Arts grant for children's theatre

The egg opened next to Bath's Theatre Royal last October

A children's theatre in Bath has been awarded £80,000 from the Arts Council to expand its work with youngsters.

The money will fund a series of projects at the egg, which opened at the city's Theatre Royal a year ago.

The aim is to increase the number of workshops, performances and outreach work available to children and families across Bath and North East Somerset.

The projects include monthly Saturday events for teenagers and a new pre-school group for young mothers.

'Local community'

Acting director Jamie Luck said: "We can really push our work into the local community, engaging with an increasingly diverse cross section of young people and targeting those who don't currently access the work but might benefit more than most from the experience the egg can offer.

"These new projects will see a quantifiable change in the egg's audience in what can only be a positive way."

The £2.25m egg theatre opened at the site of the old Robins cinema next to the Theatre Royal last October.

It houses a child-friendly café, a 120-seat egg-shaped auditorium, workshops and a rooftop rehearsal room.