Having served as a rehearsal space for the London Festival Ballet, the RSC and then as a touring venue, the theatre was remodelled in 1992 as part of the redevelopment of the building which surrounds it.

  Unlike other subsidised theatres, the charity that produces and programmes the theatre—Donmar Warehouse Projects Ltd (DWP Ltd) does not own its "home". The theatre is owned and operated by Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG).

  The Donmar rents the theatre from ATG, and additionally pays the theatre's staff wages, rent, an engagement fee and all associated costs for its upkeep.

  DWP Ltd consists of a staff of 11 and they are responsible for producing up to seven productions a year, executing its touring programme, marketing and production managing the shows, as well as raising funds and running the education and outreach initiatives. In addition to paying rent for its theatre, the Donmar rents its offices and rehearsal space for all its productions. DWP Ltd does not own any "bricks and mortar".

  Under the artistic directorship of Sam Mendes and now Michael Grandage (since 2002) the Donmar enjoys an international reputation for excellence; presenting a diverse range of work from music theatre, new versions of classic British and European plays and new American writing. Its work has transferred to the West End five times and has been represented in New York seven times.

ARTISTIC VISION FOR THE DONMAR WAREHOUSE

  This document is an attempt to help us focus on the next stage of the Donmar's development. Our studio space is uniquely placed in the heart of London's West End. Our geographical position allows us the opportunity to engage with a committed audience who are in search of high quality productions and to nurture the regular theatregoers of the future. I believe we are already programming a body of work that offers a genuine alternative to much of the commercial sector. We want to carry on taking higher risks with our programming and continue to put all our efforts into strong production values. This should engage with serious theatregoers everywhere and even allow our own work to find a commercial life beyond the Donmar. In other words, "Raising the game" for theatre everywhere is a key aspiration.

  At present, our Arts Council subsidy pays for approximately two and a half modest sized productions a year. We strive to always programme five to six productions a year, some with large casts. At the moment, we have to search for extra funding from the private sector to enable us to meet the demands of (a) the other three or four productions a year (b) all our wages and running costs (c) all our education and outreach work (d) any new initiatives. We are very proud of our ability to find imaginative ways to raise private money but we increasingly find ourselves in a more competitive market place and in a more volatile global environment. In theory, it is not the time to set out a list of new aspirations.

  With a very low capacity (250 seats) and a high turnover of work, we are able to offer an extraordinary dynamic between stage and auditorium. While artistically exploiting this, we also have to acknowledge that it limits our revenue and doesn't allow vast numbers of the public to engage with our work. Touring our productions to other communities will allow us to engage with a much wider audience. All the work in my first two years as Artistic Director reflects the kind of debate I am keen to see on our stage. Social and political themes have run through most of it and are key components of the work we have so far announced for the coming year as well. Long may this continue. The kind of debate that can come from this work can enrich individuals and communities alike and I am keen the Donmar leads the way in making this happen.

  Our Access and Outreach work continues to grow and is often used by practitioners in this field, as an example of how to provide the best delivery of this service to disabled patrons. However, at the moment, we receive no additional state funding to pay for it. We would like to expand all elements of this. For example, the development of our Student Rep scheme, in particular, has shown us that there is a genuine opportunity to transform our audience base in the future: Our 70 or so reps, act as ambassadors for the theatre inviting their fellow students to selected performances for £5 per ticket. The subsidy for these tickets (and the numbers we can make available) is limited by the generous support of sponsors and is not guaranteed. Thus, we are not able to create a strategic, forward-looking, growth of these initiatives. We would love to increase the volume of regularly available tickets for each production.

  In the end, everything comes back to what is on our stage. This is the key area I would like to develop further. The introduction of European plays into the Donmar repertoire has already singled us out as a theatre with a very different agenda to any other. I am keen to take this much further over the coming years as well as continue to develop the strong relationship with American work that the Donmar has always had. Indeed, this aspect of programming was identified by the Arts Council as important provision to the New Writing Landscape. I would also like to be able to programme more work. This would allow us to take more of our work on to a further life either on tour or straight into the West End, it would offer even greater variety at the Donmar and it would also provide an opportunity to present more new writing.

  The first two years have been a great artistic success. With a bold new repertoire of work, we have enjoyed critical acclaim and built on our core audience base. It forms the basis of a five year plan of development to make the Donmar one of the premier theatres in the UK offering continuous high definition work that is a refreshing alternative to the West End environment around us. Last year, we started a modest touring programme. The aim is to build relationships with other communities and to return with more productions to more theatres over the years ahead. This will increase our output regionally and in Greater London. In 2005 we are starting to identify projects that we can do under the Donmar brand name but outside the Donmar Theatre—searching for opportunities to exploit our vision and our aesthetic and put us in touch with an even wider audience base.

  Over the next few years, I would like the Donmar brand name to have become a byword for cutting edge theatre of the highest quality nationally—and to have alongside all of our productions an extensive programme of outreach work.

  As I have said, the common link between plays such as Accidental Death of an Anarchist, Caligula, Pacific Overtures, Hotel in Amsterdam, After Miss Julie, World Music, The Dark, Henry IV, Hecuba, Mary Stuart, This Is How It Goes and Days of Wine and Roses is that it all has a strong social and political undercurrent as well as being highly theatrical and, I hope, vastly entertaining. I would like the Donmar to be a theatre where that level of exciting debate will always be available. We will only have the freedom to develop these aspirations if we have the financial support within our organisation to move forward. There are still no opportunities to commission and engage with other artists to develop work for the future. All of these things limit our creative instincts. With real financial support over the next five years, I believe the Donmar is well placed to become London's greatest ambassador for the arts. We have already been cited as the beacon of London's cultural life in the Government's recent bid to hold the Olympics. The Donmar's profile is growing from the remarkably strong position I inherited two years ago and we now need to focus all our efforts in taking this much further.

  There have been many exciting new appointments within our organisation over the last year and we now have a young and energetic workforce who are keen to engage with this vision for the future. I hope the Arts Council will find creative ways to enable us to realise all of our aspirations.

February 2005