by Simon Page
BBC News Online England |
 The theatre has seen performances from a host of famous names |
Leicester's famous Haymarket Theatre stands idle at the moment, the latest in a long line of regional arts centres to face financial problems. It hosted its last performance in July against the backdrop of debts totalling �450,000 and the threat of permanent closure.
Like so many of the plays it has hosted, its story began well before crisis hit.
It now hopes the happy ending will come in the form of a �1.3m recovery award from the Arts Council and a move to a new building in Leicester's cultural quarter.
Dark times ahead
The Haymarket gained its fine reputation, particularly for musicals, with performances by such notable names as Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson and Catherine Zeta Jones.
But the all too common financial shortfall which seems to afflict so many theatres began seriously to take hold last autumn.
Ruth Doyle, the theatre's communications director, told BBC News Online: "There was a combination of circumstances.
"There was strike action in October which was practically unprecedented as shows were cancelled by the strike. "This also affected pre-sales for the Christmas programme.
"We also faced the withdrawal of a grant from Leicestershire County Council at the same time as rising production costs and overheads."
Traditionally the theatre would be closed during the "dark months" of July and August, but the lights will be dimmed for longer than usual.
To address the financial problems, the curtain will not go up again until next spring and there are likely to be shorter seasons for the next two years.
Government petitioned
But the bitterest pill has come in the form of 63 redundancies, leaving of team of just 15 people to oversee two years of rebuilding.
This has angered the theatre union, Bectu, which has held meetings with the local MP and petitioned Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell.
 The new Performing Arts Centre is due to open in 2006 |
Bectu submitted a proposal to the Haymarket board which involved just 14 job cuts and a pay freeze. However, this was rejected and has increased the union's animosity towards the theatre directors.
The recovery funding was secured on the theatre's proposal for cuts and temporary closure, as Fiona Mitchell-Innes from the Arts Council explained.
"We only deal with the board and it was the board's decision not to put forward other proposals.
"I do know that Bectu presented plans to management and were asked to re-submit their ideas."
With the immediate future secured, the Haymarket board is looking to the longer term and the 2006 opening of the Performing Arts Centre in Leicester's new cultural quarter.
Ruth Doyle said: "The (Arts Council) recovery award will address the recurring financial problems and we are undertaking a massive restructuring programme.
"The plans for the Performing Arts Centre will lead to double the number of performances and hopefully much bigger audiences. "There will always need to be a balance between the box office and funding. The margins are so tiny that the smallest error can affect finances."
Meanwhile, the Arts Council is aiming to bring a new professionalism to theatre management throughout the country.
"We want a shift in the thinking of theatre boards so they start to see themselves from more of a business viewpoint," said Fiona Mitchell-Innes.
Better performances
"Part of the conditions of funding are greater financial stringency and better financial management.
"The plan for the Haymarket means it will definitely offer what it once did.
"That is part of the funding package.
"They will be offering the kind of performances they always did, only better."
So this latest tale of strife in regional theatre may just get the expected happy ending - and the theatre-going public of Leicester hope there will be no sequel.
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The margins are so tiny that the smallest error can affect finances 
