Theatre launches ‘critical’ appeal to fix leaking roof
A Bath theatre is fundraising to repair its roof after it suffered “extreme” leaking and deterioration amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The roof of the Mission Theatre, on Corn Street in Bath, has become severely damaged after it was left empty and unheated due to its forced closure.
The Next Stage Theatre company is now trying to raise £110,000 to fix it.
Water has been leaking into the Grade Ii-listed building, damaging the theatre upstairs and the main auditorium, and urgent repairs are needed within the next six months.
Ann Ellison BEM, artistic director of the Mission Theatre and Next Stage Theatre Company, said: “We know it’s a terrible time to be fundraising but it is now critical that we do.”
She continued: “If we could talk to patrons as they came in that would be different, but of course we can’t.
“We’ve had a terrible year of having to cancel shows repeatedly, it has been awful and so sad to not have the theatre full of life and laughter like it should be.”
Ms Ellison continued: “In Bath, there is such a community spirit about this place, we do so much and people tell us we are like their family.
“So now we are having to ask them for help. The water penetration cannot be left any longer, we’ve already spent thousands repairing it in the past but it needs a complete refit now.”
They’ve now put down the first £20,000 towards the work, which Ms Ellison said was a lot of money for a closed theatre company to come up with.
She said: “This space used to be a chapel, it is fabulous and was built in the 1700s but, of course, techniques used back then don’t last forever now.
“We have had so much fun here doing so many shows, working with the youth theatre and festivals and we desperately want to be able to provide a secure space. Walking into the auditorium in the last year has been heartbreaking because a theatre, unlike any other spaces, is built to host live performances which just couldn’t happen.”
The team will be trying to secure funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund but there is no guarantee help will come.
In May it is planned the theatre will reopen with its production of The Memory of Water by Shelagh Stephenson, which was postponed in March 2020.
People can donate at https:// missiontheatre.squarespace.com/ raise-the-roof
There is also the opportunity to sponsor slates for £30 per slate. When the main roof is being repaired, people will be invited to leave a message, or sign their name on one or more of the new slates. They will also be invited to put the inscription in a Heritage Book, whether commemorating a loved one, celebrating the arts or leaving a personal stamp on a heritage building.
The first 100 people to donate £60 to the Raise the Roof! appeal will become enrolled for one year as a Friend of Next Stage, which comes with a number of benefits – find out more at www. next-stage.co.uk/friends-of-nextstage
The team is also appealing to anyone who would be willing to match the theatre’s own fundraising efforts.