Citizens Theatre granted ‘milestone’ funding from city council

Writer James Bridie had a vision for a venue which would offer theatre to the citizens of Glasgow. The Citizens Theatre which emerged from the Victorian Royal Princess Theatre in 1945 took up the challenge with gusto, and cemented it in the 1970s with a 50 pence ticket offer which was painted in huge letters on the side of their building.

They became a totemic presence in an area once maligned for deprivation and gang violence. Alan Rickman, Glenda Jackson, Rupert Everett and Pierce Brosnan were among the many actors who appeared there.

But the Citz is one of the few buildings left standing in an area which has been transformed and without the pledge from Glasgow City Council, its future may not have been so certain.

Like all capital projects, it’s had to cope with the perfect storm of the pandemic, inflation and rising construction costs.

There’s a symmetry to the pledge from the council’s Common Good Fund. The Citizens’ building is owned by Glasgow City Council and leased back to the theatre company. It’s one of a number of assets included in the Glasgow fund.

The council’s contribution will allow them to preserve the historic auditorium and its Victorian stage equipment, the oldest surviving in the UK, and wrap it in a brand-new building.

The landscape has changed since the curtain came down in 2018, but the hope is that this old theatre in new clothes will still appeal to the citizens of the Gorbals, Glasgow, and the whole of Scotland.