Kent’s largest theatre is calling for emergency government funding after suffering significant financial losses during lockdown.

Bosses from the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury say it needs the package in order to help it recover.

It has joined forces with four other venues in Birmingham, Newcastle, Norwich and Southampton to appeal to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and Arts Council England for the cash.

Across the group there has been a 96% loss in takings since they were asked to close their doors in March.

Marlowe chief executive Deborah Shaw said: “As independent charities reliant almost entirely on box office income and not in receipt of any core public funding, we’ve so far fallen between the gaps of available support, apart from the government’s Job Retention Scheme.

“We want to make the case that we are an important part of the national theatre ecology, supporting major companies to present work across the UK and, at the other end of the scale, nurturing and supporting freelance artists, craftspeople and emerging talent in our region.”

The five venues – which include the Birmingham Hippodrome, Newcastle Theatre Royal, Norwich Theatre Royal and Mayflower Theatre – lobbying for the cash injection have a combined age of more than 600.

They hosted more than 9,000 events last year, which were seen by about 585,000 people.

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