It has been 40 years since Tewkesbury’s iconic theatre has been updated and the people of Gloucestershire have been voicing their positive opinions about the changes.
https://soundcloud.com/studentjournalists-1/rose-voxpops
Members of the public have also shown their support by helping to boost the funds for the refurbishment through The Roses Theatre’s Buy a Brick Appeal. They hoped the £75 donations for an engraved brick, which are placed in the atrium, would contribute a few thousand pounds, but they managed to raise £22,000.
This campaign meant they were able to completely repaint and re-carpet the auditorium. However the red seats still remain the same, apart from a good clean, as many people commented that they did not want to see these changed.
The entrance to the theatre has been opened up into an airy, light atrium this leads on to Cotswold Coffee at the Roses. The new coffee shop is a partnership with Cotswold Dairy and means they can provide locally sourced milkshakes, along with other tasty treats.
The box office has been upgraded to a larger professional booth, which follows easily to the other offices and snack counter, enabling ease of accessibility to all theatre employees.
The members of staff seem as pleased as the public with their new facilities, making sure they comment enthusiastically about the changes to the customers.
Bethany, Marketing Manager for The Roses, said that the most significant difference had been to the toilets:
“Before the transformation they were the talk of Tewkesbury in a bad way and now they’re the talk of Tewkesbury in a good way.”
“And every time someone new comes in we tell them they have to check out the toilets.”
There is a possibility of the backstage of the Roses to be renovated inline with the rest of the theatre, but there are no definite plans yet.
