Curtain up at last?

Things are moving at last on the GaietyTheatre. . . .   how many times have we thought that over the past four years?

However this time it looks as if we might see - note I still use the cautionary `might` -  the curtain rise at the Ayr theatre before the end of the year and probably more importantly before the local operatic societies go out of business.  They have really missed the theatre - the Town Hall and Citadel are just not suitable for theatrical productions.

But I digress

The specail council meeting last week saw members approve £150,000 a year for the next five years to help get the theatre up and running - on top of cash from the Scottish Government provided specifically to get the curtain up before Christmas.  (Again I am being cautious - everybody else is talking about the autumn, But I`ve been here before! I will be delighted to be proved wrong)

And credit where it`s due, if the government minister Alex Neil hadn`t stepped foward in a blaze of publicity, (naturally just before the local elections!)  providing the cash and thus the momentum, we would still be talking round in circles with ifs, buts, maybes.

But now it looks as if the theatre will open; the cafe/bar is ready, just waiting for the right operator and two high profile companies seem to be interested; there`s cash for  the rehearsal rooms/ studios which can take small productions and the government money will go to the main auditorium. A `manager` has been appointed, so it looks set to go.

As I said at the council meeting it has been a long haul and we are `stuck with` (I used the phrase advisedly) the Gaiety Partnership who have been trying to get the project off the ground for more than three years.  They were the preferred bidders and although the make-up of the partnership has changed over that time they at  last have a business plan - one that has been approved by the government, thus the cash - and things should start moving and soon

The public - you out there - have loudly supported the campaign to have the theatre re-open.
Once it is, your job isn`t over . . .  you have to fill the seats.  That will be the real test.