King’s to close for nearly two years for revamp
● Work will be phased to limit disruption for Edinburgh Festival
The King’s Theatre in Edinburgh is set to close for almost two years for a £25 million revamp described as essential to secure its long-term future.
The venue will be out of action for one at least one Edinburgh International Festival season while its annual pantomime will have to be relocated to the Festival Theatre and will have its run cut back over two festive season.
Plans to close down the venue in September 2021 are also reliant on nearly £5m being secured from the Heritage Lottery Fund for the biggest ever overhaul in the 112 yearold venue’s history.
The King’s would not fully reopen until the 2023 EIF under the planned timetable, revealed days after the city council committed £4m to the long-awaited project.
The programme may have
0 The Kings Theatre in Edinburgh is in need of a £25m revamp – which will see it closed for two years to be put back by 12 months dependingonhowmuchfunding is in place to help minimise disruption to the EIF, which uses the King’s for some of its biggest theatre shows.
The pantomime, the biggest annual money-spinner for the King’s, would share the festive season with Scottish Ballet’s annual Christmas show at the Festival Theatre.
Radical improvements to the auditorium, backstage areas, bars and cafes areas would be carried out under a blueprint aimed at preventing the King’s from sudden closure in the near future. Key priorities include improving access for disabled people, replacing the outdated “raked” stage, providing new workshop space for school and students, and creating new corporate hospitality spaces. The currently capacity of 1,350 is set to be reduced by around 200 to move the back of the upper stalls to be moved forward.
If the HLF application is successful, a £10m public appeal to help pay for the revamp is expected to be launched in the autumn. Latest plans for the overhaul have been revealed as it emerged that both venues will be promoted as the “Capital Theatres” from now on.
It is hoped the rebranding initiative will help boost the fundraising campaign for the King’s, which have already won the backing of leading Scottish actors Brian Cox and Bill Paterson, playwright John Byrne and author Ian Rankin.
Duncan Hendry, chief executive of Capital Theatres, said: “We were hoping for £5m from the council, but we can still make things happen with £4m. We’ve allocated £5m from our own resources, mainly from a levy on ticket sales.
“The next stage is to put in the first stage of a Heritage Lottery Fund application in June, which we should know about by August. If we’re successful with that we’d almost be within striking distance.”