To celebrate the start of its Play Your Part campaign to transform the Yvonne Arnaud into a cultural community hub with theatre at its core, the venue recently welcomed some of its patrons, key donors and supporters for a tour of the building works.

Guildford MP Zöe Franklin was shown round the theatre by director and CEO Joanna Read, and the following day Surrey County Council leader Tim Oliver, the Mayor of Guildford Cllr Sallie Barker, Cllr Denise Turner-Stewart, theatre patron Dame Penelope Keith, Deputy Lieutenant of Surrey and Yvonne Arnaud trustee Michael More-Molyneux, pioneer donors and Yvonne Arnaud trustees were all in attendance.

Play Your Part will radically improve accessibility and create new multi-purpose spaces for wider community and artistic benefit, ensuring it is able to meet the needs of the communities of Surrey for the next 50 years.

Mr Oliver said: “Great to see the progress being made at the Yvonne Arnaud theatre and delighted that Surrey County Council via Your Fund Surrey has been able to fund £2.9m towards making a more accessible arts and culture facility for the community.”

The theatre’s website added: “With the generous support of Your Fund Surrey added to the £2.07m we have raised to date, we still need to generate a further £820,000 to complete the planned works, revolutionising our beautiful theatre.”

Joanna Read, director and CEO of the theatre, said: “We are delighted that the work to transform our iconic theatre into a cultural community hub, improving our accessibility for everyone, is under way.

“We look forward to welcoming our audiences back in the autumn and revealing the improvements through the next 12 months. The support from Your Fund Surrey has been vital in getting this project under way.”

For more details on how to support the theatre, visit www.yvonne-arnaud.co.uk/play-your-part.