An 80 year-old independent Grade II-listed theatre and arts venue in Cheltenham which faces an existential threat over "critical" finances has reached out to business and individuals for a boost to avoid the final curtain.

But with firms in Gloucestershire stepping up to help, an online appeal has reached 23% of its goal in the early stages.

Cheltenham Playhouse, an independent 180 seater performance venue in the former Montpellier Baths at the heart of the town opened in 1945 as the Civic Playhouse. Since then it has grown to become a unique arts venue with a wide variety of amateur and professional performances, cinema screenings, inspirational talks and a space for events.

Trustee Anya Wood told Punchline-Gloucester.com said that while financial issues loom, the organisation was busy delivering on its plans: "Our Fringe Festival in the last week of May is set to be a great event in our calendar with a number of free community events alongside paid shows, she said. A 24-hour monologue is also set to take place during the festival week, on May 31, which seeks to set a record for nonstop speech from the stage.

Behind the scenes though, money matters are weighing heavily: with the theatre reforming its board in November 2024 it says that taking stock of a financial headache necessitates a drive to raise £160,000.

For this target, it launched the "80 For 80" campaign in April - a drive to raise £80,000 for funding a celebration of its past, plus the same amount to safeguard the theatre's next 80 years.

Neil Burge, Acting Chair of the Trustees, made a video appeal to express "great sadness" for the situation ahead.

He said: "We have been fighting and we haven't given up that fight. We absolutely remain committed to running the shows that are scheduled to 2025, but we are reaching a point where we simply don't have the depth of funding security to keep the doors open on a long-term basis."

He added: "After some tough years, the finances we inherited were in a desperate state. We've had huge support from the local community, which has kept it going and we're grateful for every single penny that has allowed us to keep the commitment."

The irony was, he said, that the theatre's own forecasting proved the business is sustainable: "We are just hampered by aged debts and liabilities which interfere with our ability to run operations, but it does give us hope for a long-term future. We know that the societies groups using the theatre, the volunteers, the staff... they are our lifeblood, if we are given the opportunity to enact the robust management that we know our theatre needs.

He added: "We can survive, but what we can't get over is the short-term cash flow problem which leaves us very vulnerable and in a critical situation where we may ultimately have to do the unthinkable."

Forecasting suggests the venue can expect more than 50,000 visitors for the year ahead.

As of today, the Just Giving inline appeal had reached just more than £38,000 and included a £1,000 donation from Gloucestershire's aerospace software experts, Ontic. 

● You can see the appeal, find out more and donate through this link. For a full list of upcoming events, check the theatre's website here .