Stag Theatre Sevenoaks

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	A Brief History of The Stag

	The Stag was originally built as the Majestic Cinema, a first generation Odeon cinema, in 1937. Over 70 years on, the shell of the building looks almost identical to how it does today, but inside it has been an ongoing drama that doesn’t stick to the script.


		Despite the Second World War and its long term effects on economies globally, the cinema enjoyed a golden era through the forties and fifties. The current stage area of The Stag was, at this point, one of the largest screens in the area which attracted people in their hundreds to see their motion picture heroes. The cinema continued to be a success until the early 80s.


	A local thespian and campaigner for theatre in the Sevenoaks area, Margaret Durdant-Hollamby, created the Sevenoaks Theatre Action Group or S.T.A.G. which, in its various guises, had been campaigning and petitioning for a theatre in Sevenoaks for almost 17 years. In 1982, upon the announcement by the Rank Organisation who owned the cinema at the time, the opportunity arose to finally bring a theatre to Sevenoaks.
	In a whirlwind year and a half, the former cinema was transformed into the theatre. The building was given a miniature refurbishment and a new lick of paint, and the stage was, albeit very last minute, generously constructed for free with money and materials left over from the construction of the current Waitrose car park. On the 18^th of December 1983 the grand opening night took place. It was a joyous occasion and The STAG was born. Not much changed in almost a decade with The Stag Theatre attracting thousands of visitors from far and wide to a plethora of theatrical, cinematic and music productions.

		In 1992 a vast and expensive extension and refurbishment was approved by the District Council. At a cost of £1M the magnificent Plaza Suite was created. The Stag was closed in November of this year and would remain so for 13 months, during which time the cost of the work spiralled from £1M to £3.2M. It held its grand re-opening in December 1993 in almost exactly the same format we can still see today.

	In 2006 the Stag (then Sevenoaks Playhouse Ltd) launched a campaign to raise £250,000 to save the building from financial peril, tens of thousands of pounds were owed to various lenders. After much hard work the curtain finally fell on the theatre, closing its doors on 31^st July. September 2007 saw a move away from uncertainty when the Sevenoaks District Council put pen to paper with Kino Holdings who had been running the building for a 10 month interim tenure. However this move took 3 steps back when Kino Holdings ceased trading in July 2008.

	On the 11^th of November 2008 the Town Council agreed to a 25 year lease for The Stag and would reinvent it into a community arts centre. The Council’s proposal was one of more than twenty offers to re-open the centre and following a formal analysis the District Council awarded a 25 year lease to Sevenoaks Town Council in November 2008. The Town Council took over the centre on 2^nd January 2009. The cinemas re-opened on the 13^th of February of the same year. Since then, The Stag Community Arts Centre has enjoyed a successful period going from strength to strength. On the 19^th of July 2010 our inaugural 3D screening took place in the cinema bringing us up to date with the big name cinemas and on the 11th of August we officially became a charity (#1137420).
	With these big changes we hope to stay dynamic and modern for many years to come. We look forward to welcoming you to The Stag and hope that you enjoy every minute of your time with us.

Life's not a Rehearsal

‘Life’s not a Rehearsal’ is the autobiography of the original creator of The Stag Theatre, Margaret Durdant-Hollamby, MBE, which documents the rise of theatre in Sevenoaks at The Stag.

A true and fascinating story of a 30 year struggle by one woman whose vision, as a young amateur actress, of providing a venue for ‘theatre’ in Sevenoaks becomes reality. It is a chronicle of contrasts: the warmth of a devoted wife and mother compared with the necessary ruthlessness of a business executive; the frustration and red-tape of planning permissions in comparison with the gentle treatment of the stars; and coping with the running of a very public centre of entertainment at a time of great personal tragedy.

‘Life’s not a Rehearsal’ is now available to be purchased online by clicking the link below.

http://www.artofchange.co.uk/products/view/181/lifes-not-a-rehearsal-margaret-durdant-hollamby