We are an amateur theatre company and registered charity with no funding from any arts organisation or formal sponsorship, relying on the income from ticket sales to fund our productions.

In March 2020 due to Covid-19, we were forced to make the heart-breaking decision to close our wonderful Theatre and Hall, postponing our summer season to 2021. Although some restrictions on theatre have been lifted, we have been unable to rehearse, finish sets and costumes meaning productions could not proceed.

We are still having to pay for the maintenance of the beautiful grade 2* listed Tolethorpe Hall and its grounds, plus insurance, caretaking, ongoing costs associated with the theatre and the drama school.

When we closed, we had sold just under a third of expected tickets about 10,500, and annually we sell over 30,000. The deficit in ticket sales equates to roughly £240,000, that is £240,000 lost in revenue. We are now trying to survive on a third of our annual revenue over a two-year period, which we will not be able to do.

-UPDATE-

We are absolutely thrilled to announce that Stamford Shakespeare Company has been awarded a grant from Arts Council England & the Culture Recovery Fund!

So what next?

This grant, along with the incredibly generous donations of you, our fantastic community, will allow us to put on our postponed 2020 season in 2021 - we cannot wait to welcome you back!

We will be doing everything we can to ensure that your generosity, and the generosity of the Arts Council, does not go to waste. However, as COVID-19 continues to affect the arts, we have to be realistic as to what we will be able to do next year. It is likely that we will only be able to have one third capacity in our auditorium to ensure the safety of our audience members. This will make a huge difference to our usual revenue & cash flow.

The fundraising doesn't stop here! We have reached - and surpassed - our first hurdle far quicker than we ever thought we would. But we will keep fighting, and try to give back to you, the community who has given us so much, so that we can be here for you for decades to come. Keep your eye on our social media pages for updates

Our fundraiser was to Save Your Theatre - because it is yours. We will keep your theatre alive, despite and in the face of COVID-19.

We cannot thank each & every one of you enough. The support of our audience, casts past and present, crew, and of course, the Arts Council, has been truly overwhelming. Your words of encouragement have been a huge motivator to all of the fundraising team. THANK YOU!

What we do

With an army of volunteers, every year we put on a season of live outdoor theatre presenting two Shakespeare and one non-Shakespeare play. We have been doing this for 50 years and to date have welcomed over a million audience members to share experiences with friends and family through theatre, giving volunteers a place to be valued, and inspiring young people to dream big.

We also have a drama group for children aged 5- 16; Tolethorpe Youth Drama (TYD) which had to close in March. This year we were launching an exciting Theatre Makers production, which was to be performed by our older members, aged 16-20 years, who had been following a series of workshops, learning the necessary skills to stage a play. There was to be an evening performance open to the public plus two matinees with educational workshops, to be attended by 300 students from schools in the area. It was heart-breaking to have to delay this, but hopefully it will resume next year.

We need to make alterations to the teaching area to comply with government regulations to keep students Covid-19 secure and all of this takes money money we simply do not have.

Save Your Theatre

Without your support we will cease to exist, a terrifying thought but at the moment this is our reality.

Tolethorpe is a truly magical place, somewhere so many people rely on for their annual dose of live theatre, a creative environment to be truly themselves or a chance to meet new people volunteering. We are all so lucky to have this theatre on our doorstep, losing this wonderful, unique and special place would leave a void in our community.

We believe in you and are determined to not let Covid-19 put an end to your theatre.

How you can help

Donate

Please donate anything you can on this Just Giving Page, every penny counts and no donation is too small.

If you had a ticket for the 2020 season you will be emailed asking to donate the cost of your ticket and to re-book for 2021, please look out for this email.

Fundraise

Click the link on this page which says Fundraise for us you will then have your own page you can share and take part in fund events/activities to encourage donations, anything you collect will automatically come to this page where we can see the total amount raised.

Spread the word

Link and share our social media posts, talk to friends and family or to those who work in your local corner shop, word of mouth is a powerful tool and will help us gather support for our theatre.

We now need you more than ever.