Flying tonight

The Theatre Royal Stratford East has been granted £5,000 to help it clean and repair its trompe l’oeil safety curtain. The grant was awarded to the Theatre Royal by the Theatres Trust, a national body which works to improve theatre buildings. The Trust has a small grants programme, which receives its main funding from the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation and from Judy Cramer (who created Mama Mia).

The Theatre Royal Stratford East is a Grade II listed building. It was designed by J.G. Buddle and later refurbished by Frank Matcham. The designer of the trompe l’oeil safety curtain, Jenny Tiramani, will undertake the cleaning and repair work and this exercise is seen as an important measure to preserve the character of the theatre.

The work to the curtain will be followed by further work to refurbish and protect the 40-seater auditorium. The Theatre Royal is the only suburban London theatre with a complete pre-cantilever auditorium. The theatre prides itself on creating world class work that reflects the concerns, hopes and dreams of its community. A prolific developer of new work, the theatre has a long-standing commitment to championing new writing and delivering world-class musical theatre.

Kerry Michael, Artistic Director of Theatre Royal Stratford East, said: “Our beautiful auditorium dates all the way back to 1884 and is loved by audiences far and wide. It has a unique character that we’re keen to preserve and we are very grateful to the Theatre’s Trust for providing us with a grant to repair our safety curtain. This marks the beginning of our campaign to refurbish all areas of the auditorium to ensure audiences in the future can continue to appreciate its splendour and beauty.”