Cast Theatre

How Theatres Trust helped deliver a fit-for-purpose theatre for Doncaster

Doncaster’s Civic Theatre was a popular, well-run venue, but it had serious flaws in terms of capacity, circulation, access and back-of-house space, which are all important for modern performance spaces. So, with that in mind, in 2009 Theatres Trust was happy to support an outline planning application for a mixed-use development scheme that included a new performance venue to replace the Civic Theatre.

We provided unbiased and expert opinion on the theatre designs as they were developed to ensure that the theatre met the needs of the local community and provided a venue that improved upon what was being lost.

Cast opened in 2013, sitting at the heart of Doncaster’s £300m Waterdale Civic and Cultural Quarter and has been a key catalyst of the city centre regeneration.

Since then, Theatres Trust has supported Cast with two grants through our Theatre Improvement Scheme in association with the Wolfson Foundation (kudos to Cast’s fundraiser for securing two grants). The first in 2020 enabled Cast to replace its fluorescent and incandescent general and theatre lighting with low energy LED lights and the second in 2023 was for the first part of a project to install an initial array of solar panels on the building.

We are pleased to see Cast continuing to flourish.

This case study was produced as part of our Fifty@50 campaign to mark our 50th anniversary in 2026.

Photo credit: Robling Photography