(Debbie Davidson, owner
of Barnyard Gateway)
The curtain is set to come down on The Barnyard Theatre at
Gateway on December 31, 2016, when the venue will stage its final show. The
popular mall theatre has become an institution with locals and holiday-makers
alike after becoming the first fully-fledged commercial Barnyard franchise.
Fifteen years on and 105 major productions later, The
Barnyard Theatre Productions, which owns and manages the franchise and produces
the shows, served notice on the Gateway ownership that they were terminating
the franchise.
“It is with a very heavy heart, and a great deal of sadness,
that we have to inform our loyal patrons that The Barnyard Theatre at Gateway
will be permanently be closing its big wooden doors on 31 December 2016. The
Barnyard Theatre Productions has informed us that they are terminating our
franchise as of this date, a move which came as an enormous shock. After a
desperate bid to keep the venue going for at least another year was
unsuccessful, unfortunately we’ve reached the point where the show cannot go
on,” said Debbie Davidson, the owner of the Gateway venue.
The Barnyard Theatre at Gateway shook up the Durban
supper-theatre scene, when they opened the 470-seater venue on November 2, 2001.
Locals warmed to the informal venue immediately, and, a mere 11 months after
opening, The Barnyard Theatre at Gateway was the recipient of Marketing
Excellence Award from the Institute of Marketing Management. This was followed
by the theatre’s owner, Debbie Davidson, being acknowledged for the role she
has played in the venue’s success when she was awarded the Umhlanga Business
Personality of the Year award by the Durban Chamber of Commerce.
Durbanites also showed an outpouring of concern and support
when The Barnyard Theatre at Gateway was severely damaged in a fire that shut
down the venue for a week after the opening of its year-end show in October,
2010.
Commenting on the loss of the venue to Durbanites, Debbie
Davidson said, “I’d like to thank our many very loyal patrons who embraced the
venue from the day the doors opened, who took ownership of it, and who have
kept us going for more than 15 years. I’m sorry that I’m no longer able to
provide you with the entertainment, service land pizzas that kept you coming
back! I’ll miss interacting with each of you in the venue. We’ve still got a
jam-packed programme in the next month, so I’d love to see you at The Barnyard
Theatre at Gateway for one last time before the curtain comes down for the
final time.”
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