A WINDFALL will help Rugby Theatre better safeguard young and vulnerable people and improve access for disabled people, as the amateur group brings up the curtain on its 70th anniversary year.
Half of a £10,000 grant from the Heart of England Co-operative Society will fund a unisex toilet close to the backstage area, to help safeguard young cast members by allowing them to change their costumes in Central Hall, rather than using the same toilets as theatre visitors.
The rest of the money will be used to buy a scissor lift – a rising platform using linked supports in a criss-cross pattern – to give more opportunities for disabled people looking for onstage roles and enable the backstage crew to lift heavy items more safely.
Phil Kettle, resources director at the Henry Street venue, said the money had helped the theatre tackle increasing concerns about the safety of children and vulnerable adults in its care.
He said: “Safeguarding has come more to the fore over the past 10 years or so. There are of course widespread concerns about safeguarding among society at large.
“As part of our annual summer youth production we can have potentially 80 or 90 young people on site on any one day – previously we’ve had as many as 120 – so we needed to be able to provide toilet facilities nearer to the point where the majority of our young people are changing in order to make life easier for the children and our chaperones.
“Also in the future we are looking at running a drama club for eight to 12-year-olds so the toilets will enable us to continue the future development of our theatre knowing we have all the appropriate measures in place.”
Phil said the scissor lift would put a stop to physically disabled cast members and backstage crew having to suffer the indignity of being lifted on to the stage.
He said: “We are sometimes asked by members of our audience – including disabled theatregoers – how we’ve done certain things during our production, so we invite people in for a behind-the-scenes look.
“The scissor lift has long been on our wish list and now it will enable us to allow anyone who wants to see behind the scenes to do so.”
He said it would also help help crew members, who previously have lifted a piano up and down a flight of stairs during performances.
He added: “I was absolutely thrilled that we were chosen to receive the £10,000. The unisex toilet and the scissor lift are absolute necessities for the theatre and this fantastic donation has enabled us to bring them to the top of our agenda.”
The theatre opened its doors in December 1949 and today has a membership of 375.
Prior to the theatre the building – which has stood in Henry Street since 1913 – housed a silent movie and music hall theatre.
