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News
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News
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Dateline: 12th April, 2007
Prime Theatre, a new theatre company based in Winchester, Hampshire, has received funding awards from both the National Lottery and the Arts Council.
Prime Theatre has been set up primarily to promote and encourage the talents of mature artists, and to tour projects that will be of interest to older sections of the community. Their aim is to “use, not lose” the talents of senior artists.
The company, soon to be launched formally, has been in existence for only a few months. It has already attracted considerable interest, not only in theatrical circles, but also from the wider community. It is the emphasis on providing sensibly-paid work for senior artists, with projects of interest to senior sections of the community that has attracted so much attention, particularly with their plans to run Reminiscence Sessions in conjunction with their major productions.
And Prime Theatre also has some high level backing of a different sort. Its patrons are celebrated film, TV and stage actors Edward Woodward, Michele Dotrice and Roy Dotrice, each of whom has given their wholehearted backing to this new venture.
Artistic Director Ros Liddiard said, “Prime Theatre has been an exciting company to help create; we are thrilled to have so many expressions of interest and support offered to us. We are particularly grateful to the Arts Council and the National Lottery for their generous awards. These two significant supporters of theatre enterprise have, by their grants, demonstrated that the plans of this new company are valid and worthwhile.
“We plan to launch Prime Theatre shortly, along with our plans for a tour of our first production, Aleksei Arbuzov’s Old World, and the associated Reminiscence Sessions. Prime Theatre hopes to encourage people in the prime of their lives to go out and enjoy theatre. Not, of course, that we want to exclude younger or regular theatre-goers; we want to emphasise that our programme will have appeal for a wide range of ages and tastes.”
The National Lottery, through Awards for All, has provided funds to Prime Theatre to support the setting up of the company, and to extend the tour of Old World to London and Bath – details of which will be announced later. The Arts Council awarded Prime Theatre funds to support the tour of Old World in the South-East region, together with the setting up of the associated Reminiscence Sessions. These sessions will run through September/October.
Actor and Patron Edward Woodward said, “Prime Theatre is a bridge builder in every sense and it is much needed, but the most important thing is that it is here now.” Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
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