On Monday, 16 May 11:00am – 6:00pm BST at Birmingham Hippodrome, Hurst Street, Southside B5 4TB, the UK Musical Theatre Conference returns to being a live, in-person only event after two years of Covid restrictions.
This year the theme is ‘Worlds to change and worlds to win’ – New musical theatre for our times
This is the UK’s main Conference event focusing on the musical theatre sector and art form in the UK, and is an invaluable way to network and gain an overview of musical theatre in the UK.
It’s shaping up to be an exciting gathering, with confirmed speakers so far including artistic director Suba Das (Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse Theatres), rapaturg Gerel Falconer (‘Black Power Desk’), writers Francesca Forristal and Jordan Clarke (‘Public Domain’), producer Ameena Hamid (‘The Wiz’), academic Pamela Karantonis (Goldsmiths), director Angharad Lee (‘The Last 5 Years’), creative Meg McGrady (‘The Phase’), writer Leo Mercer (‘Guy’), director Kerry Michael MBE (‘Tommy’), legal expert Stephen Pidcock (Clintons Solicitors), producer Chris Sudworth (Birmingham Hippodrome), writer Rachel Victor-Sampson (‘Royals & Rebels’), composer Tim Sutton (‘To the Streets!’) and writer DJ Walde (‘Sylvia’).
After two years of almost all MMD and MTN’s events being held online, we are planning the 2022 UK Musical Theatre Conference as a solely in-person event. This is in keeping with past Conferences and the rare opportunity they offer for gathering together those focused on new musical theatre in the UK, to network and connect in the breaks as well as debate during the formal sessions.
This year’s Conference will look at areas where musical theatre is making a difference within the performing arts and wider society, and poised to make more significant impacts over the next decade. For surely this is a time when the world needs more musical theatre. At this stage we expect session topics to include how musical theatre can engage audiences with the climate crisis, musical theatre that amplifies the voices of particular communities, adapting real life stories for musical theatre, and evolving approaches to making musical theatre more inclusive. Further details and speakers to be announced soon.
Booking gives attendees access in person to dedicated networking sessions (10-11am and 5.15-6.15pm) with musical theatre industry peers, and to the conference sessions (11am-1.30pm and 3-5.15pm), with further networking opportunities over lunch, which will be provided at the venue thanks to conference sponsors.
The 2022 UK Musical Theatre Conference is brought to you by Musical Theatre Network and Mercury Musical Developments, in association with Birmingham Hippodrome. Concord Theatricals are lead sponsor of the 2022 UK Musical Theatre Conference, and Theatrical Rights Worldwide as session sponsors. Thanks also to Birmingham Hippodrome as venue partner, and to Arts Council England for their core funding of Musical Theatre Network and Mercury Musical Developments as co-producers of the Conference.
Through National Lottery Project Grants, Arts Council England are working with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to create more and better volunteering opportunities for young people and others who experience barriers to accessing high quality opportunities.
£4.6 million in government investment is being awarded to more than 160 community organisations across the country to support 7,800 new volunteering opportunities over the next two years as the government confirms the beneficiaries of the Volunteering Futures Fund, which was established in 2021.
Volunteering Futures will enable people to get involved in volunteering activities across the arts, heritage, museums, libraries, sport and physical activity, youth and other community settings.
Their aim is to create more and better volunteering opportunities for people who experience loneliness, who experience barriers to volunteering or live in areas where there are fewer volunteering opportunities.
March 16th 2020 was the fast-moving day that theatres closed their doors for the longest period in modern history. To mark two years since that event, I wanted to remind us all of what has changed – and to highlight an area that most theatregoers aren’t aware of.
Make no mistake, Covid has been a seismic event in the creative arts.
These last two years have seen theatre companies, buildings and related workers put through the wringer as they fought to survive this unprecedented crisis.
Two years later, most of our theatre buildings are still with us, but theatre’s infrastructure has suffered huge damage. Freelancers, already an undervalued and underrepresented group of creatives, found they had been forgotten in financial contingencies. It was the people within the industry itself that at least partially came to the rescue, raising millions of pounds from supporters both colleagues and grateful audiences. Two years later, how many of those valuable creatives have been lost to the industry?
Stuttering, inconsistent and inadequate financial support by the human blancmange that was Oliver Dowden (the ex-Culture Secretary) piled unnecessary pressure and pain on the whole sector, further compounded by the cowardly approach by incompetent central Government (not requiring but advising theatres to close, giving their insurance pals a get-out for not paying off on insurance claims). The less than £2 billion for the arts and culture was dwarfed by comparison with the £36 billion wasted on the failed test and trace scheme. And let us not forget that a large proportion of taxpayer’s money given to the arts were LOANS, not grants. theatres have to spend the next few years trying to pay it back. What a different approach to, say, easyJet, who came whining to government in April 2020 and found themselves with £600 million of taxpayers money in their back-pocket. Level playing field, my arse.
Actors took to social media to try to support others and boost morale, but the idea of artists who had worked hard for years being relegated to supermarket shelf fillers was a real gut punch.
Theatre companies did inspirational work with their local communities and deepened their relationships with their constituents as they filled the gaps in local authority services, handled donations and became whatever the community needed, food banks, vaccination centers, free entertainment providers. The scope and range of work has been truly breathtaking and moving. This is why creativity and the arts matter.
Creatives being creatives, many chose to dive online and produce work which was able to be broadcast to an external audience. Many started sidelines they had been toying with for years. Others later in their careers felt able to wait and ride it out.
Theatres themselves suffered their longest closure period ever. It is worth remembering that theatres do not stand still in time. You cant just lock the doors and expect to start up as if nothing had happened two years later. Theatres need just as much maintenance, repair and upkeep as our own homes do – much more, in fact. And with theatres these things don’t come cheap. Let us also not forget that the Restoration Levy paid on many tickets which helped contribute towards the upkeep of our most valued theatres has also been lost to theatre owners, digging another financial hole of tens of millions of pounds cumulatively over two years. Some of you may not have much sympathy for theatre owners, but our highest profile landlords like Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh undoubtedly love their theatre buildings in similar ways that we love them.
Some took the opportunity (as Lloyd Webber did) to progress major renovation work while it was impossible to open to the public. From that, we have a restored and rejuvenated Her Majesty’s auditorium and a wonderfully-restored Theatre Royal Drury Lane.
And then of course once the film industry had started to get back up running (very quickly thanks to government insurance backed guarantees – which were denied to live theatre), creatives piled into filmmaking and television work. There has been much annoyance at the National’s Rufus Norris recent carping about Netflix taking talent away from the stage, which was a really dumb and insensitive thing to say. In an industry where over 75% are not in work, his kvetching may be seen as unhelpful and disrespectful of the wider talent pool that would love to be at the National, but will likely never get the chance. Perhaps Mr Norris might ponder the fact that if the government hadn’t handed over millions of taxpayers money to support the National (never forget where that cash came from!), he might be out looking for work too.
So now, as we reopen theatres and try to navigate a new normal, we can see that the whole landscape of theatre and theatregoing has changed. People are jumpier, audiences rowdier, the jangled nerves of separation will take time to settle.
There are many untold stories to be shared in coming months about this time, but for now I would like to focus on one particular aspect of theatre that audiences don’t see. Its about the damage to theatre financing.
It takes a considerable amount of money to put on a show, even a small-scale, fringe show. At a time when inflation is rising, the costs of putting on a show are rising too. Small shows with limited runs most often do not return their costs, let alone turn a profit. Larger shows which have the potential to run in London’s West End and/or tour the UK have much more potential, but also cost much more to stage and run.
Long-running shows, after recouping their production costs, can go on to produce a regular financial return to investors. Although many shows lose money, some break even and others go on to cumulatively make a lot of profit due to their low running costs or length of run – or other factors.
The money to put on shows is raised from investors -some still call them “angels”- who have a commitment to the project or those involved with it, or simply someone who wants to help a production get up on its feet. They can be industry insiders, other producers, wealthy folk with money to spare or small investors like the general public. Anyone can invest in a show- and usually you’ll be most welcome.
It is underestimated how many of those investing in shows are small to mid-scale investors. Some have a family history of investing, others had a particularly affinity with a particular production.
What is usually unseen and therefore not understood in the financial equation, is that many of these smaller/mid-scale investors, when they get a profit return, will very often use that money to put into another show, in this way keeping the money going round within the theatrical “body” as it were.
2020’s halting of all shows, big and small, hit or miss, West End or touring, means that not only have incomes been denied to theatres, producers, theatre-workers, show companies, ticket agents, marketing companies, agents, scene-builders, artists and so many more. What it has also meant is that the steady flow of returns in the shape of profit cheques were also halted in the first instance of this happening in theatre history.
What does this mean? Well, speaking as a smaller-scale investor, for me the abrupt halt of profit cheques meant that I could not help upcoming and emerging producers with the financial support for their shows to be presented, which support is most critical to allowing new and untried work to be seen and for all concerned to gain valuable experience.
We have to stop and think what these profit cheques have enabled. Not only the payment of salaries, office space rental, together with all the usual costs of running a business – accountancy, legal work, etc, but also of looking after those they may in some way be responsible for.
Once we get past this initial impact, there are still further and more ominous impacts to be considered.
As the large shows come back, they have to cope with not only the financial uncertainty of a depressed market for theatre, as well as a hesitant audience who may wait many more months before venturing back into a theatre, it also means that their restart costs have to be found from their own pockets. You don’t just go into a theatre and pick up where you left off 18 months ago.
Rehearsing, repairing and replacing sets, costumes, etc. Finding cast and company members who by now may have gone into other jobs, or even quit theatre altogether. This all takes money, and no-one except the producer knows where that will come from. What is certain is that it will affect their balance sheet enormously. Also, of course, it will further impede their ability to begin to pay profit cheques out once more, and how long that internal system will take to rebalance itself nobody knows, but it certain to be many years.
After World War Two, the Arts Council of Great Britain understood that for the regeneration of our cultural sector, many seeds needed to be planted, and often, in the hope that our creative industries could flourish again. Looking back on the support that was given then, it i almost unbelievable in the size and scale of its operation, creativity and joined-up thinking. Such an operation would be utterly impossible now. We have no visionaries left.
The fact remains that we need a similar approach now. Smaller scale seeding grants for upcoming companies to produce future healthy growth in our precious , unique theatre world., that is what will allow the creatives of the future to flourish.
And we might all consider offering up a word of thanks to all the thousands of investors who helped us to see the shows we loved in the past – and will continue to do so in the future.
The Hippodrome vision – it could be this….but it might be this….
Arts Council England has just identified Dudley as one of the “Priority Places” in the UK where arts and culture are significantly underfunded by ACE, and is consequently substantially boosting their investment in Dudley to help the locality grow their arts and culture offering in order to benefit their communities, which is great news for everyone.
So can this be the right time for Dudley Council to press ahead with their application to demolish the area’s largest single arts and culture asset, the Dudley Hippodrome- the only purpose-built professional theatre in the area?
As Heritage Open Days 2021 draw to a close, when all across the country, local authorities have proudly celebrated their priceless heritage buildings, I aim to do what the Council seems not to have done – to celebrate Dudley Hippodrome
This article introduces Dudley Hippodrome to those of you who may not live nearby, or have heard of it before. Locals have heard it all, I am sure, but this article aims to give an overview of the building, the story, the struggle and the vision that could, potentially, bring Dudley Hippodrome back from the brink.
The Dudley Hippodrome
The Dudley Hippodrome is an impressive Art Deco theatre with over 70 successful years of entertainment history, bringing enjoyment to the community and visitors from far and wide. However, its last 12 years have been dogged by closure and neglect. Now it faces the prospect of demolition -for a third time- with few friends in the Council and only the people of Dudley to speak up for it. And boy are they shouting! The saga of the fight against demolition, with the passion, dogged perseverance and the angry cries of the people – is an involved one, but I have broken it down into sections in the hope that you’ll stay with me – to introduce you to one of the important heritage preservation battles of 2021.
The history of the Dudley Hippodrome – “The Showplace of the West Midlands”
When the town of Dudley in the West Midlands lost the Dudley Opera House, built in 1899, which burned down in 1936, its proprietor, Benjamin Kennedy, decided to demolish the remains and build an entirely new theatre on the same site. The Dudley Hippodrome, as the new building was called, was built in 1937/8 and opened in 1938.
c.1910 Postcard showing the Dudley Opera House on the site now occupied by the Hippodrome
Kennedy was also the owner of a new cinema, the Plaza, built in 1936 to replace a previous one which stood right next to the Opera House. The Plaza cinema was designed by local architect Archibald Hurley Robinson. Robinson’s main body of work was in and around the west Midlands, with his practice established in Birmingham. Hurley Robinson was known as a prolific cinema designer over a 25 year period from World War 1 to the outbreak of World War 2.
Dudley Plaza at left (demolished 1997) and Hippodrome sit side by side in undated photo – 50s?
So, when Kennedy was looking for an architect for his new Hippodrome, he turned once again to Hurley Robinson. Although built as a variety theatre, its construction was very much in line with the look and style of super cinemas of the 1930s. Indeed, the Hippodrome is the only theatre on Hurley Robinson’s long list of building credits.
The Hippodrome opened in December 1938, seating a total of 1,750 in stalls and circle, with the region’s largest stage and fly tower- amply equipped to present big touring shows. For many years the Hippodrome was proudly known across the country as “the Showplace of the West Midlands”.
The owner, Benjamin Kennedy died on 10 April 1939, passing on responsibility for running the theatre to his sons, Maurice and Robert. The theatre then enjoyed a glittering couple of decades of operation, with top stars from all around the world headlining here including Laurel and Hardy, Bob Hope, Tommy Cooper, Ken Dodd, Bruce Forsyth and many more.
Programme from 1947
The theatre ran into financial difficulties in 1958, in common with many UK theatres which were then suffering the combined effects of the decline of variety coupled with the new television channels luring away their audiences with the offer of free entertainment in their own homes.
Dudley Hippodrome, “the Showplace of the West Midlands” – the impressive auditorium
After a few months of closure, the Hippodrome re-opened under new ownership in December with a pantomime to tide them over the holiday season. But eventually changing times saw another change of owners and the final stage show at the theatre came on 24 February 1964, and the last live concert starred Roy Orbison in 1974.. A succession of new owners through the 60s and 70s finally saw the Hippodrome reverting to bingo, and it was as a bingo hall that the theatre closed in 2009, after 70 years of operation.
The empty years
In 2010 the building was placed on the Theatres Trust’s annual At Risk Register for the first time (it has appeared every year since). Later in 2010 the building was purchased by Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council.
For those wishing all the details of the theatre’s next few years, the Theatres Trust website can provide you with a detailed background information which you can find here.
In short, the Council compulsorily purchased the building with the possibility of demolition for a scheme which didn’t happen and the building has been empty and languishing ever since. Several interested groups have wanted to revive the venue, but according to Theatres Trust reports, none of them appear to have had the right level of support or finance available to them, together with too many constraints which limited their chances of success from the start.
But now things move up a gear……
The Friends, the Trust – and the Council
The Dudley Hippodrome Friends and Community Group was established in early 2020 and quickly grew a sizeable following on Facebook of over 2,500 followers. What the group has tried to do, with little outside support or assistance, financial or otherwise, is revive the idea of returning the theatre to its previous role as a vital community hub. They have done a remarkable job in mobilising local opinion and feeling to support their aims and my heartiest congratulations go out to each of them for their commitment and hard work.
In an extension of the Friends and Community group, the Dudley Hippodrome Development Trust was formed in April of this year, applying to register as a charity to fundraise seriously and step up their fight to save the Hippodrome.
The DHDT/Friends’ vision for the Hippodrome is positive, ambitious but is well-considered as well as achievable and offers incalculable benefits to the community.
The vision
The Hippodrome sits upon an important site at the gateway to Dudley town, close by the Zoo and Dudley Castle. This whole area is rightly designated a conservation area, which gives higher protection for buildings than if they were simply locally listed. This illustration below shows the aspect as you approach the ‘Heritage Quarter’ and the Gateway to Dudley.
The proposed glazed aspect (on the right hand side of this illustration) would be repeated on the opposite side facing the Zoo and Castle. It cleverly turns the previous “wall of brick” side aspects into something really attractive from all sides.
The DHDT and Friends’ vision is that the theatre would be repurposed leaving a Main Auditorium, albeit with smaller capacity, allowing the construction of a secondary Studio Theatre for smaller shows / events and rehearsals, increasing the potential footfall even further. This approach has been proven to work in other entertainment venues such as the very successful Stockport Plaza.
Moving on to the massive basement with its own entrances which is now reinvented as an all day venue for healthy breakfasts, brunches, lunches, dinners and drinks where you would find a Deli/Bakery, Vegan and Street Food Concessions, Shakes/Ices, Artisan Deli/Coffee House, Prosecco/Ginsecco, Black Country Craft Ales and a Gin and Ale Bar & Kitchen….a vibrant world of food and drink options.
The adjoining soundproofed rehearsal studios would have the flexibility to open out to form a Black Box Theatre with platform stage and flexible seating layouts. Eclectic community meeting rooms, Kids cinema/Xbox/PS4 lounge, and more. The basement studios would benefit younger people of Dudley’s diverse community for musical instrument tuition and performances, acting, singing and dancing, education, health, well-being and personal development, empowering and inspiring for generations to come. What an amazing asset to the community and for local community services to tap into!
Upstairs on the higher levels, the vision continues with a nod to the past. Glazed aspects overlooking the gateway to Dudley, a Laurel and Hardy (who appeared here in 1947) themed Cocktail Bar/Kitchen/Restaurant for lunch, brunch, afternoon teas and pre-show dinner or personal dining with Sunday lunches and special celebratory occasions catered for in style. A rooftop terrace would be added to enjoy views of the town and the Castle.
Here we have a clear, comprehensive, well-thought out plan for a revived and thriving much-loved heritage building. A plan any town (or future city) would be proud of. You’d think….
The struggle and the silence
The Friends/DHDT group has done fantastic work with rallying the local community, generating some smaller-scale fundraising and has created the above visuals to communicate their inspiring vision of how the theatre could revive not only its own interests, but also, according to locals, the run-down Dudley centre which is crying out for regeneration. But it is perplexing that the Conservative-led Council doesn’t appear to be interested.
The Friends/DHDT group has found support from opposition councillors, with Ryan Priest, a spokesman for Dudley Liberal Democrats, saying “To tear down such a significant icon of our history, and to ignore the calls for its restoration is an absolute failure of leadership. Dudley Hippodrome is a local landmark, an important part of Black Country history, and if reopened and restored to its former glory could have a huge impact on the local area.”
Passion is all very well, you may say, but where is the evidence it can work? The Friends and DHDT asked for just £15,000 to survey and analyse the potential for the Hippodrome’s viability as a leisure and entertainment venue. In the only Council meeting they were granted- on June 2nd this year- Mr Harley, the Leader of the Council, seemed to think that was reasonable – so reasonable that there and then he offered the group that £15,000, stating himself that the sum asked was “a drop in the ocean”. But a few weeks later that offer was withdrawn. Could this have aligned with the news that money had come through to proceed with their alternative regeneration plans which involved the Hippodrome’s demolition….
What, we must ask ourselves, could Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council possibly not see in exploring the potential of the Hippodrome? That a large-scale entertainment venue, viable for 70 years, could be brought back to life, bringing financial input into the area by rejuvenating the day-time and night-time economy, opening up opportunities for business to benefit from increased footfall and visitor numbers, providing a first-rate entertainment venue for local people and surrounding areas which they currently lack?
And yet here in their midst is a ready-made, plush, purpose-built, 1500+ seater theatre with comfy seats and great sightlines, and all the potential to bring popular big-scale touring shows into the heart of Dudley, with the resultant financial benefits. Evidence? The hit musical Blood Brothers has already expressed an interest to play a revived Dudley Hippodrome. Just think how many other shows would jump at the chance, given the opportunity?
The Council may not wish to acknowledge the reality of the Hippodrome’s current existence, but there is a growing clamour for positive action to save this significant asset – owned, let’s not forget, by the Dudley people whose hard-earned money was used by the Council to buy it.
Some of the protestations that the building is ugly and austere are very easily countered by the new vision for the building. The current large expanses of brick are broken down by the new additions, making it much more attractive. And yes, it’s run-down right now. But it has been unused for ten years – and any run-down building can be spruced up with a little vision, some money- and the will to do so. Someone also commented along the lines of “It’s just a building-no culture here”. A building is just a building – well, you could say the say the same of a school, a church or even a castle. It’s the people who use it that make a building come to life – and to deny the value of the arts impoverishes the whole community.
The recent news of a financial award for a regeneration scheme was not good news for the Hippodrome. The Council have pushed forward with its application to knock down the Hippodrome (at an estimated cost of £5million, not to mention the huge environmental costs), and spend yet more taxpayers’ money on building some big boxy college buildings in its place. All this, remember, in one of the Council’s own-designated Conservation Areas! The application for demolition was posted in August and statements both for and against demolition have been sent, including a strongly-worded objection by Theatres Trust, the UK’s leading authority on our theatre heritage buildings, as well as the Twentieth Century Society, who stand up for all significant buildings of that period. The application period has closed (although objections can still be posted at the Council’s planning site), and now we wait to hear about the date of the hearing which will finally decide Dudley Hippodrome’s fate.
With feelings understandably running high, it’s important to maintain perspective. As one person writing to the local newspaper helpfully summed up in this way. No-one is saying “let’s not have the college”; what people are saying is “have the college somewhere else, and let’s have both”. Which must be a win-win in any borough’s book. There has not been any reason given why the college has to be built upon the site of the Hippodrome, as far as I know.
Is that idea so controversial that it can’t be viewed as the “win-win” that everyone in Dudley could agree upon – and benefit from?
So we arrive back at the present Heritage Open Days – with Dudley Council’s social media seeming to forget to include the Hippodrome, whilst still asking people to name their favourite building, with many loud replies coming back – the Dudley Hippodrome!
SOME QUESTIONS WORTH THINKING ABOUT
Why did a community survey of development options which omitted the Hippodrome entirely get responses from just 0.18% of the population (within a six-mile radius), yet the petitions in favour of retaining the Hippodrome gathered over 15,000 signatures, representing over 3% of the population? What does that tell us about how more passionate Dudley people are to see their Hippodrome retained and revived than demolished?
Why have the Theatres Trust and the Twentieth Century Society both objected so strongly to the loss of this theatre?
Can the Council find justification for demolishing a building which sits in one of its own designated Conservation Areas, which in itself should afford more protection than Local Listing ?
“Isn’t it listed?” you may say. It is not, because the theatre sits in a Conservation area, which means that all the elements of that Conservation area are protected – and indeed have more protection than Local Listing alone would confer.
It is hard to understand why the Hippodrome was not included in the Heritage Open Days celebration media and other publications.
Dudley Hippodrome? Why isn’t it here on this Dudley Architectural Heritage Trail leaflet…..Dudley Hippodrome? Why isn’t it here on Dudley Heritage Open Days 2021 website either……
Can Dudley Council’s admirable commitment to the Climate Emergency Agreement be reconciled with the needless wholesale demolition of the Hippodrome, releasing thousands of tonnes of unnecessary emissions upon the people of Dudley over a sustained period of time?
In lodging the application for the Hippodrome’s demolition, were the Council aware that this application contradicts their own Action Plan, the National Planning Policy Framework and Dudley Development Strategy too?
Can anyone explain why the proposed new college building needs to be built right where the Hippodrome is, when there are plenty of other sites where demolition of existing buildings is not needed, saving countless unnecessary emissions? If there is a valid reason it should be known.
Wouldn’t it be good to know who, if any, current members of Dudley Council actually been inside the Hippodrome building to see what is there?
I wonder if the people of Dudley consider the current non-purpose built entertainment venues are good enough for them, when they have a plush, purpose-built theatre with perfect sightlines, great acoustics and big-show potential to rival the rest of the UK which stands waiting but unused?
Would the people of people of Dudley prefer to have £15,000 spent on a viability study BEFORE anyone commits to spending £5MILLION on wholesale demolition of a building that the people of Dudley own?
Will Leader Harley consider reinstating his offer of £15,000 for the DHDT to complete a Viability Study to settle the theatre’s future once and for all? Surely both sides would be bound to accept the result?
“A theatre is the heart of the community”
Sir Ken Dodd on Black Country Radio, talking about the Dudley Hippodrome
SOME FACTS WORTH THINKING ABOUT
The Dudley Hippodrome is the only surviving theatre built by this local architect.
The theatre proved itself financially viable for 70 years. There seems no reason it cannot be viable again with the right vision. This could be easily and quickly validated with a Viability Study.
The building comprises a major 1500+ seat auditorium with full stage facilities, which qualifies it to bring the very best Number One touring shows right to Dudley people’s doorsteps.
The building extends over five floors with large amounts of useable internal space. The huge self-contained basement, large numbers of rooms and other areas could provide fantastic community resources as well as providing significant volumes of local employment opportunities.
The Friends group discovered that there is a 1920 Covenant on the land on which the Hippodrome sits, forbidding anything else to be built upon it than a theatre, playhouse, shops or housing.
Theatres are a hugely valuable heritage asset which have the potential to bring a wealth of value to their localities. Many other UK towns are now reaping the huge benefits of understanding these buildings in terms of being strong community hubs as well as tourist attractors, not to mention increased footfall, job creators and day and night-time economy opportunities that they bring.
Dudley has expressed a desire to apply for City status next year. One of the key qualifiers is appropriate entertainment provision. A City without a professional Theatre is a non-starter. However, a retained and revived Hippodrome could be one of Dudley’s keys to city status.
The beautifully renovated and recently reopened Stockton Globe, bringing entertainment, jobs, money and footfall to benefit its community. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
ELSEWHERE……
Councils up and down the country are falling over themselves to bring these irreplaceable buildings back into use – Stockton on Tees has recently reopened the beautifully-renovated Globe Theatre seating 1700 with top-notch management from theatre specialists ATG, Walthamstow in London has its Granada Theatre on the way to renovation seating 1500, with a reduced size main auditorium and many rooms and spaces available to the community, run by Soho Theatre Company. Morecambe’s massive 2000 plus Winter Gardens is gradually coming back to life, and Burnley Empire is diligently, productively laying the groundwork for future success. There are many other success stories waiting to be heard. It is hard to understand why, when all these areas are enthusiastically getting behind their local theatres, reaping all the many benefits, why is Dudley the only one going in the opposite direction?
Walthamstow Granada, London, currently in a major refurbishment which echoes the ideas of the Hippodrome proposals. They are making it work, so surely Dudley can too?
AND LET’S NOT FORGET THE MONEY
Detailed financial studies by Gateshead Council in 2010-11 showed that for each £1 invested in arts provision there, over £4 was returned to benefit the local economy. Surely Dudley Council would want to at least explore that kind of massive financial potential?
THE CRUNCH IS THIS…..
A “drop in the ocean” £15,000 viability study would determine once and for all whether the Hippodrome has a viable future. Surely the Council wouldn’t have a problem with that? And just think how easily this could be done…
The Council has a precious opportunity to listen to the people, support their vision, and reap the many benefits – including opening the door to potential future City status. It could, but will it?
AND FINALLY: I see Dudley Council are presenting their redevelopment plans at the High Streets and Town Centres Development Conference in London (online plus in-person) on September 22nd. How interesting that the innovative Stockton-on-Tees Council will appear before them at the same conference, talking about the regeneration of their Globe Theatre and how it contributes to their borough’s cultural and financial economies – let’s hope Dudley will be listening…….
Please visit the Friends’ site to sign the petition to save the Dudley Hippodrome here
If you can afford to, please contribute to the Friends group’s fighting fund here
UPDATE 13 October – Theatres Trust requests “call-in” for Dudley Hippodrome demolition planning application. Read the details here
