‘THIS is not a vanity project, it’s really necessary if we are to continue to do what we do,” Kirstie Cusick, acting head of communications at Glasgow’s Citizens Theatre, says of its £19.4 million redevelopment project.

When the Citz closes at the end of next month for two years, it will be the first time a working theatre has not been operating from 119 Gorbals Street in 140 years, says Cusick, who started coming to the venue as a child in the 1980s.

Giving The National a tour behind the scenes – something everyone can enjoy at a free open day on June 23 – Cusick says the protect is vital to maintain the structural integrity of the building, which was constructed in 1876 and opened in 1878 as Her Majesty’s Theatre. It acquired its new name when Harry McKelvie,who had worked his way up from programme seller to manager, leased the building to the Citizens Theatre Company in 1945.

From the outset, the company was centred on the local community and offered cheap tickets, free previews and free programmes – the last a policy still practised today.

Over the decades, the building has been patched up, repaired and developed as and when. As its functions grew, some rehearsal and community learning work extended into adjoining buildings which are the definition of “not fit for purpose”. One such room – once part of a small factory that made shoes – is decidedly drafty and a tin bath is lodged in the rafters to catch the rain.

“Our maintenance staff do an amazing job,” Cusick says. “But it’s been a very long, hard winter and it has taken its toll on the building. As well as bringing us into the 21st century – because this is clearly not the 21st century – this is also about working conditions for everyone who uses the building.”

As we head downstairs, voices ring out from the auditorium. It’s the last rehearsals for A Night To Remember, a community production set in Glasgow during the First World War. An open call was put out for the 60-strong cast, and the Citizens was flooded with requests from amateur actors wanting to perform on the same stage that launched the careers of the likes of Stanley Baxter, Bill Paterson, Rupert Everett, Gary Oldman and David Hayman.

Everett, who worked at the Citz in the 1980s, reportedly worked out on the ancient-looking gym equipment under the stage, which retains all its Victorian-era traps. A further basement below houses the remnants of an bowling alley and shooting range.

The only theatre in Scotland still to have its original machinery under the stage, the Citizens also features an original paint frame and related fly system, still used to paint backcloths. “Alasdair Gray has painted in here, John Byrne has painted in here,” Cusick says of the paint frame room.

The redevelopment plan, headed by architects Bennetts Associates, will see historic elements such as these opened up for public viewing. The entire ground floor will be on one flat level, allowing more freedom for wheelchair users and others with reduced mobility. Long closed due to damage, the Stalls Studio, where Harry Gibson’s landmark adaptation of Trainspotting debuted in 1994, will become part of a larger, more open Close Studio – a reference to the fact that before the present foyer was built, you would access the theatre via a narrow tenement-style close.

During the first half of the 20th century, the Citz was one of four impressive buildings in the area. The others were the New Bedford Cinema (now the O2 Academy); the now demolished Coliseum; and the Palace of Varieties. The latter featured columns, structural supports in the shape of elephants and, on its roof, John Mossman’s large sculptures of the four Muses, Shakespeare and Burns.

When the Palace was demolished with little notice in 1977, Citz staff worked overnight to rescue the features, which have stood in the foyer since. The six statues will feature on the new exterior, and by 2020 will look out over the new 174-home low-rise development where the Laurieston multi-stories once stood.

“That’s one of the things that is very different about us, and makes the Citz the Citz,” says artistic director Dominic Hill. “We’re not a city centre civic theatre. We are in the middle of housing, a community. That’s very much dictated what we’re about and how we’ve grown and how we will continue to grow.”

Hill continues: “Learning, participation and access have always been a vital part of who we are. Developing this project, it has been with the sense of the Citz being part of the Gorbals. In the 1970s, you could see a show for 50p, and you can see a show now for 50p.”

WHILE the redevelopment work is taking place, the theatre’s learning and community functions will relocate to Scotland Street School Museum. When the Citizens returns to Gorbals Street in 2020, it will be to a bright, open building with a glass front. It will be open to the public all day. Instead of only before performances.

“What we’re in just now is a very shut-off space, with this rather forbidding entrance,” says Hill, as we sit in the foyer. “Lots of people say they don’t come in because it doesn’t look welcoming

“ With the new design there will be a better sense of what you’re coming into, and that it’s for everybody.”

With major funders including the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Scottish Government, Glasgow City Council and the Roberston Trust, the refurbishment’s final £1.6m will likely be raised, says Hill, through corporate sponsorships and smaller trusts.

Through the We Are Citizens project, the wider public can make donations, sponsor fittings such as taps and mirrors, and support events such as On The Move on June 23. The open day, which will include free backstage tours, a costume sale and a “few theatrical surprises”, will kick off at 10am with a walk to Scotland Street School Museum. It will also be an opportunity to discover more about the redevelopment project, share Citz memories and look forward to the company’s first season at Tramway.

Tickets are on sale for two the first two shows at the Albert Drive venue. Five-star festive hit A Christmas Carol returns in December while, in September, Hill directs Edwin Morgan’s celebrated Glasgow Scots translation of Cyrano de Bergerac.

“I wanted to choose a show that would be in the tradition of big classic drama, which is who we are,” says Hill of Edmond Rostand’s swashbuckling play about the huge-hootered poet, which is a co-production with National Theatre of Scotland and Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum Theatre.

“Even if people don’t know the play, they know the film Roxanne. It has a local topicality and relevance that I think may appeal to a broad range of our audience and it’s a very celebratory, joyful piece.”

On The Move: Jun 23, 10am to 5pm, Citizens Theatre, free, unticketed. Places on backstage tours will be available to book on a first come, first served basis at the Box Office on the day. Tel: 0141 429 0022 citz.co.uk

Cyrano de Bergerac: Sep 1 to Sep 22, Tramway, 7.30pm, £10 to £24. bit.ly/TramwayCyrano

A Christmas Carol: Dec 4 to Jan 6, Tramway, various times, £12.50, £9 children. bit.ly/TramwayCarol wearecitizens.citz.co.uk