“Alf. 96,000 ticket buyers and over £1million pound in box office in ONE venue. Do the Assembly Rooms and Guildhall really only sell £300k of tickets? Some quite useful benchmarks for measuring performance of DL to be getting on with. Re grants i thought that DL receives the ACE and DL funding that used to go to the PLayhouse which as you pointed out were worth over a £1million per year - or have they managed to lose that as well as theatre audiences to other cities in the East Midlands as well? I would have thought as a DCC controlled venue they would be quite adept at measuring performance and best value and the like or do things like that not apply to the city council and ACE as they have to be seen to have succeeded at all costs ? What you fail to grasp is that audiences like myself who had bought tickets are the ones that have lost out big time. I don't care whether the old management are never coming back but I do care that DCC and ACE did not give any regard to me when they pursued their policy of cloing the theatre the night before the Christmas show. Especially as they agreed at least 2 months beforehand that they were going to do this. This makes me more not less curious about what has been done in my name and you simply trying to sweep the whole matter under the carpet without acknowledging that there is a real sense of injustice amongst tens of thousands of audiences explains why there is such underwhelming enthusiasm. This is precisely why DL need to be more transparent. Stop stickeing your head in the sand. Audiences were never consulted about the closure or what we want in the future you just expect us to blindly turn up to any old piffle and be greatful. Well sorry, it doesn't work like that.”

“In reply to Bob's response to my last posting (further explanation is required as you seem to have missed the point here)

So are you suggesting that if "public" money is available, (this is money that is exclusively earmarked for restoration or preservation of listed buildings),Derby should refuse any such grants and let another city make use of the money?

Arts Council grants are given to cities to support things like theatres, Leicester gets more than Derby, so does Nottingham - would you rather we received none and that Notingham and Leicester received all of the available money?
Although the Hippodrome is privately owned, the owner is appearing at the Derby Crown Court in February 2010 for carrying out "unauthorised work" on the building. The owner could even end up in prison. Read the archived stories within this website.

The law regarding listed buildings gives the City Council, or any other City Council, the power of compusory purchase of buildings which have received this type of treatment from their owners, and this could result in a listed building going for £1 (one pound) as has happened with other buildings in similar circumstances. this is about the City of Derby taking possession of the building on behalf its citizens with the full backing of the associated statutory organisations that were set up to protect our heritage.”

“Alf, of course I'm aware that the Pros, Cons and Screws and the Snow Queen are examples of produced theatre!
(But also how much a part of the whole programming year 'round?) Will the rest be all community theatre/am dram and touring shows?(excellent as I'm sure it will be.)

Maybe you've misunderstood my point too that it is the scale of professionally produced work, and in house craft of rep theatre that has been massively scaled down.
60 years of a nationally acclaimed theatre is not easily forgotten or dismissed by audiences or paticipants.

13 000 people signed a petition to save the theatre , following the last showing of Treasure Island.That to me shows the strength of feeling of audiences.

And Alf, please stop referring me as duck etc, as I'm not patronising you. This is meant to be a democratic forum for all views.”

“Sorry Joanne you're missing the point - you maintain that the new Playhouse has no produced theatre program, insinuating that it is only community and amateur work when clearly anyone who has been there or read the brochure knows this is not the case - so in essence you are defeating yourself and your credibility.

It is apparent you have not been to see any of the new shows (have you - please prove me wrong??) and so you are unable to make valid contributions.

Prove me wrong and go and see a show at the Playhouse.
Go and see Snow Queen - or try to deny this is the very produced theatre you wish to see at that theatre.

I'm sorry to point this out duck but your continued denial renders all your arguments invalid.”

“Well, good for you Alf!
However- doesn't entitle you to personally attack people for holding different opinions.

I am aware of complete animosity from some quarters towards previous DPH management and Board- and that there has been a history, long before the closure.

However- I have always stated my sole interest has been as an ex audience member, and the impact for audiences losing the Playhouse.
I was also a member of the Playhouse Community Theatre- so a big loss to many of us- not just the staff, but volunteers, loyal audiences, community and youth theatre etc.

I have remained a supporter, and taken the trouble to attend meetings and talk to many who were directly involved during the closure.

The injustice of the process has certainly not yet been redressed.

In the meantime- yes I do hope the theatre can find shows that will appeal to wider audiences.”