King's Theatre reopening pushed back to summer as costs rise further and new programme unveiled

Theatre bosses admitted they were “looking at all avenues”, including asking the Scottish Government, to plug a £2.5 million funding gap, as the cost has risen further from the previous figure of £40m.

Previously, it had been expected the theatre would reopen in spring, with a number of “soft launch” performances in the following months, before serving as a major venue for next year’s Edinburgh International Festival (EIF).

Now, the theatre is set to remain closed until the end of July, when an opening event will precede the EIF programming.

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The theatre’s first season after reopening will include a production of hit musical Project Mincemeat, as well as a new stage version of 1980s film Chariots of Fire, which charts the story of Scottish athlete Eric Liddell.

The project, which is now 85 per cent complete, has been plagued with a series of delays due to difficulties in refurbishing an historic building, as well as being delayed by the Covid pandemic.

Fiona Gibson, chief executive of Capital Theatres, which also operates the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh, admitted the cost, which had already risen from £35.6m to £40.7m in the 12 months to October last year, has gone up “a little bit further”.

Ms Gibson said the project had been a “very complex heritage project in a tight site”. But she said fire retardancy regulations had changed, causing further delays, as well as additional structural steel required for an extension to the cafe area and the removal of the scaffolding in the auditorium, which had required maintenance to the heritage plaster work.

“These projects are always the gifts that keep some giving,” she said. “These are all the things that extend a little bit of time. It’s nothing drastic, it’s just you get to that point in a project like this and you're going to find little hurdles along the way.”

She said a funding gap of £2.5m still needed to be plugged, with the final cost of the build still to be confirmed due to ongoing negotiations with contractors.

Ms Gibson said: “It's not a ridiculous sum of money, but it's not a small sum. We're on it with all of our statutory funders, as well as with trusted foundations and wonderful philanthropists in the city. All of those conversations are going on.”

She referenced the Scottish Government’s £20m match funding for the Dunard Centre project last month. “Now that we know they love match funding, I know we will talk to them too,” she said.

Ms Gibson said the newly-reopened theatre would stage a wider range of genres than before, including dance and experimental theatre, and with a focus on circus performances.

Other upcoming productions include Tony Roper’s washhouse comedy The Steamie, new family musical Toto The Ninja Cat, based on the best-selling children’s books by Dermot O’Leary, and new musical Rollers Forever, celebrating the 70s’ biggest boyband. Meanwhile, the pantomime returns to the King’s for the first time since 2021, as regulars Allan Stewart, Grant Stott and Jordan Young star in a brand-new production The Adventures of Pinocchio.

First announced in March 2017, the revamp of the King’s was originally due to get under way in September 2021, but was significantly delayed by the pandemic.

The King's closed in the summer of 2022. However, weeks before work was meant to get under way, it was announced that rising construction industry costs had created a funding gap. Work finally began in 2023 after the Scottish Government and Edinburgh City Council provided an additional £6.85m, with the UK government later approving a further £2m.

A spokesman for the Scottish Government said it was “aware” of the funding gap.

He said: “Despite extremely challenging financial circumstances, the Scottish Government has provided £10.3m, over three years since 2022, to the King’s Theatre for the refurbishment work. We will consider any formal requests made to us.”