Dear Editor,

I am not against and never have been against us having a theatre in Kingston. In fact the original proposals by Sir Peter Hall for a permanent company were ironically more plausible and viable than what we have today.

My concerns are as follows: The artistic policy of the theatre is dire. Sir Peter Hall is a world class director who has provided the Rose with some outstanding works since 2008, but the theatre only gets noticed nationally when he directs.

The remaining programmes have been weak and failed to establish a profile that can justify Arts Council support.

The management of the theatre as a business is laughable. The building is shut up far too often. The management completely fail to understand how it should operate in the community. The gallery has never been used to my knowledge and the studio theatre is rarely promoted to the public.

We need to have a debate. The Rose is not going in the right direction. It’s not about a lack of funding, there is enough support to give this theatre the opportunity to fly, but it won’t while the current management team is in place.

It is with regret that I feel that the chairman Anthony Simonds-Gooding should resign. Stephen Unwin and David Fletcher should also be replaced as soon as possible. The non-Kingston trustees should be thanked for their help but as few are truly committed they should be invited to leave.

Who should head the theatre? I think Robin Hutchinson should take over as chairman for now. His outstanding work at the Lamb public house, in Surbiton, has demonstrated that real and meaningful community engagement does not need £500K a year. It needs imagination and talent and this is completely lacking at the Rose.

The Rose has enough money to work with the right leadership. A talented and upcoming director would kill for the chance of running the Rose and a commercially-minded chief executive would help staff understand the need to make every penny possible.

The issue of the funding is a done deal but as we come up to another and possibly more painful round of cuts later this year, I believe that the residents of Kingston need to be satisfied it is getting the very best value of its money.

Nick Kilby