Liverpool & Merseyside Theatres Trust, the charity that runs the Liverpool’s Everyman and Playhouse theatres, secures £1m of Government funding to pay for improvements to both venues and kickstart a. major revamp of the Playhouse. Tony McDonough reports
Liverpool’s Everyman and Playhouse theatres are to be upgraded after securing £1m from the Government.
Liverpool and Merseyside Theatres Trust (LMTT), the charity which runs both city centre venues, is to receive the cash from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s Arts Everywhere Fund.
This investment will fund improved access equipment across both theatres and vital upgrades at the Liverpool Playhouse as a first step in its major capital ambitions. The trust has longstanding plans for a multi-million pound overhaul of the Playhouse.
For more than 160 years the Grade II-listed Playhouse – the North West’s oldest working theatre since opening as The Star in 1866 – has been a national cultural landmark.
This grant is the first step within a major transformational project for the Playhouse, ensuring audiences and artists can continue to enjoy and work in the iconic venue.
Works to be funded by this grant include improved access equipment across the Everyman and Playhouse, refurbished Playhouse bathrooms and upgraded back‑of‑house offices and dressing rooms.
LMTT chief executive Mark Da Vanzo, said: “This is brilliant news for the Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse theatres and for the city as a whole. To receive this level of investment is a powerful vote of confidence in our theatres’ past, present and future.
“These funds will help us to address critical issues in the short-term and help to kickstart the next chapter for the Playhouse – restoring its historic splendour while making it a welcoming, comfortable and sustainable theatre for generations to come.”
In December LBN revealed the theatres had finally put their post-COVID troubles behind them with the best attendance figures in more than a decade.
Accounts for the 12 months to March 31, 2025, revealed audiences have returned to the Hope Street and Williamson Square venues in their droves with 146,000 coming through the doors.
Total revenue for the year was more than £6.6m, a rise of 25%. LMTT, which has more than 80 full-time employees, also saw its annual deficit slashed to £252,000 from £856,000 in the previous year. Reserves were up slightly to £19m.
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Future capital plans for the Playhouse, beyond this investment, will deliver a spacious, accessible entrance, better sightlines, wider seats, improved acoustics and new social and community spaces.
They will restore and celebrate the Playhouse’s historic features, from the original entrance to the star‑tiled foyer.