Liverpool’s Unity Theatre is set to be transformed as part of an ambitious refit.
Bosses at the city centre venue are aiming to deliver a redevelopment worth £845,000 that willl enable the theatre to be more environmentally and financially sustainable.
Major changes are planned to the Unity’s entrance and facade while the first floor will be opened up and reconfigured by the time it reopens to audiences later this year.
As part of Build Unity Better, the former synagogue will also be accessible at street level with a new ‘front door’ to replace the current ramp to a side entrance.
An enlarged bar area will become a space where events can be planned but also be offered up to artists, organisations and individuals to use or hire for their own activities.
Improved soundproofing between the theatre’s two performance spaces will allow both venues to be used together more often and, as a result, create more opportunities for work and artist development, as well as increasing revenue.
Matthew Linley, the Unity’s chief executive and artistic director, said: “It’s all about creating a more welcoming, more open and less confusing public area, a public area that our audiences will want to come into day and night.
“The project will enable us to host more day time and evening activity and to encourage more people to use the building, more often.”
Unity Theatre are continuing their fundraising drive to raise a final £50,000 required for fit-out, and are soon to launch crowd funding campaigns promising a series of rewards for donors, including ‘unique money-can’t buy experiences’.
To find out more about the #BuildUnityBetter project and fundraising drive, go to: www.unitytheatreliverpool.co.uk/future-plans-2.html