To be or not to be – project fails to win Lotto funding

Nov 15 2007 by Vicky Anderson, Liverpool Daily Post

THE team behind a bid to build a Shakespearean theatre in Prescot say they will continue with the project, despite losing out on a major bid for funding.

The Shakespeare North Trust had been hoping to secure £25m from a specialist National Lottery fund to build a modern-day version of the Elizabethan Cockpit theatre.

But yesterday they were told by the Big Lottery Living Landmarks fund that, despite making it down to the last ten projects being considered for the cash, they were not among the three successful finalists.

Shakespeare North executive director David Thacker said the Trust would be meeting today to reflect on their change of circumstances, but it did not mean their dreams of a £38.5m theatre were over.

Mr Thacker told the Daily Post: “We remain a very committed team at the heart of this and it would be a tragedy if it fell through now.

“If we thought it was a weak project then we would probably move on, but I am confident we will press on and find another way.”

Experts believe William Shakespeare lived and worked in Prescot at some stage, and the playwright was in close contact with the Earl of Derby’s family at Knowsley Hall.

Prescot was also the home of the famous Shakespearean actor John Kemble who has a road, Kemble Street, named after him.

The Shakespeare North at the Cockpit development, designed by city architects Austin Smith:Lord, focused on an historically authentic recreation of Inigo Jones’s Cockpit-in-Court built in 1629.

It was also planned to house a cinema, dance studio, experimental theatre, rehearsal rooms, exhibition space, café, bar and restaurant.

The Trust will now seek alternative sources of funding. A number of local businesses have pledged their support to the project, seen by Knowsley council as central to the area’s regeneration.

It was also backed by celebrities including Oscar winners Dame Helen Mirren and Vanessa Redgrave, Children Of Men star Clive Owen, and Star Trek legend Patrick Stewart, who have all signed up as patrons of the Shakespeare North project.

Mr Thacker added: “The schemes that were successful with their bids were all totally different types of project and I can’t help but feel that the odds were stacked against us from the outset.”

vickyanderson