Theatre-in-the-round season at York Theatre Royal

“One of my concerns is thinking what the building will be like in 20 to 30 years’ time, because when you look at it, there are archaeological layers of theatre here,” says artistic director Damian Cruden.

“If you go back to the beginning of this theatre, the design has altered, and even though we’ve had the horse-shoe shape for over 100 years, we need to make the theatre more flexible without destroying the grandeur. It should be flexible to be ready to be used for conferences at 11am and for rehearsals.”

The decision to mount a season in the round with an ensemble company of actors was taken on the back of Damian reconfiguring the main house for last summer’s production of The Wind In The Willows. The stage was given over to seating as the proscenium arch design gave way to the set being built over the stalls.

“What we’ve proved is that it is possible to do it and it now allows us to do some pieces that I hadn’t been able to do, such as Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, which I would only countenance doing in the round,” says Damian.

A core company of actors will perform in both main-house and studio shows over the seven-month period, with four or five of them engaged throughout and the rest drawn from a floating pool.

The season will open with Miller’s McCarthy witch-hunt polemic, The Crucible, from May 7 to 28, and further productions will include the first stage adaptation of Gerald Durrell’s novel, My Family And Other Animals, from June 3 to 25; Anthony Minghella’s Two Planks And A Passion, in a co-production with Riding Lights, from July 1 to 16; Mike Kenny’s new adaptation of JM Barrie’s Peter Pan from July 29 to September 3; and Alan Bennett’s school play Forty Years On from September 23 to October 15.

The main-house season will conclude with Laurel And Hardy, Tom McGrath’s homage to the comic duo, starring pantomime comic stooge Martin Barrass, from October 21 to November 5.

“As an artistic director and a theatre, you’re constantly responding to all the elements that put pressure on you: finance; the nature of the audience; the time we’re in; the theatre space we’re in. So it’s not just doing your five favourite plays,” says Damian.

“What we’re doing is broadening our relationship with our companies in residence, Pilot Theatre and Belt Up Theatre, and hopefully there’ll be a growing relationship with Tongue Tied, who were part of our Hatch project for new companies in 2010.”

Damian will respond to the prospect of more financially constrained times by “our stated intention to trade”. “We’re not a cap-in-hand theatre company,” he emphasises. “We will continue to pitch for support because we believe we’re worth supporting, not only from City of York Council but also regionally and nationally.

“We all agree we have to make this a good theatre for the community and make it work, because, if we pack up at the first sign of difficulty, we’re not doing what we’re here for.”

• For tickets, phone 01904 623568