YORK’S Theatre Royal is a first-rate regional theatre that doesn’t shirk from staging thought-provoking, challenging work.

This autumn alone, its programme includes Harold Pinter’s Betrayal; a Greek tragedy (Antigone); and a stage version of Khaled Housseini’s The Kite Runner.

But there is bawdy humour, too, in the form of a new play about King Charles II’s mistress Nell Gwyn - and, of course, Berwick Kaler’s ever-irrepressible panto dame, this time in Old Mother Goose.

That’s the thing about the Theatre Royal: it really does cater for everyone.

A few years ago, its unforgettable production of The Railway Children, staged at the NRM, took London, then Toronto by storm. And it is also deeply involved in community productions, such as last year’s Blood + Chocolate and the 2012 Mystery Plays staged in Museum Gardens. Between them, these two productions got thousands of York people involved in theatre.

The theatre has a fine old building to match its reputation. But it is years since it had a major refit.

Now it is embarking on its biggest renovation in half a century. The seating is to be re-tiered; the Georgian staircase opened up; and the colonnades enclosed in glass to provide a new foyer.

It is a redevelopment which will give York the theatre it deserves - one which will put this city firmly on the theatrical map.

Grant money totalling £3.6 million has already been secured. But the theatre still needs to raise £500,000 itself.

We are proud to be associated with it in its appeal. The theatre is at the very heart of York’s cultural life, and through its community work also reaches out to thousands of people who might not otherwise be involved in the arts.

It is our theatre. Let’s make sure we give it the support it needs.