The Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch has been named the London Theatre of the Year 2020 by The Stage Awards.

We were nominated alongside two incredible venues, London Palladium and Theatre Royal Stratford East.

It has been a transformational year for us. Our continuing QNew Transformation is a £1 million facelift to the front and back-of-house spaces, as well as the creation of new accessible rehearsal and development facilities. This process has been taking place without any building closure.

Havering is the borough that has the fourth-lowest arts engagement in London. In 2019, we produced 14 shows, with an estimated 45% of audience members attending for the first time.

The ongoing project, Essex on Stage, champions positive opinions of Essex. Beginning with David Eldridge’s In Basildon, it includes talent development and new artistic work.

We have also partnered with the National Theatre for a second time on the NT’s large-scale Public Acts programme – with a production of As You Like It. Our growing list of co-producing partners also includes the New Wolsey in Ipswich, Theatr Clwyd, Hull Truck, Oldham Coliseum, Derby Theatre, Leeds Playhouse and Curve.