Theatre company announces venue closure

Theatre company Nonsuch Studios will close its premises in Nottingham at the end of the year and begin co-production with organisations and venues across the UK, it has announced.

The charity, which was last year unsuccessful in an application for Arts Council England investment as part of the 2023-26 National Portfolio, said the decision was taken due to the "ever-increasing costs of operating a venue in challenging economic circumstances".

Edward Boott, founder and Artistic Director at the theatre company, said the fact that Nonsuch is one of many organisations having to "reimagine its future" in the current climate highlights a clear need for "wider support to be offered across the sector".

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“As a non-core funded, independent organisation, we’ve given our all to build Nottingham’s only fringe theatre venue; however, the current economic situation, lack of secured funding and unpredictable trading environment have meant we have had to re-evaluate our plans to sustain the charitable work which is at the core of our activity," he said.

"This means we will move away from venue operations in order to safeguard our creative practice and further invest in our ongoing community projects and programmes.”

Boott said that since the pandemic, Nonsuch has done all it can to continue to deliver its projects and programmes and sustain its venue.

"But it’s become increasingly clear that the costs faced by smaller venues like ourselves cannot be sustained without some level of core support or public subsidy," he said.

"It’s clear we’re not the only independent arts venue or cultural organisation who are struggling in this way, and so we’ve had to radically rethink how we operate in order to preserve our charitable work.”

From January 2024, Nonsuch Studios will focus its work on producing new physical theatre cultural experiences for early years children and their families and running a range of community programmes across Nottinghamshire and the wider East Midlands, including a partnership with Punchdrunk Enrichment.

Until then, the venue will continue to run a full programme of new theatre, cabaret and comedy alongside two Christmas shows.