Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Olivia Colman launch fund to help save UK’s theatre sector

Gillian Anderson, Danny Boyle, Emilia Clarke, Gugu-Mbatha Raw and James Cordon are among the fund's long list of founder donors

Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Olivia Colman have launched the Theatre Community Fund to help financially support the UK’s theatre sector amid the pandemic.

Together with theatre producer Francesca Moody (the original producer behind Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag stage show), the award-winning actors have started the fund to help financially support theatrical artists and professionals whose livelihoods have been impacted by the Covid-19 crisis.

The fund has raised £1 million in pledges so far with founder donors including Gillian Anderson, Richard Curtis, Danny Boyle, Daisy Ridley, Gugu-Mbatha Raw, James Cordon, Jesse Armstong and the duo’s Fleabag co-star Andrew Scott.

Donors will contribute through initial lump sums and through fixed, confidential percentages of their incomes over the next two years. The fund will be separated into two priority strands giving grants of up to £3,000.

The first strand will help freelancers survive the present by providing hardship grants to those in immediate need. The second will be granted to ensure a healthy future for the industry by providing innovation and creation grants for artists to produce work.

It will be dispersed and monitored by The Royal Theatrical Fund in partnership with the Fleabag Support Fund. The two organisations have partnered since April to award hardship grants to those in theatre who have been directly affected by the pandemic.

The UK’s theatre sector has been badly impacted by the pandemic and consequent lockdown measures. Venues have been allowed to reopen but social distancing rules limit operations at 30 to 40 per cent capacity.

It was confirmed this week that The Phantom of the Opera will permanently close in the West End after 34 years, due to the financial ramifications of the pandemic.