{"id":433095,"date":"2025-09-18T07:28:20","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T07:28:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/433095\/"},"modified":"2025-09-18T07:28:20","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T07:28:20","slug":"glasgows-citizens-theatre-reopens-after-a-seven-year-intermission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/433095\/","title":{"rendered":"Glasgow’s Citizens Theatre reopens after a seven-year intermission"},"content":{"rendered":"

Each now underpin the return of this Victorian theatre which has been at the cultural core of the Gorbals since, and whose importance to Glasgow<\/a>, and Scotland, belies its modest capacity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Citizens reopened this month after seven years \u2013 four longer than planned \u2013 to the sight of outsized Greek Muses leading a giant parade through the streets, and the sound of a unanimous gasp of approval once the punters were allowed in for a peek.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The multi-million redevelopment is a triumphant marrying of contemporary design with architectural legacy. Decades of cladding were removed to reveal huge sandstone archways, and the historic stonework of its gable end are given top billing by a glass roof.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Built in 1878 as Royal Princess Theatre, it became the Citizens in the mid-1940s. By the time artistic directors Robert David MacDonald, Philip Prowse and Giles Havergal (who died on the day of its reopening) were running the show from the late 1960s onwards, the place had developed a reputation as venue where impactful, meaningful \u2013 and often local \u2013 theatre could be found.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The names associated with the place are the stuff of legend. Albert Finney. Tim Roth. Rupert Everett. Pierce Brosnan. Alan Rickman. Billy Connolly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Hill said: \u201cThe Citz is unique partly due to its geographical situation. This gorgeous, previously dilapidated Victorian building, sitting in what was one of the most deprived areas of the country, was never afraid of saying,\u202f\u2018We are going to create work for you as much as for the people in the west end of Glasgow.\u2019 That\u2019s such a part of who it is, and since then the community around it has really grown.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gorbals residents have long received a discount for their tickets. And although today\u2019s cut-price deal of
a fiver is a few bob more than it was when the curtain went down on the \u201cdodgy foundations, leaky roof and asbestos\u201d it\u2019s cheaper than an interval ice cream in London\u2019s West End.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA local primary school kid opened the doors and was the first person inside,\u201d said Hill. \u201cThat sense of
community is crucial. We have to make sure that our activity, pricing and ticketing allow the community to feel that this theatre is theirs.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"The revamped theatre frontage. Image: Mark Liddell<\/p>\n

The theatre opened last week with Small Acts of Love, a play with music written by Frances Poet and Deacon Blue\u2019s Ricky Ross<\/a> about the relationships formed between Scottish and American communities in the wake of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over the Scottish Borders town of Lockerbie. Hill said: \u201cIt\u2019s a really powerful, important piece about community, healing, how people deal with unexpected catastrophe in their ordinary lives.\u202fWe chose it because we wanted to open with something brand new, something that was about Scotland, about communities. Those are values that are at the heart of the Citz.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

It will be followed by Douglas Maxwell\u2019s Fringe First-winning comedy So Young and Dundee Rep\u2019s touring production of The Glass Menagerie.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hill\u2019s excitement isn\u2019t just for the programme he and his team are forming. Key to the fun of this new building are its windows (literally) into the past.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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He said: \u201cI remember the first time I went to the Citz, I was shown around and could see the old stage machinery. I love the fact that we have kept that and that people can now go and see it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want us to be a museum, but I think the way we have shown off the heritage is really important. There\u2019s something so special about knowing that people pulled these ropes for scenery to come up through the floor so long ago. There\u2019s something extraordinary and also very human about it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always been inspired by its sense of theatricality, radicalism and daring even though I was living in the south of England. That\u2019s always been an inspiration to me, and I hope always will be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this?\u00a0Get in touch and tell us more<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Reader-funded since 1991 \u2013 Big Issue brings you trustworthy journalism that drives real change.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Every day, our journalists dig deeper, speaking up for those society overlooks.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Could you help us keep doing this vital work?\u00a0Support our journalism from \u00a35 a month<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Each now underpin the return of this Victorian theatre which has been at the cultural core of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":433096,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7826],"tags":[748,5554,13581,7056,918,4884,712,2764,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-433095","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-glasgow","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-community","10":"tag-environment-and-community","11":"tag-from-the-magazine","12":"tag-glasgow","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-scotland","15":"tag-theatre","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115224124522751114","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/433096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}