By Rachael Grealish

A Cumbrian theatre is left appealing for help from the community after vandals broke in and destroyed valuable equipment.

The Theatre Royal in Workington – a West Cumbrian feature since the 1860s – shared the sad news on social media today, December 2, earlier this week the theatre was broken into and vandalised.

In the post, the Theatre Royal team explained vandals caused damage to the bar area, smashing the fridges, and have either broken or stolen valuable technical equipment.

The post read: “Earlier this week our beloved theatre was broken into and terribly vandalised. I know this information will come as a shock to you. We have had to keep it under wraps while the police investigation was ongoing.

“There is a lot of damage as the fridges in the bar area were smashed and valuable technical equipment is broken or missing. The theatre is a heart of this community and this act is an appalling crime against all of us and we are deeply saddened.”

Anne Bower explained the extent of the damage to The Herdwick News

She said: “It was a terrible shock to find that someone or persons had mindlessly violated our theatre in this way.

“Imagine the shock when entering the building earlier this week to find a scene of devastation. The foyer bar had been ransacked; chairs overturned, the row of glass fridges smashed to smithereens and the recently stocked shelves completely emptied.

“The devastation continued up the stairs to the small mezzanine bar with alcohol spilling down the stairs.

“Glass framed photographs mashed, carpets and walls awash with alcohol. The laptop computers and other technical equipment were either missing or destroyed.”

Now the Theatre Royal team is asking for members of the community to help restore the ‘already struggling’ theatre and show support as they appealed saying: “The theatre was already struggling and this crime will put us even further back so we are asking for your support. Without you there will be no Theatre Royal.”

The team is asking for donations to help with repairs and replacing damaged items, for members of the community to become Friends of the Theatre or to buy tickets to the upcoming performance, the Workington Playgoers’ Christmas production of Last of the Summer Wine.

Donations to the Theatre Royal in Workington can be made here.