Derelict plot set to transformed into state-of-the-art studio space
IT HAS been three decades in the making, but in a few months, a derelict plot next to Wakefield’s historic Frank Matcham theatre will be transformed into a stateof-the-art studio space – proof, the theatre’s director says, that the city’s art scene is both ambitious and here to stay.
Theatre Royal Wakefield’s long-awaited Centre for Creativity will be the latest arts venue to open in the city, joining the renowned Hepworth Wakefield, which opened in 2011, and the Art House, across from the theatre on Drury Lane, in 2008, as well as numerous smaller, independent arts offerings.
But all is not completely well in Wakefield’s arts community. Just last month, Unity Works, which opened to great fanfare three years ago after a £4m regeneration project of the Grade II-listed Unity Hall, which is opposite the theatre, was put into administration.
“It’s very sad what has happened over the road at Unity but it doesn’t effect the buoyancy of the cultural landscape in Wakefield,” the theatre’s executive director Katie Town said.
For the theatre, that is the Centre of Creativity. With a total build and fit out price hitting just short of £1m, it is no small feat.
Inside will be a new cafe bar which will double up as an extra box office, and mean the theatre will be accessible to the public outside of show times, and a new studio theatre space, named after the theatre’s life president, Sir Rodney Walker.
The studio space will mean the theatre can move rehearsals for in-house productions from “dusty old church halls”, on to its own site. It is expected to open next spring.