Mull Theatre's new buildings

Following a sucessful season, with Katie Morag selling out venues all over Scotland, Mull Theatre now has two more reasons to celebrate....

A new home for Mull theatre

A £250,000 Lottery grant has been approved for Mull Theatre’s new building.  The Mull Little Theatre closes at the end of 2006 when the lease runs out, but Mull Theatre has found a new home - on a woodland site just two miles outside Tobermory.  The site has been leased on generous terms from the Forestry Commission.

Mull Theatre is funded by the Scottish Arts Council as a touring company, taking theatre to remote rural communities in the Highlands and Islands. The company also takes its productions to major city venues in central Scotland.

To support this work they need a new building which will be more than just a theatre. It will be a Production Centre comprising rehearsal facilities, a scenery workshop and storage areas and office accommodation for the administration, marketing, fundraising and education activities of the company. Out of necessity, the Production Centre will be larger than the much-loved Mull Little Theatre, but they hope it's intimate character, atmosphere and ethos will live on in the new building.

The project will be completed in phases over several years. Planning permission for the building was granted recently and the £250,000 Lottery grant has been approved. If all goes to plan, the new building will open in 2007.

Mull opens Trafalgar Studios

Cyprus transfers to London to open a new theatre on Whitehall. Trafalgar Studios is one of the newest and most exciting theatres in London. Part of the Ambassadors Group, it was formerly the Whitehall Theatre, but has been converted into two studio theatres.

Mull Theatre’s acclaimed production of Cyprus opens the 100-seater Studio 2 on 17 November, and will run for four weeks. Studio 2 was designed to feature innovative work from national and international companies.  Mull Theatre is proud to be the first company to put on a production there.

Cyprus - specially commissioned by Mull Theatre - is by Peter Arnott.  It bristles with wit, satire and contemporary political relevance.

Says Peter Arnott: 'I suppose that a Dervaig to Whitehall transfer does count as a bit of a coup, especially given the military nature of the piece...and the karmic serendipity or whatever it might be is only enhanced by the fact that these two places are exactly where the action and subject matter of the play are set...that is a chance meeting in Whitehall of two cold warriors leading them up to Mull.  I guess the neatness of that must have appealed to the producers.  It's almost like it was planned'.

This project is supported by the National Lottery through the Scottish Arts Council.  For more information on how the Scottish Arts Council distributes Lottery Money to sustain arts facilities, visit the Infrastructure section of our website.