The actor Maxine Peake has accused the government of “further dividing communities” after one of Britain’s oldest theatres lost its arts subsidy.
Management at the 138-year-old Oldham Coliseum have said it will be forced to lower the curtain for the final time next month after losing its £1.8m grant from Arts Council England.
The decision has prompted a furious row over the government’s commitment to the arts in places such as Oldham, which it had classed as a priority for levelling up for culture funding last year.
Peake, the star of Shameless and Silk, told a raucous public meeting at the Coliseum on Tuesday night: “As we’ve got a government that is further and further dividing our communities, theatres have become community centres. [They] have had to step up where there aren’t the facilities provided by the government to support people in places like Oldham.”
Peake said the Coliseum was a “vital, vibrant institution” and had been her inspiration to become an actor when she was a child.
She added: “They’ve got to pull their finger out, this isn’t good enough. Because Oldham will go and then what’s next? What’s going to happen to the north-west? Art should not be for the elite, it should be for everyone. We’ve got to save it.”
Oldham council has said the Coliseum’s building is not fit for purpose and has earmarked £24m for an alternative venue scheduled to open in 2026. While proposals for the “modern and accessible” space will result in capacity reduced from 525 seats to 300-350, the council also plans an additional 120-seat studio and “enhanced” back-stage facilities, rehearsal spaces and bar and cafe areas.
Arts Council England said Oldham would still receive the £1.8m that had been expected to go to the Coliseum – but said it would not go to the ageing theatre.
Amanda Chadderton, the leader of Oldham council, described the fate of the Coliseum as “really sad” but said the new venue was “a positive step forward for the future of arts and culture here in Oldham”.
However, the plan has been greeted with scepticism by Coliseum supporters. Critics said the new venue had not yet been granted planning permission and it could leave Oldham without a main cultural venue for three years while it was built.
Suranne Jones, the star of Doctor Foster and Gentleman Jack, said the closure would leave “such a hole” in the borough. She said: “These local theatres are an important part of community life and an amazing place for actors to hone their talents. I’m obviously attached to this one as it’s so personal to me, but with the Grange Arts Centre gone too, there will be such a hole left in this town and a real need for the arts in the form of performance, education and creativity.”
The public meeting, which brought together 400 people from the community and farther afield, closed with chants of “hands off Oldham” as people waved placards calling for the venue to be saved.
Chris Lawson, chief executive of the Coliseum, said the packed meeting had shown the support for the venue but time was “running out”.
The Coliseum is the biggest theatre outside London to lose its Arts Council funding from April. The decision, stemming from a review aimed at rebalancing investment outside the capital, came despite Oldham being earmarked as a priority for government money for levelling up for culture.
The venue, which dates back to 1885, has begun a consultation period with its 70 staff and said that without a last-minute reprieve, it would be forced to close on 31 March when its current funding ends.
Arts Council England, which is an arms-length body of the government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, said it would provide £358,856 in “transition support” to the Coliseum to help “give the company time and space to make decisions about its future”.
The body was invited to the Oldham meeting on Tuesday but declined to attend, saying it did not discuss unsuccessful bids in detail publicly.
However, in a statement it said: “Oldham Coliseum is a well-loved fixture in the town and understandably many people have strong feelings about the future of the theatre. Oldham Coliseum Ltd has been facing financial and governance challenges for some time, and as guardians of public money we could not invest in an organisation which we assessed to be such a high risk.”
