Lloyd Webber's £150,000 for theatre

14 February 2013 Last updated at 16:14 GMT  Artist's impression of the Roundabout Auditorium The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation has donated £150,000 to a theatre company to build the first ever transportable pop-up in-the-round auditorium.

Paines Plough, the UK's national theatre of new plays, will use the money to build a 111-seat venue which can fit on the back of a lorry.

Foundation trustee Madeleine Lloyd Webber said: "The Foundation is very proud to be funding this completely innovative performing space."

The pop-up theatre will open next year.

Designed by Lucy Osborne, the Roundabout Auditorium is to be built using sustainable materials and will flat pack into a single lorry.

It will take four people eight hours to assemble and is designed to fit in spaces from school halls to car parks.

By comparison, a prototype built by the company last year took 12 people 36 hours to put together.

James Grieve, one of the artistic directors at Paines Plough, which celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2014, said: "We are hugely grateful to The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation for its game-changing support of The Roundabout Auditorium.

"We are thrilled the Foundation shares our passion for finding new ways to enable more people around the country to experience new plays.

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Providing opportunities for everyone to have the chance to experience theatrical events is a priority for the Foundation”

End Quote Madeleine Lloyd Webber "Its support [the Foundation] will play a major role in making Roundabout possible, meaning our pop-up in-the-round touring amphitheatre will hit the road with a repertory of three outstanding new plays each year, offering audiences everywhere a unique theatrical experience.

"For years to come, the best new plays will turn up on people's doorsteps in theatres, school halls, sports centres, warehouses and even parks."

Madeleine Lloyd Webber added: "Paines Plough brings excellent theatrical productions to regions across the UK, often to places that have no access to traditional theatres, and we hope the new space will help enhance the work they already do.

"Providing opportunities for everyone to have the chance to experience theatrical events is a priority for the Foundation."

Andrew Lloyd Webber set up the Foundation in 1992 to promote the arts, culture and heritage for the public benefit, with particular emphasis on nurturing artists from all backgrounds and abilities.

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Theatre school faces closure threat

11 February 2013 Last updated at 14:12 GMT  The school needs 15 full fee paying children to balance its books A theatre school whose alumni include actor Ray Winstone is being forced to close after it lost a donation.

Corona Theatre School in Hampton, south-west London, is down £25,000 a month after its main donor pulled out due to ill health.

Parents of the 32 children who attend the school found out on Sunday.

Principal Mary Greco said she was devastated, adding: "Unless a miracle happens, we can't open after half-term."

Past students also include actors Nicholas Lyndhurst, Dennis Waterman and Charlie Brooks.

The school first got into financial difficulties in July 2011 when it could not afford the lease on a building it was renting.

One of the children's parents offered a donation of £25,000 a month to keep the school open. As it was a donation, no contract was drawn up.

The school has seven academic staff members and five vocational staff. It teaches the national curriculum but also specialises in the performing arts.

Actor Ray Winstone had attended the school

Ms Greco, who went to the school when she was a child, said many of the children would not cope well with state schools.

"They are all mad as hatters. They're very talented and all want to work in performing arts."

Ms Greco said she had looked at the school becoming an academy however "that takes time and time is what we've run out of".

Teachers have said they will continue to help the five Year 11 students so that they can pass their GCSEs.

Gunilla Karlsen, whose 10-year-old daughter goes to the school, said she was shocked at the news.

"Nothing was communicated. No-one had any idea the school was in financial difficulties," she said.

Ms Karlsen said she did not know where she was going to send her daughter, who is on the autistic spectrum, because she cannot send her to a mainstream school.

"The school as it was was amazing. It has given her aspirations and dreams - now all these dreams have been snatched away."

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