Play Your Part

Our capital campaign to transform the Yvonne Arnaud into a cultural community hub with theatre at its core is now complete.

We wish to express our sincere gratitude to everyone who donated. Your generosity and support have made a lasting impact. Thanks to you, our theatre is not only looking its best but is now more accessible than ever.

These improvements wouldn’t have been possible without the incredible support of Surrey County Council's Your Fund Surrey, as well as the many trusts and foundations, pioneer donors and individuals in our community who chose to get involved and contribute.

If you haven’t had the chance yet, we’d love to welcome you in for a coffee or to one of our upcoming productions. Come and see firsthand how your contributions have helped transform our beautiful theatre!

The theatre is here for everyone, whether they choose to see a play, take part in a workshop, or event, or meet a friend for coffee. Our building and our work enable people of all ages from across Surrey to come together.

The project will:

Improve accessibility throughout the front of house areas including the provision of a lift to all floors and new accessible toilets.
Create a multipurpose accessible community room for engagement activities, events, rehearsals and workshops.
Remodel our public spaces to make them fit-for-purpose to meet the growing demand for these areas.
Improve our environmental sustainability by replacing outdated electrical and mechanical services with energy efficient alternatives.

Upon completion of the project, we will have transformed the theatre into a fit for purpose cultural and community hub able to better serve Surrey.

Play Your Part has transformed the theatre, to further enable our work as a cultural community hub with theatre at its core. Radically improving accessibility and creating new multi-purpose spaces for wider community and artistic benefit; we are ensuring the Arnaud is able to meet the needs of the communities of Surrey for the next 50 years.

The Yvonne Arnaud Theatre is a registered charity and is also the only producing venue in Surrey. A regional theatre with a national reach - our mission is to produce and present vibrant, outstanding, entertaining drama for the communities of Surrey and the South East.

We are an artistic resource and a safe space for our many communities to participate in the thrill and delight of live theatre and arts activities. We enable people of all ages to come together, benefitting their health and well-being; realising stronger, more meaningful, social relationships; building prosperous and cohesive communities.

Thank you to our Pioneer Donors who made generous donations early in the campaign: James Douglas, Saxton Bampfylde, Kevin and Anne Overstall, Anthony and Carolyn Townsend and those who wish to remain anonymous.

Thank you to the following Charitable Trusts and Foundations who have supported the campaign so far:

The Slater Foundation Limited

The Foyle Foundation

Garfield Weston Foundation

Backstage Trust

The Syder Foundation

The Ingram Trust

The Patricia Routledge Foundation

The Geoff and Fiona Squire Foundation

Michael Watson Charitable Trust

Maria Björnson Memorial Fund

S & E Lyon Charitable Trust