ALL DONATIONS UNTIL THE END OF THE CAMPAIGN NOW MATCHED. All donations received from Oct 26, (when we were at £14,345 received) through to the end of the campaign, will be matched, up to a total of £10,000 matching donations.
The Finborough Theatre is part of a national initiative launched by Theatres Trust to prevent the permanent closure of hundreds of UK theatres.
The Finborough Theatre should have celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2020.
Instead we have been forced into an extended period of closure as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic that has crippled our industry.
Our small core team has put all their energy into maintaining our profile throughout our closure, providing free content for our audiences. We urgently need your help to safeguard our future.
Why are we crowdfunding?
The devastating impact of the Coronavirus pandemic that has forced our extended closure threatens not only our work, our ongoing long-term proven commitment to emerging theatre artists, and our local community, but our very existence.
We were lucky enough to recently receive a portion of the Arts Council's Culture Recovery Fund to cover some basic overheads during our closure, but we still face a very uncertain future. As a result of our closure, we have lost 98% of our income, and together with many venues like ours and the artists who make them possible we are confronted with desperate financial hardship. The money raised from this Crowdfunder will go to support our artistic programme during our closure, and bridge any additional time the theatre may have to remain closed after the period of our ACE Culture Recovery Fund grant.
Every penny donated to this page goes to support the Finborough Theatre. You can support us by making a fundraising page using the blue button on the right.
About the Finborough Theatre
“A disproportionately valuable component of the London theatre ecology. Its programme combines new writing and revivals, in selections intelligent and audacious.” Financial Times
“The tiny Finborough Theatre in Earls Court is one of the most stimulating venues in London, fielding a programme that is a bold mix of trenchant, politically thought-provoking new drama and shrewdly chosen revivals of neglected works from the past.” The Independent
Founded in 1980, the Finborough Theatre makes its home above the historic Finborough Arms pub – built in 1868. This year the Finborough Theatre won the London Pub Theatres Magazine's London Pub Theatre of the Year Award.
The Finborough Theatre has become known for our programme of new writing. Since 2000, new British plays have included Laura Wade’s London debut Young Emma, commissioned for the Finborough Theatre, two one-woman shows by Miranda Hart, James Graham’s Albert’s Boy with Victor Spinetti, Sarah Grochala’s S27 and Athena Stevens’ Schism which was nominated for an Olivier Award.
Alongside our vibrant programme of new writing, we are proud to present unique rediscoveries of genuinely neglected works from the 19th and 20th century. Our notable rediscoveries include multiple works by St John Ervine, Emlyn Williams, the first London revivals of Rolf Hochhuth’s Soldiers and The Representative, and Angelina Weld Grimké’s Rachel (the first play by an African American woman ever produced professionally).
Supporting emerging artists
“The Finborough Theatre has developed a reputation out of all proportion to its tiny size. It has played its part in the careers of many remarkable playwrights, directors, and actors.” Financial Times
“I can’t overstate how much that place was the making of me. There would have been no Quiz without the Finborough. It’s not a pretend line I’m drawing back to that pub. I don’t think I’d have been a playwright without it.” James Graham
“That jewel of a fringe theatre – the Finborough in London – offered me and my now long-term collaborators a chance to make something together when we couldn’t get a foot in the door anywhere else. For that, I will love it always.” Tamara Harvey
Offstage as well as on, the Finborough has enabled dozens of young people to take the first steps in their careers through our esteemed volunteer programme. Many of our previous volunteers have gained excellent paid employment through the experience gained with their work with us, and Finborough Theatre volunteers are now working in high profile positions across UK and overseas theatre.
Beyond Earls Court
One of only a few theatres in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, the Finborough Theatre’s influence spreads out far beyond our immediate Earl’s Court community.
Some of the Finborough Theatre’s West End transfers include Joy Wilkinson’s Fair, Nicholas de Jongh’s Plague Over England, Jack Thorne’s Fanny and Faggot, Neil McPherson’s Olivier Award nominated It Is Easy To Be Dead, and Dawn King’s Foxfinder.
We have built up a loyal audience from the Borough over 40 years, but our audience also extends throughout the UK and overseas, with regular visitors from Europe, the Commonwealth and especially the United States. Works that originated at the Finborough Theatre have gone on to be seen elsewhere in the UK, USA, Off Broadway, and throughout the English-speaking world. We are also well known for our commitment to bringing new work from overseas to the UK.
About Save Our Theatres
In villages, towns and cities across the country, theatres are at the heart of their community. Places to come together, to be inspired and be entertained. Theatres are where our best-loved actors learn their craft and thousands of others learn valuable skills.
But we risk losing this forever.
Theatres saw their main source of income disappear in an instant when they closed in March in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Six months later, we still don’t know when they will be able to reopen fully. A decision won’t be made until November at the earliest – with smaller venues like the Finborough Theatre certainly unable to open until 2021.
This ongoing uncertainty puts theatres in a perilous situation. The government’s bailout is spread across all cultural organisations and certainly won’t be enough to save all of the UK’s theatres.
Every day theatres are facing the tough decision to make staff redundant and to close their doors until next year. And there is a real risk that those closures could be permanent.
Without urgent support, we could lose our nation’s amazing theatres. Please help us to make sure our theatres survive this crisis and will be there to be enjoyed by future generations.
#SaveOurTheatres