London’s Turbine Theatre to close

London’s Turbine Theatre will close due to a lack of income, the venue’s artistic director, Paul Taylor-Mills, has said.

Announcing the decision on social media today (14 October), Taylor Mills said the theatre’s Christmas production, which will run until 22 December, will be its last.

“As the landscape of making theatre shifts, without serious investment and philanthropy, a 92-seat space just can’t work and it’s time for me to focus my efforts elsewhere,” Taylor Mills said.

“The Turbine Theatre has been an absolute labour of love. It shouldn’t have worked. But it did, and I’m so incredibly proud of the lives it’s changed and the dreams it’s made come true,

“Creating this incredible venue, with the people that believed in what it could be, has been a career highlight, and I’m so thankful for the memories.

“I’m looking forward to focusing my attentions on my role as artistic director at The Other Palace.”

The Turbine Theatre, which opened in July 2019, had previously been awarded grants through the government’s Culture Recovery Fund to help it cope with the challenges of the Covid pandemic.

The organisation received a £90,000 grant in CRF round 1 and £43,650 in CRF round 2 via grants made to West Midlands-based Turbine Creatives, which Taylor Mills also runs.

Its most recent accounts, made up to 30 June 2023, show that Turbine Theatre had a total equity of £79,541 but do not include a copy of its profit and losses.