Peterborough theatre joins consortium on regional pilot project
Peterborough’s New Theatre is part of a brand-new partnership, bringing together seven leading theatre organisations as the region’s first ever touring consortium, the East Anglian Touring Consortium.
The ambitious collaboration, the first of its kind in the region, will introduce a fresh and innovative approach designed to tackle the challenges of midscale touring and bring high-quality, original theatre made by and for the people of East Anglia to communities across the region and beyond.
The collaboration will see Eastern Angles, HighTide, Landmark Theatres (which operates New Theatre and The Key), Mercury Theatre Colchester, New Wolsey Theatre, Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch, and Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds work together to pilot a region-wide sustainable model for midscale touring with a clear focus on new writing, local talent development, skills development and audience development.
Backed by a National Lottery Project Grant from Arts Council England, with significant funding from each of the consortium members, the project is designed to be both financially and environmentally sustainable.
“This is a very exciting moment for theatre in East Anglia,” said Paul Jepson, CEO and Creative Director of Landmark Theatres, on behalf of the consortium.
“This collaboration allows us to deliver high-quality, newly commissioned work at scale, reaching under-served rural communities across the region, while also benefiting from the sharing of our combined skills. We’ll be announcing the first production very soon – watch this space.”
At their core the East Anglia Touring Consortium aims to increase meaningful access and inclusion across diverse, underserved and marginalised communities, particularly those from lower socio-economic backgrounds and rurally isolated areas, their robust audience development strategy will look to increase new audiences and attendance from targeted postcodes whilst also distributing a percentage of tickets to these communities through local networks.
The consortium’s debut production will be announced shortly. With early development already underway, the ambitious new original British musical will draw inspiration from East Anglia’s rich cultural history.
It is written by Olivier Award-winning writer, composer, and performer Vikki Stone who says: “It is a delight to work with the East Anglia Touring Consortium team to develop this exciting new show. We can’t wait to share the news but can tell you now that you can expect a show that is bold, loud, and joyfully defiant, which celebrates the rich cultural history of the area!”