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ACTOR Julie Hesmondhalgh has called for a sit-in at a historic theatre to prevent its closure.
The Arts Council of England (ACE) has withdrawn funding for the 130-year-old Coliseum Theatre in Oldham in Greater Manchester, reputed to be the birthplace of pantomime.
Performing arts union Equity is campaigning against the decision, but the Coliseum faces closure on March 31 with the loss of 70 jobs and a source of work for hundreds of actors.
Ms Hesmondhalgh, whose credits include Coronation Street, Broadchurch and Happy Valley, and actor and Morning Star ambassador Maxine Peake, told The Stage the closure “cultural vandalism.”
Ms Hesmondhalgh said that she did not know of another theatre that a community had “such ownership of and civic pride in.”
“If we start to say that people in the most decimated and struggling places don’t deserve any kind of art or culture, we are on a really, really dangerous road,” she said.
“I think we should, as a community, stage a sit-in and refuse yet another piece of cultural vandalism.”
