RSC in bid to keep temporary Courtyard Theatre in Stratford
Plans have been submitted by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) to permanently open its temporary Courtyard Theatre.
The complex in Stratford, which seats 1,000 people, has housed productions for six years while two other theatres were redeveloped.
Planning consent runs out at the end of this year so the RSC has applied to Stratford District Council to keep it.
The RSC said the theatre "would not remain in its current format inside".
Liz Thompson from the RSC said: "We can't afford to run a 1,000 seat theatre but we think there's more we can do with the current structure.
"We want to put in a small studio theatre with about 300 seats, two new rehearsal rooms and storage for 30,000 costumes which are currently kept in a warehouse."
The Courtyard Theatre cost £5m to build in 2006 and was part of a £113m project that saw the redevelopment of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and the adjoining Swan Theatre.