Locals support Deal theatre amid closure

Locals have pulled together to support The Astor Community Theatre in Deal, which is having to close its doors a second time due to Covid-19. Fears over the theatre not being able to survive a second lock-down have struck and all theatre staff have been laid off.

The theatre has been struggling with financial hardship since the first lockdown was announced in March, due to closure. Hence, the theatre set up a go fund me page, which has currently raised £18,386.

The front of Deal’s loved theatre, The Astor Community Theatre, which is closing on Thursday

The local community have taken part in numerous events planned to help the theatre cover overhead costs. To raise money, many raffles have taken place with Deborah Moggach’s signed book ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’ included as a prize. Deal is an artistic town full of painters, hence some have donated their work to raffle, which raised almost £3,000. The theatre also organised a ‘postcards from lockdown’ exhibition; the locals were asked to send in postcards of their experience of the lock-down, which were put into an exhibition. The theatre received over 300 postcards and raised another £3,000. They also have a book raffle starting this week.

James Tillitt, Artistic Director of the Theatre said: “With donations and various other funding initiatives set up by people in this extraordinary town, we are approaching £50,000 in donations.” He added: “I get a little bit teary when I think about it sometimes.”

In addition to this, Mr Tillitt has received five cheques from members of the local community, whom each gave him £21,000 and another cheque of £10,000. Mr Tillitt commented: “We’ve had a lot of support.”

The arts sector has struggled during the Covid-19 pandemic as social distancing is hard to maintain in theatre environments. Last month the government told those in the arts and entertainment industry to look for alternative jobs. Mr Tillitt said the arts have been treated with ‘absolute decimation.’ He said: “It’s not just for the buildings but for all the people that work for them. There’s currently real hardship in the industry.”

The theatre partially re-opened in August for film

screenings, recordings of live performances from the West End and comedy nights. This covered costs but did not generate profit as social distancing regulations restricted capacity. The normal capacity is 172 people, however, this decreased to 46, and prevented ticket sales.

The theatre was prepared for its November and December performances to go ahead when the news of a second lock-down hit. Mr Tillitt said: “Now we’re back in the same boat, let’s hope we can still do the December shows but I don’t think there is any hope for that to be honest.” He added: “I don’t think we will be back in full operation for a while.” With the second lock-down enforced on Thursday, Mr Tillitt says the theatre will be closing for the foreseeable on Wednesday evening.

Tickets for upcoming raffles are available on the theatre’s Facebook page.

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