The trustees and chair of Stockroom, formerly Out of Joint, announce the theatre company’s formal closure. This follows the loss of its Arts Council of England National Portfolio status in April 2023.
The remaining assets of the company will be donated to the new writing touring theatre company Paines Plough, who will continue Stockroom’s work of supporting and championing new writing. The remaining royalties accrued from Stockroom’s past work are being transferred to The Writers Guild of Great Britain and their Writers Welfare Fund.
Mark Powell Chair of Stockroom says –
“After trialling a new writers room business model and exploring other partnerships, Stockroom’s outgoing trustees are confident that in Paines Plough & The Writers Guild of Great Britain we have found exemplars equally committed to writing and writers. Both organisations share our common goal of nurturing the valuable creative talent that fuels the nations stages. Not every theatre company can live forever. Change is essential and healthy in the theatre sector to keep our practise and programmes vital. We know this pair of beneficiaries will take the spirit of Stockroom’s brief life into the future.”
The donation also sees Paines Plough, along with fellow theatre company Tamasha as joint users of physical assets in Stockroom’s previous building on Mayton Street in North London.
Katie Posner, Joint Artistic Director and Claire Simpson, Executive Director of Paines Plough say –
“We are hugely grateful to Stockroom for their donation. As a company that supports new writing and champions the same values that drive Paines Plough, we are thankful to them for entrusting their legacy with us. The donation gives us a tremendous opportunity to expand the scope of our commissioning and writer development work over the coming years.”
Ellie Peers, General Secretary, at Writers Guild of Great Britain says –
“The WGGB Welfare Fund supports our writer members who are facing urgent financial difficulties and in such challenging times for the theatre sector and our creative industries as a whole, we thank Stockroom for this a generous gesture.
“While we are sorry that Stockroom is closing, we know Paines Plough will continue the important work of supporting and championing new writing, and we wish them all the best.”
From 1994 to 2023, Out of Joint brought new voices and new stories to the stage, as well as presenting acclaimed new productions of classic and modern plays. In 2021 it changed its name to Stockroom, repositioning itself as a writers’ room for theatre with Stockroom Artists producing new work for midscale stages around the country. With social justice at its heart, it was dedicated to maintaining a diverse and open creative space, working with creatives from all backgrounds but focussing on those who experienced socio-economic barriers making hard for them to work as artists in this industry.
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