SALISBURY Playhouse has received a £140,000 grant from Arts Council England.

The funding will go towards improvements in the 150-seater Salberg Theatre such as new lighting, sound equipment and seating in addition to enhanced insulation.

It will also buy long-awaited automatic foyer doors making it easier for theatre-goers to enter the building.

The grant comes as Salisbury Playhouse prepares to celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2016 and is a huge boost to the theatre’s 40th Anniversary Campaign which seeks to fund improvements ranging from new technical equipment and air conditioning to facilities for disabled people.

Speaking during the presentation of £4,500 to the campaign following Is There A Doctor In The House, playhouse executive director Sebastian Warrack said: “We are very lucky to have a producing theatre in Salisbury – much of the work you see on stage is created from scratch here at the playhouse by all the staff in our own rehearsal rooms and workshops, the wardrobe department and prop store.

“A producing theatre is not cheap and we rely on funding. With increasing pressure on both central and local arts funding, we have increasing pressure to raise additional funding from other sources.

“It costs £3 million a year to run Salisbury Playhouse, that’s true of every producing theatre.

“We earn 60 per cent of that and every year we have to raise 40 per cent. Everything we get from the public and everything we earn from events goes into that funding which is absolutely crucial for the running of Salisbury Playhouse.”

He added: “Forty years ago there was a new vision for Salisbury Playhouse and that was made a possibility with the support of the community in Salisbury. The speed at which the new theatre went up was quite extraordinary.

“In order to see this theatre through and survive for the next 40 years we have to upgrade this building by renewing and refurbishing certain facilities hence the reason for the 40th anniversary campaign.”

*Is There A Doctor In The House took place in January and raised £9,000 for charity which was split between the Stars Appeal Breast Cancer Campaign and the playhouse anniversary campaign. The evening of music, poetry, drama and comedy was enjoyed by more than 400 people.