Final curtain for Ayr's Borderline Theatre

Jul 3 2009 by Lisa Boyle

THE CURTAIN has fallen on award winning Borderline Theatre.

The 35-year-old touring theatre company has been operating on the breadline for more than a year.

And it’s cash finally ran out this week when bosses were forced to hand back the keys for their base in North Harbour Street.

The move comes after the Scottish Arts Council axed funding.

And it marks the end of an era for the company which saw some of the brightest stars in Scottish show business pass through its doors.

Robbie Coltrane, Elaine C Smith, Craig Ferguson, Gerard Kelly, Andy Gray, John Murtagh and Billy Connolly have all been involved with Borderline.

Although funding applications are in the pipeline for individual projects, the company could no longer afford to pay staff and run an office.

Eddie Jackson has been a producer with Borderline theatre for 34 and a half years.

He said: “As we say in theatre, we’re going dark. We simply don’t have any resources.

“It’s been really difficult. If you don’t have core funding from the Arts Council you’re snookered.

“The board decided to act prudently so that the company doesn’t become defunct and we can still apply for funding.

“We have always been about making theatre accessible. We’ve never been fashionable with the highbrows of art – but we’ve always been popular.

“We will rise from the ashes like a phoenix – it’ll be a slim phoenix, but a phoenix nonetheless.”

Borderline Theatre continued to win awards, right up until the final curtain call.

Last year’s hit production The Wall scooped a coveted Critics’ Awards Theatre in Scotland prize.

This year’s follow up, The Ducky, also received critical acclaim and phenomenal reviews.

Most recently, the company are in the running for an arts and business award for a project on gangs which saw Borderline work closely with Strathclyde Police.

Chris Taylor is the director of Ayrshire youth theatre.

Many of the young people he works with go on to gain employment with Borderline and make a career with the company.

Chris said: “Borderline theatre have been living on scraps for the last year.

“It’s just one thing after another. I used to be proud of what this town offered in terms of the arts. It can’t get much lower than this.

“Borderline gave people jobs to go into when they left the youth theatre. It employed local actors and local workshop leaders. That will all be gone now.”

John Scott MSP has raised the matter with the Scottish Cultural Minister in a bid to gain support for Borderline.

And he launched a scathing attack on the Scottish Arts Council.

Mr Scott said: “The fact that tens of thousands of people have taken part in workshops run by the theatre company is a testament to its commitment and effectiveness.

“In my view this just goes to show how wrong and short-sighted the Scottish Arts Council has been to deny public funding to Borderline over the last few years.

“The mothballing of Borderline should be a wake-up call to the Scottish Arts Council that they have got their priorities seriously wrong and that there should be a rethink over the criteria used when allocating core funding to arts bodies.”

A spokesman for the Scottish Arts Council defended their position.

She said: “The Scottish Arts Council offered Borderline Theatre Company a grant of £7000, after they recently alerted us to their financial difficulties and threat of closure.

“Our intention is to preserve the integrity of the company as a legal entity with a view to it undertaking further arts activities in the future.

“This does not imply that Borderline will receive further support from the Scottish Arts Council or its successor body.

“However, we remain open to dialogue with the company about their future work and they remain eligible to apply for funding.”