Nottingham Arts Theatre marks 25 years as a community stage in Hockley

For the past 25 years Nottingham Arts Theatre has been serving the city with a programme of local and touring independent stage shows from its 200-year-old building in Hockley. This autumn the educational charity behind it is looking back on how far it has come since it reopened the doors on George Street in 2001.

The story starts with a rescue. In 1999 the Co-operative Wholesale Society, which owned the Co-operative Arts Theatre, announced that it was selling the building for redevelopment. The theatre had been part of the city's cultural life since 1948, and a two-year campaign to save it was led by Nottingham poet, playwright and director Campbell Kay. Supporters included Peter Bowles, Ken Loach, Su Pollard and Alan Sillitoe, who had begun their careers there.

By 2000 the charity had been founded, and a fundraising production of a two-hander version of King Lear, And My Poor Fool Is Hang'd, pointed the way towards a more contemporary repertoire.

Campbell Kay told LeftLion the charity inherited a very tired building with a drab auditorium. Over 25 years, and without regular public subsidy, the theatre has refurbished the auditorium with new seating, carpets and decoration, improved the bar and foyer, modernised the dressing rooms and repainted the facade. It has also created a flexible fifty-seat studio theatre, served by the Studio Bar, and a rehearsal and exhibition area called The Space Upstairs.

The programme reflects the city around it. The theatre provides studio and office space for Nottingham Pride during Pride Week, and this year it housed the LGBTQ+ community pantomime The Wizard of Nottz. It marked Black History Month with Jah Makin It Happen, the Windrush Musical. A management team led by Theatre Manager Julian Phillips books the shows, and volunteers help with everything from wardrobe and props to acting.

Education sits at the heart of the charity. A term-time Youth Theatre, school holiday theatre schools and an annual open-audition youth musical give young people across the city and county a way on to the stage, with recent productions including Les Miserables and Everybody's Talking About Jamie. Campbell Kay singled out last year's Sweeney Todd as a standout.

The anniversary is being marked on stage too. On Friday 30 October Campbell Kay hosts The Play's The Thing, an evening of reminiscence about the purchase of the theatre and 25 years of the charity's survival, with scenes from that original King Lear production. It has already sold out.

Still to come are a play about Tommy Cooper, Have I Got Time For More?, and Spotlight Theatre's family pantomime Goldilocks and the 3 Bears from 5 to 20 December. Nottingham Arts Theatre is at 12 George Street, NG1 3BE.