Exclusive: Theatre Centre moves to Crawley with ACE transfer programme

Theatre Centre has become the latest company to announce its move out of London under Arts Council England’s Transfer Programme, as it also reveals its 70th anniversary season. 

The new-writing theatre company, which makes work with and for young people, moved to a new base in Crawley around seven weeks ago. 

It is the second organisation to announce its move under the Transfer Programme, following StageText, but the first to have actually made the move.

The company formerly had offices in Lewisham, which it has moved out of, but it plans to continue working in the South East London borough and in Sheffield, where it has an ongoing relationship with Sheffield Theatres. 

Its offices are now based in a council-run building that was formerly used by Age UK, on Town Barn Road in Crawley. The company will also have its own rehearsal space for the first time within the building. 

Rob Watt, Theatre Centre artistic director, told The Stage: "The council was very clear. They gave the building to us because this is the type of work that they want in Crawley. 

"So we’ve got this beautiful space that we’re creating and wanting to share with other creative organisations, and we’re making lots of new friends there, which is really lovely. It has felt very natural to make the move."

Watt said the company was currently researching future business models and what the move to West Sussex, in the southeast region of England, would mean for Theatre Centre. 

There have been no staff changes in the move, with eight permanent members of staff continuing to run the organisation. 

Watt said: "We’re not associated by a place, we’re associated by the work. And what I love about that is it means that we can be anywhere. So the move for us was an office logistic, rather than an ideological shift."

Watt said the Theatre Centre hoped to host other creative organisations in the building and create a space for young people to come and "hang out". 

Theatre Centre has also revealed details of its 70th-anniversary programme, which will include a co-production with Sheffield Theatres of Wish You Weren’t Here by resident writer Katie Redford, which will tour schools and theatres.

Watt said he believed there was still a stigma attached to theatre work that is being taken into schools.

"And for a lot of those young people, because the majority, if not all of the schools we go into are state schools, it’s probably the first and maybe the last time that a young person will see live theatre and that sort of breaks my heart, but that’s why I do it," he added.

There will also be a project called Speak/Easy - Tough Topics, Great Food, which aims to give teachers the tools to create safe spaces for young people to discuss complex issues over a meal. 

Other strands of the 70th-anniversary programme include a podcast series called Local Voices, Global Perspectives exploring the lives and views of young people in Crawley, in collaboration with Creative Crawley and Creative Playground, and a gala event at the end of summer 2024 where Theatre Centre will launch a manifesto and plans for the next five years. 

To inform these plans, they will be asking young people, teachers and artists what they want to see the Theatre Centre do in the next five years.