayed Cinderella and this year it will be Jack and Beanstalk, running from 29 November 2024 to 18th January 2025. Written by Adam Penford and designed by the wonderful Cleo Pettitt, it will once again star John Elkington as Dame in his 26th Nottingham panto. He was a nominee for Best Dame in the 2020 and 2022 UK Pantomime Awards. Zoe Spurr was nominated for Best Lighting and their production of Beauty and Beast was nominated as Best Digital in 2020. In the same year, Cleo Pettitt won Best Design for her set at Watford Palace.

In 2023, Sally Ferguson was nominated for Best Lighting for Dick Whittington and the production was nominated for Best Pantomime (500-900 seats). In 2024, Jewelle Hutchinson won Best Early Career Newcomer at the UKPA Awards in Guildford. This recognition, in the highly competitive awards which covers over 200 UK productions annually, is testament to the creativity and quality of their pantomimes. Jewelle returns this year as part of Jack and the Beanstalk.

Penford sums up the Nottingham approach to pantomime: “We pride ourselves on making a high-quality pantomime each year. We don't rely on celebrity casting to build returning audiences, instead hiring the very best performers and creative teams to make a production with integrity and excellent production values. We are so privileged to have our incredible in-house team of craftspeople to bring it to life on stage. The Nottingham Playhouse panto brand is a family friendly show, not too smutty, where we take the story and characters seriously. Then you add in the comic abilities of the actors to ad-lib and make each performance unique.”

Nottingham Playhouse is a shining example of a successful regional theatre with its careful mix between own production, received productions and community activity, supported by ACE and a handful of key sponsors and benefiting from the investment in the infrastructure in the last decade. It demonstrates how the delicate balance of regional theatre ecology can be achieved. With the support of its funders and local community, long may it continue.

Nick Wayne

Nick has been involved in Producer and Venue Organisations for twenty-five years, seen over 1200 productions, visited over 160 of the UK Venues and invested in over 30 West End Productions