Eoin Carey
The Citizens Theatre has been closed for seven years
Glasgow’s Citizens Theatre is to reopen this weekend after a seven-year revamp, which was hit by Covid and skyrocketing costs.
The theatre, in the city’s Gorbals area, closed in June 2018 for a refurbishment which was planned to take three years.
The original cost was estimated at £20m but it could end up costing almost double that amount.
A community-led parade will officially mark the reopening on Saturday, along with a series of events and behind-the-scenes tours over the weekend.
Mark Liddell
The theatre closed in 2018 for a refurbishment which was originally planned to take three years
The Citizens Theatre has been a landmark in the Gorbals area of Glasgow since 1945, but the building itself – which is leased from Glasgow City Council – dates back to 1878.
The restoration has maintained the theatre’s historic auditorium and its Victorian stage equipment, the oldest surviving in the UK, and wrapped it in a brand-new three-storey building.
The revamp includes a new foyer, improved accessibility, a new bar area and social spaces, with enhanced backstage facilities for performers.
Eoin Carey
The theatre’s historic auditorium has been maintained
Eoin Carey
The revamp includes a new foyer
Six statues have been returned to the roof of the building
Getty Images
The statues stood on top of the shared facade between and Citizen and Palace Theatres until 1977
They once stood on the roof of a shared façade between the Citizen and Palace Theatres.
The figures survived a fire in 1973 but the building was condemned in 1977 and they were removed and placed in storage.
By the time the statues were brought to the foyer of the Citizens Theatre in 1989, signs of age were already visible and one of the muses – Thalia – was missing the mask she typically holds.
After a lengthy and painstaking restoration, they have returned to the building’s roof.