August 2003
Restoration - Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds | |
|  | | Theatre Royal - updating and restoration work |
| | Opened by its proprietor and architect William Wilkins on the 11th October 1819, the Theatre Royal was one of the most elegant, sophisticated and up-to-date playhouses of its age. |
| | | Owned now by Greene King (who for many years used it at a barrel-store) the theatre is one of the gems of the National Trust and manages to be a working theatre as well as being open for historical tours.
The theatre desperately needs updating and restoring and so a major fundraising campaign is about to be launched.
The theatre needs £6.4 million to install improved facilities for staff and audiences, and are applying for £2m Lottery money to help pay for the work.
The plans include new seating, converting the next door house into a box office, foyer, restaurant, bars and offices and installing a lift.
They also plan to return the auditorium to the way it would have looked in Georgian times.
BBC Radio Suffolk's Rachel Sloane took her programme to the Theatre Royal to see why the Grade One listed building needs so much work.
 Listen to guided tour of Theatre Royal (12'18")
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