On Stage

It's opening night at The Belgrade. The curtain will rise on a play performed by a very special cast. Troubled, traumatised or suffering a tragedy, the stars of this show are a very special group of teenagers. At stake if their performance gets a bad review, the very future of a world-renowned and much-copied arts project pioneered 50 years ago in Coventry itself. Will the Class of 2015 save the day? Or will the age of austerity deny the theatre a happy ending? Alistair McGowan tells a story of our times.

A new artistic director tries to turn around the fortunes of Exeter's Northcott Theatre in the face of financial pressures and falling audiences. Maureen Lipman narrates.

As a Scottish theatre company creates a play in Margate about a town struggling to reinvigorate itself after decades of seaside slump, how will it react to seeing itself in this mirror? With acclamation - or with anger?

Actor Miriam Margolyes tells the story of two Portsmouth theatres fighting for survival.

A look behind the scenes at Liverpool's famous Everyman Theatre, featuring stars past, present and future. Alison Steadman, Jonathan Pryce, Matthew Kelly, Bernard Hill and others reminisce about their early days there while the cameras follow a new production of The Odyssey written by Simon Armitage. There's also a look at Young Everyman & Playhouse, where the theatre develops the talent of the future. The narrator is David Morrissey, who also started his career at The Everyman.

Soho, perhaps the world's most artistic creative square mile, is facing major changes. As the property developers descend, we go behind the curtain of Soho's theatreland and ask what impact this will have on the area's bohemian spirit.

The Theatre by the Lake in Keswick is a rarity. It is one of a few remaining repertory theatres in the UK where actors perform in a different play every night throughout a seven month-long season. There are no big names. The audiences of tourists and locals are attracted instead by the variety of productions, from high drama and classics to comedy. This year, productions like Abigail's Party and The 39 Steps have drawn in bigger crowds than ever before. It's a tremendous challenge for a dozen actors to rehearse and perform in six different plays between them, and there have been occasions when an actor hasn't been able to cope. But Rep, as it's known, has largely died off, with most theatres these days becoming venues for national touring productions or bands performing a one-night stand. Yet the Rep tradition has thrived at the Theatre by the Lake for sixteen years since it opened on its permanent site just steps from Lake Derwentwater. Previously, it was the base for a collection of mobile wooden boxes which were transported around the country and used for performances in towns which had no theatre. The Theatre has become the biggest employer in Keswick, with one hundred full- and part-time jobs. Also crucial is the role of more than 200 volunteers who raise funds and support staff on performance nights by acting as ushers and selling ice cream and hot drinks. Next year, a new cafe will open on the site to bring in an anticipated £100,000 in extra revenue, as well as a dozen new jobs helping to secure the theatre's long-term survival.

York Theatre Royal is going through a major refurbishment, but will an important archaeological find delay the opening of the legendary pantomime? Meanwhile, the theatre plans a community production with hundreds of amateur actors while building a thousand-seat temporary theatre at York's National Railway Museum. Narrated by Derek Jacobi.

The inside story of how a venue, once condemned as an 'expensive disaster', turned itself around to become one of the most successful regional theatres in the country, and now aims to become the UK's home of new musicals. This year, Curve in Leicester celebrated its seventh birthday. Some doubted whether this theatre, which cost £61 million pounds, would ever survive that long. Leicester City Mayor, Sir Peter Soulsby, once said building Curve was 'the most expensive and disastrous project this city has ever seen'. The construction was £35 million over budget. Yet, despite dramatic cuts in Arts Council funding, the venue is proving to be a huge commercial and artistic success. On Stage spent six months filming behind the scenes at Curve to find out how this so-called 'inside out theatre' has brought in new audiences.

Actor Richard Wilson follows the fortunes of the tiny Essex theatre that's launched some of the biggest stars of British stage and screen. Run in the village hall at Frinton-on-Sea in Essex, the Summer Theatre is the country's oldest weekly repertory company and has helped start the careers of a host of stars, including Antony Sher and Lynda Bellingham. But it needs to change if it's to survive. This year, the theatre has a new producer who is risking his own money on a mission to modernise this time-honoured institution. Can he succeed?

The programme follows students at the Bristol Old Vic theatre school as they go for their first jobs and compete for the prestigious Peter O'Toole Award.