Arts bodies have decried the “devastating” news that one of Britain’s oldest theatres, the Oldham Coliseum, will close in two weeks after being stripped of its government funding.
The 138-year-old theatre confirmed “with deep sadness” on Thursday that it would bring down the curtain for the final time on 31 March.
The future of the venue had been under threat for weeks after Arts Council England (ACE) axed its £1.8m grant as part of a nationwide funding review.
The Coliseum, which helped launch the careers of some of the UK’s best-known actors, is the biggest theatre outside London to lose its ACE funding from April.
Stars including Maxine Peake, Jason Manford and Suranne Jones have decried ACE’s decision, saying it would leave “such a hole” in the region and would further make the arts something that was “for the elite”.
The loss of the theatre’s ACE subsidy came despite Oldham being earmarked as a levelling up priority for government money for culture.
In a statement, the Coliseum said its final production would take place on Saturday 25 March and that it would close its doors for good on 31 March.
It said the “outpouring of love” in recent weeks had been “overwhelming, demonstrating the Coliseum’s impact on the communities of Oldham and further afield”.
The Manchester-based theatre company Switch_MCR described the news as “devastating,” while the education group North West Drama said it was “incredibly sad”.
The Manchester branch of the arts union Equity added: “Incredibly sad news coming out of OL1. The town, the region and, most importantly the community will be forever poorer after this avoidable loss.”
ACE, which is an arms-length body of the government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, described the news as “upsetting for many and devastating for its staff”.
It said Oldham would still receive a £1.8m subsidy but that this would not go to the Coliseum, where more than 67,000 people have watched a show since it reopened after the Covid pandemic in June 2021.
ACE said it was providing funding to pay full redundancies and honour any outstanding contracts. It added that it supported Oldham council’s plans for a new venue “which will carry forward Oldham Coliseum’s cultural legacy”.
The Coliseum, which dates back to 1885, has hosted international stars such as Charlie Chaplin, Stan Laurel, Minnie Driver and Ralph Fiennes and helped launch the careers of local actors such as Happy Valley’s Sarah Lancashire, and Coronation Street’s William Roache (Ken Barlow), Anne Kirkbride (Deidre Barlow), and Barbara Knox (Rita Sullivan).
