Rose Theatre turns profit for a second time - with a bit of help from council and university cash (From Surrey Comet)

Rose Theatre turns profit for a second time - with a bit of help from council and university cash

5:40pm Thursday 7th February 2013 in News By Ross Logan, Chief Reporter

Kingston’s Rose Theatre has turned a profit for only the second time in its history, according to its latest accounts.

But only after another £800,000 injection of money from Kingston Council and Kingston University.

Figures for the year ending March 2012 revealed a modest surplus of £23,357, with an income of £3.45m and an overall spend of £3.43m.

The numbers were an improvement on the previous year, when the theatre recorded a deficit of more than £32,000 as it struggled to find a hit.

Shows such as The Lady From The Sea, The Importance of Being Earnest and The Snow Queen proved popular with audiences, with the latter becoming the theatre’s second most successful play of all time – and Oscar Wilde’s play going on a brief tour of Hong Kong.

It is the first time since 2009-10 that the theatre has not reported a loss, when Dame Judi Dench’s star turn in A Midsummer Night’s Dream helped net a profit of £131,000.

Rose Theatre chief executive Robert O’Dowd said: “It was a good year, where we did well with shows like The Lady From The Sea, The Snow Queen and The Importance of Being Earnest.

“Right now we need to build on a great year and become more well known for our drama and being part of the borough’s cultural life.”

The Rose Theatre receives £500,000 a year in funding from Kingston Council, as part of a five-year deal. It also receives £300,000 a year from Kingston University, plus an additional £80,000 from the university towards an in-house production.

It has liabilities of £1.8m, which are mostly tied up in long-term, interest-free loans.

The new accounts also revealed a further £116,667 of a £350,000 interest-free loan was written off as a gift by an anonymous benefactor, adding to the £100,000 gifted to previous year.

Mr O’Dowd said: “We have a loan that is repayable over 100 years and until that time the decreasing amount will appear on our balance sheets.”