Theatre Royal Stratford awarded £5,000 to repair safety curtain

A £5,000 grant to repair it’s stage safety curtain has been awarded to the Theatre Royal Stratford East by the Theatres Trust

The money is a share of the £25,000 the national public body established to protect and promote awareness of theatres at-risk handed out to five theatres across the country last week.

The grant will go towards its “Repair the stage curtain” project to clean and mend the fabric of its trompe l’oeil curtain

Trompe-l’œil is an art technique that uses realistic imagery to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects exist in three dimensions.

The grant will go towards preserving the character of the Grade II listed theatre

The designer of the trompe l’oeil safety curtain, Jenny Tiramani and her team, will clean and repair the safety curtain. It is the first project in a series of works to refurbish the theatre auditorium.

Originally designed by James George Buckle, and refurbished by Frank Matcham, the Theatre Royal Stratford East is managed by Pioneer Theatres Ltd.

It seats 430 and is the only suburban London theatre with a complete pre-cantilever auditorium.

the theatre was the home of Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop from the 1950s-1970s and prides itself on creating world class work that reflects the concerns, hopes and dreams of its community

Kerry Michael, Artistic Director of Theatre Royal Stratford East said:

“Our beautiful auditorium dates all the way back to 1884 and is loved by audiences far and wide. It has a unique character that we’re keen to preserve and we are very grateful to the Theatre’s Trust for providing us with a grant to repair our safety curtain. This marks the beginning of our campaign to refurbish all areas of the auditorium to ensure audiences in the future can continue to appreciate its splendour and beauty.”