20-05-2025
Theatre Royal in Dumfries in fight to avoid programme cuts
Scotland's oldest working theatre has launched a fundraising campaign in a bid to avoid making cuts to its Guild of Players - the charity which owns and runs the Theatre Royal in Dumfries - needs £30,000 to maintain its offering this said grant funding was "increasingly difficult" to obtain while it faced rising costs for national insurance, energy bills and is now launching a "Keep Theatre Live" campaign to ensure its full programme of entertainment and workshops can continue as planned.
The Theatre Royal first opened in 1792 and flourished for more than a the advent of cinema saw it struggle for a role and - after being used to screen films, hold auctions and even host roller-skating - it closed completely in was when the Guild of Players acting group - formed in 1913 - stepped 1959, its home was earmarked for demolition and it looked around for new premises with the Shakespeare Street property proving the perfect has run the site since then - with a major overhaul completed in 2015.
However, it now faces a struggle to keep delivering its planned broad guild receives support from a number of organisations but director Mark Alexander said the failure to secure Creative Scotland multi-year funding earlier this year had been "disappointing"."We are determined to work through the challenge - as we did during Covid," he addition to the fundraising campaign, the guild said there were a number of other ways people could support the theatre, including buying tickets to a show, making a one-off or regular donation or becoming a corporate sponsor.
