Curve is an award-winning theatre and one of the UK’s leading producing houses. We believe everyone should have access to great art and culture. Each year, over one and a half million people engage with Curve through performances in Leicester, across the UK and internationally.
During recent years, Curve has developed an international reputation for producing, presenting and touring a bold and diverse programme of musicals, plays, new work and dance, which sit alongside vibrant community and learning programmes.
We produce work under our Made at Curve banner, distinctive for its high-quality production values, celebrated for our originality, flair and desire to entertain. And our commitment to new work remains absolute, with new musicals being workshopped and developed at our home in Leicester on a regular basis.
Curve-originated productions frequently tour the UK and are seen in London’s West End. In 2024, our brand-new production of MY FAIR LADY wowed audiences and critics alike at home in Leicester, while productions of A CHORUS LINE and THE WIZARD OF OZ played Sadler’s Wells and Gillian Lynn Theatre respectively. GREASE embarked on its third national tour having been watched by over half a million people at The Dominion Theatre in London the year before. AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN completed a second national tour and our new KINKY BOOTS has just kicked off a hugely successful UK tour, where it is breaking box office records in theatres across the country. And 42nd STREET(Sadler’s Wells), ON YOUR FEET! (London Coliseum), SUE TOWNSEND’S THE SECRET DIARY OF ADRIAN MOLE AGED 13¾ – THE MUSICAL (The Ambassadors Theatre), WHITE CHRISTMAS (Dominion Theatre) and SISTER ACT (Eventim Apollo Hammersmith & Dominion Theatre) have all recently flown the flag for Leicester in London.
Curve is a registered charity and this supports our work with people of all ages and backgrounds, enabling them to access, participate in and learn from the arts, nurturing new and emerging talent and creating outstanding, award-winning experiences. Ensuring our theatre is fully accessible, egalitarian, celebrating people from all backgrounds is paramount to our success and the ethos which underpins the entire organisation. The relationship between artists and audiences is brought together by the extraordinary architecture of our unique home.
Welcome to our theatre, a theatre for all.
Chris Stafford Chief Executive Nikolai Foster Artistic Director
Photography: Ellie Kurttz
Chris and Nikolai feature in the top 20 of
‘Curve is one of our strongest regional venues and a big producer of commercial musicals. It clearly cares about its audiences, and not just the ones in Leicester.’
THE STAGE
Our curved facade is made from 1,192 tonnes of steel and 46000m2 of glass. Designed by Rafael Viñoly (1944-2023) our building houses three unique auditoria:
THEATRE
Traditional proscenium arch, 60 fully automated fly bars & flexible pit and sub stage. One of the largest stages in the UK, seats 965.
STUDIO THEATRE
A fully automated studio space, with large playing area. Recently upgraded and seats 314.
STUDIO
A fully flexible space, with automated bleacher seating for up to 90.
The 965 and 314 seat auditoria can also be transformed into an epic arena, seating 1500 in a variety of configurations.
We have five large rehearsal spaces, two with full-height rigging facilities, a state-of-the-art recording studio, on-site wardrobe facilities and an in-house marketing team who handle all our press and marketing needs.
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
FACTS AND FIGURES 2023/24
74% Average occupancy
27,053 Participants in Creative Programmes
14,200 Participants took part in free or low-cost activity
5,280 Curve Members
395 CYCC Members
1,500
People engaging with regular Neighbour-Hub activity
392 Schools attending performances 8.6 million
Viewers saw Curve productions featured on national television
26,127 Audience members under 26 years old
CYCC Members receiving a bursary or free place
£14,808,108 Annual turnover
For every £1 spent on theatre tickets, an additional £1.40 is generated in the local economy which equates to approximately £8.4 million
251,230 Tickets sold for performances at Curve
1,310,851 Digital engagements 1,161 Participants in Artist Development activities 37%
145 Accessible performances
10
Made at Curve productions and co-productions generated £46 million in Box Office income across the UK
1,276,155 Tickets sold on tour
95% of our audiences rated their visit as either good or excellent
£2,250,588
Received in public funding (15.2% of total income)
Photography: Johan Persson – KINKY BOOTS THE MUSICAL
THRILLING AUDIENCES AROUND THE UK ON NATIONAL TOUR
‘It’s dramatic, defiant and dazzling’ MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS
‘Truly joyful’ LEICESTER MERCURY
‘An utterly astounding and uplifting show’ THEATRE SCOTLAND
Over 250,000 tickets already sold Generating over £11 million at the box office
Photography: Pamela Raith
THE TELEGRAPH
Book and Lyrics by Music by
Adapted from ’s Play and ’s Motion Picture “PYGMALION”
“NIKOLAI FOSTER’S FIZZY, GUTSY AND
“EVERYTHING YOU’D WANT FROM A SHOW OF THIS SCALE IS HERE FOR THE ADMIRING”
“IT LEAVES YOU WANTING TO DANCE ALL NIGHT”
“STUNNING SETS, SUMPTUOUS COSTUMES AND SENSATIONAL SINGERS AND PERFORMERS”
Photography: Marc Brenner
Pirates Love Underpants
Based on the book by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort
Adapted by Brad Fitt Directed by Cara Nolan
‘a wonderful theatrical experience for children’
‘fiercely fabulous family fun’
EAST MIDLANDS THEATRE
ADVENTURES IN THEATRELAND
‘A treasure of a show’ LAUREN IN LEICESTER
‘a swashbuckling adventure full of fun’
THEATRE & TONIC
Photography: Jonathan Pryke
Choreographer ELLEN KANE
‘An irresistible revival’
The Guardian
‘An explosive new production’
British Theatre
‘Supremely slick’
The Independent
Photography: Marc Brenner
A THEATRE NATION PARTNERSHIPS PRODUCTION, PRODUCED BY CURVE
A PLAY BY HANIF KUREISHI
BASED ON HIS SCREENPLAY
DIRECTOR NICOLE BEHAN
ORIGINAL PRODUCTION BY NIKOLAI FOSTER Includes original music
Photography: Ellie Kurttz from the 2019 production.
‘A washing wonderland’
WHATONSTAGE
‘A powerful and heartening experience’ SUNDAY EXPRESS
‘An iconic movie sharply reimagined’ THE GUARDIAN
‘Kureishi’s new version comes up sharply’ OBSERVER
‘A classy show’ THE DAILY MAIL
Photography: Ellie Kurttz
A co-production with Smith and Brant Theatricals
Book, Music and Lyrics Irene Sankoff and David Hein
Presented by arrangement with Red Hanger UK Ltd, Gavin Kalin productions, Tulchin Bartner Productions, Echo Lake Entertainment UK Ltd, Square Peg, Stephen and Paula Reynolds, Judith Ann Abrams Productions/Peter May, Nancy Gibbs
‘Thank Cod it’s back’
WHATSONSTAGE
Photography: Craig Sugden
‘It’s sheer theatrical wizardry and far too good to miss’ WhatsOnStage
‘Sumptuous new production’ Daily Mail
‘There’s no place like Curve for delivering big epic theatre’ Beyond The Curtain
Photography: Marc Brenner
BY TIM RICE
Photography: Marc Brenner
Curve’s Christmas Family Show
Adapted by Chandni
‘We came to see it today with our school. The children truly loved it. Great performance!’
Audience Member
‘We came to see this yesterday. Brilliant cast, lovely story. My three year old grandson loved it! Highly recommend’
Audience Member
‘Like watching a magical three dimensional picture book come alive’
Poppy Jo & Me
‘Christmassy feel good show for the whole family... perfect introduction to the theatre’ Whats Good To Do
Photography: Ellie Kurttz
SADLER’S WELLS, NATIONAL TOUR AND TORONTO
Adam Garcia
Ruthie Henshall
Josefina Gabrielle
Nicole-Lily Baisden
Les Dennis
‘breath-taking tap dance routines’
East Midlands Theatre
‘An immaculately delivered five-star delight.’
‘Sends you off into the night, full of the joy.’
WhatsOnStage
Photography: Johan Persson
‘Explodes with energy – a wild and wonderful
‘Enormously entertaining’
Photography: Mark Senior
DIRECTOR NIKOLAI FOSTER CHOREOGRAPHER LUCY HIND MUSICAL SUPERVISOR & MUSICAL DIRECTOR GEORGE DYER
DESIGNER MICHAEL TAYLOR COSTUME DESIGNER EDD LINDLEY LIGHTING DESIGNER BEN CRACKNELL SOUND DESIGNER ADAM FISHER CASTING DIRECTOR KAY MAGSON CDG CHILDREN’S CASTING DIRECTOR JO HAWES
‘Impressive production’
Broadway World
‘A flat-out masterpiece’ The Times
‘An electric new production’ The Guardian
‘Powerfully relevant’
The Stage
WhatsOnStage
‘Simply show stopping’ The Telegraph
Photography: Marc Brenner
WINNER
BEST REGIONAL PRODUCTION
WHATSONSTAGE AWARDS
WINNER BEST MUSICAL MANCHESTER THEATRE AWARDS
‘Foster crams this colourful world with enough detail to make it feel alive’ THE TIMES
‘Nikolai Foster’s sumptuous production delivers on a level of sheer aural and visual spectacle’ THE STAGE
DAILY TELEGRAPH
Photography: Manuel Harlan
CURVE ON TOUR 2023/24
Flying the flag for Curve and Leicester around the UK and across the globe
2023/24 was another incredible year for Made at Curve productions on tour with 10 shows visiting over 100 theatres throughout the year.
In May 2023 Curve opened a spectacular production of 42ND STREET, coproduced with Jonathan Church Theatre Productions, Crossroads Live and David Mirvish. Directed by Jonathan Church with choreography by Olivier award-winner Bill Deamer, 42ND STREET embarked on a 29-week national tour, ending with a limited run in Toronto, Canada.
June 2023 saw the return of our Made at Curve production of GREASE, directed by Nikolai Foster and choreographed by Curve Associate Artist Arlene Phillips. The production had a five-month limited run at the Dominion Theatre in London’s West End before embarking on a UK tour.
In the autumn, we were delighted to join our long-term collaborators Frantic Assembly as co-producers for a new production of METAMORPHOSIS adapted by Lemn Sissay OBE. The production toured to 12 venues across the nation, with just under 5,000 people seeing the drama at Curve, and 60,000 people watching across the tour.
Following a hugely successful summer season at London’s Palladium, we headed back down the Yellow Brick Road for Christmas in Liverpool with the return of THE WIZARD OF OZ in collaboration with Michael Harrison Entertainment. The production was enjoyed by over 62,000 audience members over the festive period at Liverpool Empire Theatre, which was then followed by a 28-venue national tour.
Continuing our partnership with Jamie Wilson Productions, SISTER ACT entertained audiences across the UK and we were delighted to start 2024 by welcoming Deloris and the team back to LE1 ahead of a West End run at The Dominion Theatre. Since 2022 SISTER ACT has been seen by over 500,000 people.
In partnership with The National Theatre’s Theatre Nation Partnerships programme, we revived Nikolai Foster’s production of Hanish Kureishi’s masterpiece, MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE, directed by Nicole Behan. Following the run at Curve the production then visited Queens Theatre Hornchurch, Theatre Royal Wakefield, The Lowry, Liverpool Playhouse and Blackpool Grand Theatre and was enjoyed by over 11,000 people.
In February 2024, we made a trip to Birmingham to remount the hit Made at Curve production of AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN, which continues to engage audiences across the country. AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN returned to Leicester in the summer of 2024 before embarking on a tour of the Netherlands.
We rounded off the year with the life-affirming co-production of COME FROM AWAY. Since we first saw the show on Broadway in 2017, we were determined to bring this groundbreaking new musical to Curve, and so we were delighted producers John Brant and Joe Smith invited us to be part of this special show and chose Leicester to launch the UK tour.
I just wanted to thank everyone for a brilliant week with My Beautiful Laundrette! The show was seen by 2,812 people and we played to 89% capacity across the week. The production was really enjoyed by everyone who saw it and was a huge success for us.
Steve Cowton – Head of Theatre Operations, The Lowry
Photography: Ellie Kurttz – MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE
Photography: Marc Brenner – THE WIZARD OF OZ
CREATIVE PROGRAMMES 2023/24
Placing creativity at the heart of learning
Across the year 27,000 participants engaged with our Creative Programme offer for schools, colleges and universities, community groups, young people, families, elders and artists.
Neighbour-Hubs
Our Neighbour-Hubs programme continued to engage young people across five areas of the city; New Parks, Saffron, Braunstone, Evington and Highfields & St. Matthews. In each locality we have built long-term creative collaborations with education providers and community partners to ensure as many people as possible living in a ‘Hub’ area have access to the work of our theatre.
In the last year, we introduced a new school into our core of five secondary schools and delivered a range of projects and initiatives including in-school workshops led by Curve practitioners, work placements and backstage tours. Every week we delivered free workshops with 80 students from across the five districts, and all students performed on stage at Curve during the course of the year.
In collaboration with The Grove Community Centre in Braunstone we piloted a new musical theatre project – Curve at The Grove. Over 15 weeks, 12 young people took part in free creative sessions focused on dance, acting and song. In addition to outreach sessions, participants performed in a special showcase at The Grove and also attended performances at Curve free-of-charge.
Across each academic term more than 270 young people took part in free Neighbour-Hubs activity led by Curve practitioners.
Curve Young Community Companies (CYCC)
Young people aged 5-18 met regularly at Curve to develop skills, have fun and gain 'hands-on' experience within the theatre industry.
In addition to weekly sessions led by artists and practitioners, CYCC participants took part in a range of performances including; GARGANTUA, GENIUS and our Christmas production of EVITA. CYCC Dance took part in the prestigious Making Moves programme, culminating in them successfully securing a place to perform at the prestigious Sadler's Wells.
CYCC in numbers
• 395 CYCC participants took part in regular classes at Curve and Neighbour-Hubs settings
• 532 CYCC classes in Acting, Dancing and Musical Theatre delivered across the year
• 5 CYCC Neighbour-Hub Drama clubs ran every week during term-time in city schools
• 1 CYCC Technical Theatre Course ran for 10 weeks
• 64 public performances featuring CYCC participants
• Over the year we offered 61 bursary places to ensure finances were not a barrier to taking part in CYCC at Curve, with a proportion of these bursary places made available thanks to support from the Martin Trust and Virtual Schools. Sponsorship from our friends at PPL PRS, enabled us to offer all CYCC Neighbour-Hubs sessions free of charge for all 100 participants.
Find out how we're engaging young people through creative experiences at Curve
Schools and Universities
We welcomed over 390 school trips to Curve across the year, with performances of METAMORPHOSIS, THE BOOK THIEF and THE OWL WHO CAME FOR CHRISTMAS proving particularly popular. 13,470 students and teachers came to see a show at Curve and we delivered a range of projects to support student engagement with the work on our stages. Early in 2024 we carried out research to explore the educational, social and health impact of the work we do with young people. We shared the results at a special event with invited guests – including Liz Kendall, MP for Leicester West and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions – who had the opportunity to hear first-hand from young people about the importance of drama to their lives.
We also hosted four Theatre Days around our Made at Curve shows, with cast and creative teams sharing insights into the performancemaking process. In addition, we programmed a special careers event as part of the BBC’s Bring The Drama initiative, which saw 119 people of all ages come to Curve to hear about the different roles in the industry and connect with members of Team Curve.
As part of our collaboration with the National Theatre and the Theatre Nation Partnerships programme, we worked with five schools in areas of high deprivation in Leicester on ‘Speak Up’, a national programme which enables young people to work with artists to explore the issues they care about and find creative ways to share these publicly. In the last year 147 Speak Up sessions were delivered engaging 162 students.
Curve’s strategic partnership with De Montfort University (DMU) continued to thrive with 40 students taking part in performances, workshops and work placements at Curve across the year, including our Made at Curve and DMU co-production of Jim Cartwright's ROAD. We also once again had the honour of hosting DMU Graduation Ceremonies, which saw over 7,700 students graduate at Curve over the course of the year.
In partnership with the University of Leicester we launched a pilot programme to encourage new voices in theatre journalism and criticism. ‘Emerging Writers’ saw 20 Journalism BA students visit rehearsals for our Made at Curve production of MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE to observe the process and interview company members. The students also joined virtual talks and Q&A sessions hosted by leading industry PR professionals, and attended the show’s press night, with their reviews published on Curve’s website.
Photography: Kieran Vyas
COMMUNITY AND FESTIVALS
2023/24
Creative experiences for everyone
An extensive Community Engagement programme was rolled out across the year, with workshops taking place in care homes, memory cafés and local settings, as well as events, projects and festivals taking place at Curve.
Working in partnership with Age UK and Anchor Housing, our Community Practitioner delivered over 80 free dance, music and storytelling workshops. Every month, over 200 elders took part in creative workshops that sought to improve their physical and mental health as well as providing opportunities to socialise and have fun. We also marked the festive season with a Christmas Cabaret and afternoon tea for over 150 elders.
Throughout the year we continued to host weekly free and lowcost community workshops at Curve, with over 320 sessions led by Curve Associate Companies Moving Together, Sidekick Dance and Kainé Choir. We also launched Little Curve, our weekly programme of workshops for under 5s and their families and carers, with over 640 people taking part across 37 sessions.
We showcased our hugely diverse local talent in Leicester with the return of Curve on the Square festival in summer 2023. The free, weekend-long event saw over 2,000 audience members enjoy 27 local acts (125 performers in total), a third of which were from our Neighbour-Hub areas.
Our free and low-cost Community Days engaged 2,800 people who took part in creative activities, workshops and performances across the building and outside on Orton Square. An Indian Summer Community Day, in partnership with Inspirate, celebrated South Asian contemporary art and performance with an eclectic programme of activities taking place inside and outside our building. During Black History Month we curated free performances on our Foyer stage, programmed African Caribbean dance workshops and shared a stage reading of Katori Hall's THE MOUNTAINTOP. We also celebrated Diwali with a Community Day including dance workshops, performances and family activities.
Curve also welcomed performances as part of Associate Company Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage’s Let’s Dance International Frontiers Festival. Across April and May 2023, dance performers from the UK, USA, Brazil, Norway, Sweden, Jamaica
and beyond visited the theatre. The festival also presented the UK premiere of BLACK HOLE: TRILOGY as part of LDIF and TRIATHLON, a multidisciplinary performance choreographed by award-winning movement artist Shamel Pitts, co-created and performed by Brooklyn-based arts collective, TRIBE.
We continued our partnership work with Leicester City Virtual School – who support young people living in care and care leavers – on the ‘Coram Shakespeare Schools Festival’ project. Curve practitioners worked with eight young people living in care to develop their own version of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, which they performed at Oxford University’s Magdalen College.
Over Christmas 2023, we partnered with Leicester-based video production company Crosscut to share a special recording of THE OWL WHO CAME FOR CHRISTMAS for children, their families and carers at Rainbows Hospice for Children and Young People. The recording was shared for free and enjoyed by almost 40 people across six sessions at the hospice.
Everyone who attended the Big Sing has been touched by dementia of some type. Either having it, caring for a loved one with it or having lost someone that had it. To be together and joining in joyful song makes us realize we can still enjoy our time together. Curve did an excellent job of making us feel wanted and welcome and we couldn’t have been better looked after. A HUGE thank you to all who made it possible.
Foyer Cabaret visitor
Curve staff enabled the young people to create such an original and imaginative piece. The relationships you built with them were lovely and it really was beautiful to watch them relax, form strong bonds and grow in self-belief. I genuinely think it was life changing for them. The whole thing was very special and something they, and we, will remember forever. Virtual Schools
The range of local talent on offer today was more than enough to keep us in our seats and entertained. The fact that it was free in times of financial hardship for many made it even more special and we look forward to many more. Curve on the Square audience member.
Photography: Kieran Vyas
NEW WORK AND ARTIST DEVELOPMENT
2023/24
Investing in talent across the region and beyond
We’re proud to support and develop local talent, and across the last year more than 1,100 creatives, theatre-makers, practitioners and artists from the Midlands took part in Artist Development sessions, projects and performances at Curve. We also engaged with local artists through Curve Connect, our free membership scheme which is open to all professional practitioners living and working in the region. Across 2023/24, 490 active Curve Connect members were able to benefit from free rehearsal space, free and discounted tickets, and support through one-to-one meetings with Curve staff.
Our annual New Work Festival 2024 engaged 79 artists, with over 80% being connected or based in the Midlands and over 50% working with Curve for the first time. Throughout the festival almost 1,000 tickets were sold for workshops, seminars and performances. Highlights included SCENES FROM RENT performed in British Sign Language and English, directed by Curve's former RTYDS Resident Director Lilac Yosiphon, and an exciting new comedy-thriller for the Netflix generation, ROTTEN, from emerging Midlands writer Josie White.
Curve Resident Creative Si Rawlinson and his company Kakilang brought new dance-theatre piece SAVING FACE to Curve in May 2023. A Curve co-production, co-commissioned by The Place, this fusion of storytelling with contemporary and hip-hop dance styles marked Si’s first full-scale dance theatre work.
In October 2023 we supported Midlands writer and performance poet Neal Pike with a sharing of new play, THE WALK. Neal first came to Curve as a Graeae Beyond artist and during a period ‘in residence’ at Curve, Neal and his team received dramaturgical support from Team Curve members and explored the development a touring version of the production.
We presented an immersive production of ROAD by Jim Cartwright with a cast of 19 De Montfort University students. Harnessing the full potential of our 314 seat Studio Theatre, the design wrapped around the audience and included a working bar for audiences to enjoy a drink with the characters from the show. The young performers worked with us over two terms, developing their skills and learning about the processes behind presenting a full-scale production at Curve.
We’ve continued to support the development of our 23 Curve Resident Creatives with advice, seed commissions, rehearsal and performance space. We also supported Curve Associate Artists Sheep Soup to take their new show, HOUSE OF LIFE, to Edinburgh Fringe.
Throughout the year, we continued to collaborate with artists and organisations across the Midlands, including Bamboozle, Mara Ba, The Centre For Indian Classical Dance (CICD), Carol Leeming MBE, Nupur Arts, Aakash Odedra and Kesha Raithatha.
Really loved being a part of the Festival and getting to meet the team. Looking forward to the rest of the events!
NWF Artist
Thank you for the space inkind – we wouldn't have been able to do it without you :) Local Artist
It instils so much faith, hope and joy that New Work has the potential to really put Leicester talent on the map. New Work Festival participant.
This is an excellent opportunity and I haven’t heard of another building doing this. Very grateful to be able to access help and advice from Curve. Cara was an excellent and approachable fountain of knowledge who has given me multiple pointers for action which I began to work on right after our meeting.
First Friday Participant
Photography: Marc Brenner – SCENES FROM RENT
FUNDRAISING 2023/24
Working in partnership to support our charitable mission
In 2023/24 we launched our new fundraising strategy and have subsequently enjoyed our most successful year to date with a 71% increase across all sources of giving. We are grateful to everyone who has given to us across the year with donations large and small; without the support from individuals, trusts, foundations and businesses we simply would not be able to do all we do. Thank you!
Our annual appeal for the Andy Nairn Bursaries in Technical Theatre, in memory of our former Head of Production, raised £5,000. In partnership with the Mackintosh Foundation, these funds enabled us to support a Creative Venue Technician apprenticeship and our Curve Young Community Company Technical group (CYCC Tech).
I like the fact I've had time with each different department; I started with lighting and then moved to sound and then stage, so I've gained good all-round basic knowledge over the last year. For my last six months I've decided I'm going to specialise in lighting and learn about it more in-depth.
Amber Crowle, Mackintosh Technician Apprentice
At Christmas, we launched our Gift a Ticket appeal, encouraging customers to add a donation to their purchase which enables us to offer free tickets to people who are living in financial hardship. Over £5,000 was raised in just a few months, which enabled us to welcome hundreds of new visitors to Curve free-of-charge.
During the year, we launched two new individual giving schemes. Our Patrons programme (£1,500 per year) offers donors even closer access to Curve's work. We also introduced the Made at Curve Circle, which acknowledges the support of philanthropists who give £5,000+ per year. We are delighted to have welcomed nine new Patrons and members of the Made at Curve Circle in our first year and we look forward to working with more supporters over the months ahead.
We continued to work in partnership with our business sponsors, who include De Montfort University, the University of Leicester, PPL, PPL PRS, David Wilson Homes, voco Leicester and Nelson’s Solicitors. Their transformative support is deeply appreciated.
Trust, foundation and statutory grants make up a crucial part of Curve’s income. Over the year, we received grants from the Mackintosh Foundation, Backstage Trust, the Austin and Hope Pilkington Trust and the National Lottery Community Fund.
Donations are a vital part of Curve, making a difference to every aspect of our work and enables us to:
• Support 500 older people to take part in Curve’s Dementia Friendly dance classes every year
• Ensure 400 young people can attend our free or low-cost theatre workshops every week
• Inspire hundreds of East Midlands creatives to learn new skills and gain artistic experience through our Curve Connect programme
• Ensure 128 access performances (BSL interpreted, Captioned, Audio Described, Dementia Friendly and Relaxed) are presented across the year
• Fly the flag for Leicester’s arts and culture across the UK and internationally.
Thank you for helping make Curve a place where everyone can experience the magic of theatre.
Memberships
Membership numbers grew in all levels across the year. Our membership is now the largest it has been in Curve’s history, with over 5,000 people choosing to have a closer relationship with Curve and enjoy special benefits including priority booking, ticket discounts and event invitations.
We would like to thank our Friends, Supporters, Business Friends and Patrons whose membership includes a donation to support Curve as a registered charity.
Photography: Jonathan Pryke
I love theatre generally, and Curve in particular. I understand how expensive it is to put shows on and I am keen to support youth theatre and outreach projects especially.
Supporter
At PPL PRS Ltd, we take great pride in our partnership with Curve. Supporting our local community is of paramount importance to us, and the work that we collaborate with Curve on – in particular the Neighbour-Hubs project –means we get to make a tangible difference to those who would not otherwise enjoy access to theatre. Like Curve, we believe access to the arts should be a right for everyone, and Neighbour-Hubs delivers just that in the areas of Leicester that need it most.
Andrea Gray, Managing Director, PPL
PRS Ltd.
Supporting up and coming theatre technicians, stagehands and staff means skills are passed on to the next generation.
Supporter
I am an annual Supporter because I think you produce fabulous entertainment and do a huge amount of work to encourage people from all backgrounds to attend the theatre.
Supporter
To find out more about supporting Curve visit www.curveonline.co.uk/join-and-support-us/ or email give@curvetheatre.co.uk
THANK YOU
PRINCIPAL FUNDERS
TRUSTS AND FOUNDATIONS
Backstage Trust
Garfield Weston Foundation
Headley Trust
SPONSORS AND CORPORATE SUPPORT
Mackintosh Foundation
The Martin Trust for Young People
National Lottery Community Fund
MADE AT CURVE CIRCLE
Ros and Alan Haigh
Jane Harris-Lock
Jon and Katey Jorgensen
PATRONS
Freeths
Andrea Gray
Simon Harrison
Paul Hurst
J.J. Murphy
Neil and Tanya Russ
JK Training
Jeremy and Mary-Vere Parr
David and Diane Statham
Weightmans LLP
FRIENDS
Angelic Photo
Annie Bannister
Yvonne Burge
Anthony and Lisa Clare
Mike Dalzell
Nikolai Foster
Linda Fox
Neil and Jackie Frettsome
Pepe Gallardo Mora
The Gresham Aparthotel
Mike Griffiths
Alan Heggs
Peter Hollis
Helen Johnson
KAS Electrical Services
Jonathan Kerry
Katrina Kinch
Robert and Janie Martin
Barbara Matthews
Lynne McCormack
Elizabeth Owen
Paula René
Jim Riley
Jean Roberts
The Rowleys Partnership Ltd
Surinder and Vijay Sharma
Ali Sinclair
Chris Stafford
Philip and Alison Tasker
Robert David Williamson
– in memoriam
Curve is an incredible theatre. One of the best for accessibility, modern technology and amazing productions. If a show I want to see is on, I want to see it at Curve.
Audience Member
Curve do an excellent job. Not only do you have a huge variety of fantastic shows featuring some very talented performers, all members of staff both front of house and behind the scenes provide an incredible service. Well done to everyone.
Audience Member
Just when I thought I couldn't love Curve anymore. Thank you for making theatre accessible for everyone.
Audience Member
Such an inclusive theatre
Audience Member
Photography: Marc Brenner
‘Curve has become a powerhouse of musical theatre’
