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Search forVolunteers work to get Playhouse box office open for next week
Thursday, August 14, 2008, 10:15
For some of the gang, it was the first time they had been in the building since it shut at the end of the Treasure Island performance in February.
The company is still in administration but a creditors' meeting two weeks ago agreed that the new board be allowed to take control and reopen for its first performance in less than a month's time.
The first performance will be The Killing of Sister George on September 13.
Yesterday, volunteers took time off work and from their holiday breaks to help scrub sinks, clean windows and prepare the front of house ready to open the box office next week.
They also tidied the studio ready for rehearsals, which could start on Monday
Karen Hebden, former chief executive of the Playhouse, has been organising the volunteers and said she was delighted with the way they had responded to her call for help.
"Around 40 people said they would come down to help get the place ready," she said.
"Drawing up the paperwork has been complex because it is a charity but with commercial investment. Those two worlds are different so getting everything together has taken longer than we hoped.
"But we will get things ready for the show, because we always do."
Ann Wojcik has been preparing the computer system ready to book tickets for the new season.
She worked at the Playhouse as sales manager for 20 years and said walking back into the theatre first the first time since it closed in February had been a strange feeling.
She said: "It was like time had stood still.
"Everything was like we had left it when it closed so suddenly.
"It was strange to walk back in but I am looking forward to getting the box office open again."
Phone lines have still not been reconnected, meaning the tickets will initially only be sold through the box office in the Westfield centre or through the post.
Jean Roulinson, of Spondon, worked as an usher at the Playhouse for six years.
She said: "It is great to see everyone pull together. I am sure we can get this place ready in time; it is just a matter of the paperwork being ready."
Barbara Nicholls, 60, an ex-customer service manager at the Playhouse, lost her job when it closed.
"This is what I've been waiting for – I didn't want to work anywhere else," she said.
"Being back here is like coming home. It's absolutely fantastic to be back in the building. You can't imagine how much people love it."
Richard Layton, 34, who works at a rubber company in Heanor and lives at Windermere Crescent, Allestree, got an e-mail asking if he could join the volunteers in cleaning the Playhouse.
"I've taken the morning off work to help out," he said.
"I saw every production the Playhouse put on since 2002 – from Educating Rita to Treasure Island.
"As soon as the box office opens again, I shall be back for some tickets."
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