Good year for Grand Theatre as audiences increase

The Grand Theatre in Wolverhampton has enjoyed a bumper 12 months - attracting an extra 4,000 visitors through its doors, the latest figures reveal.

While the venue has seen audience numbers rise from 267,000 in 2009/10 to 271,000 for the last financial year, the fortunes of others around the region have varied.

The city's Arena Theatre saw about 20,000 visitors for the second year running but Lichfield's Garrick Theatre has seen 2,440 fewer customers during the course of the last year.

And Stafford's Gatehouse Theatre saw a fall of more than 19,000 due to a three-month closure for renovation earlier this year to install new seating and improved acoustics.

Birmingham Hippodrome did not provide audience figures but its latest prospectus shows it welcomed 55,782 first time bookers purchasing 172,606 tickets between April 2009 and March 2010.

Grand Theatre spokeswoman Vicky Price said its impressive year had been down to the success of productions including the record-breaking pantomime Aladdin, which sold more than 50,000 tickets.

She said: "Although 2010/11 was always going to be a challenging year, we nevertheless celebrated excellent audience attendance for a number of our productions including Hairspray and Thriller."

Arena Theatre manager Kevin O'Sullivan said: "Our figures are holding up in spite of the current economic climate and are keeping pace with last year."

Stafford Gatehouse spokesman Derrick Gask said its major renovation had affec-ted audience totals for the year, but that figures since re-opening were promising.

He said: "Since we reop-ened shows such as That'll be the Day and the Magic of Motown have sold out, as are future shows such as comedians Greg Davies and Al Murray." Lichfield Garrick spokesman Chris Moore said the fall in custom was due to a reduced number of shows. But he added: "This decision was an artistic one as opposed to the economic climate."