The Coliseum was the ‘bridge to the outside world’ according to Oldham’s Roma community.

Many will have known Oldham Coliseum as the location of the theatre’s pantomimes, plays, and performances.

Dating back to Victorian England, the Coliseum is one of just 32 regular producing theatres in England – meaning the establishment employs actors, writers, directors, designers and technicians.

News of the theatre’s intended closure has come as a blow to Oldhamers, generations of whom have enjoyed performances from actors including Charlie Chaplin, Bernard Cribbins, and Judith Barker.

ALSO READ: Oldham Coliseum set to close for good after funding loss.

But for some, the Coliseum was more than its performances – it was a lifeline connection for their community.

Juice Vamosi is a founding member of KaskoSan – a Roma charity based in Oldham working to combat anti-gypsyism, as well as isolation, poverty, and mental health issues in the often isolated community.

The Roma-led charity has been working with the Coliseum since 2016 on partnerships to empower members of the community.

Roma Connections works to empower Oldham’s Roma women by providing a space to sing, speak, and learn.

Juice said: “It was young grandmothers and mothers from very traditional communities that have not spent a single day in school, and that was their first and only opportunity to the root of education, and to make connections and friends in the outside.

“That’s one of the initiatives that’s ending with the closure of the Coliseum.”

We found being welcomed, we found being human through them.

Juice continued: “We are so sad that this is going to end now, because there’s nobody else.

“There’s not been anybody else in town who would have been open to work with the Roma community and to try and have them achieve social inclusion, improve local relationships and change local perceptions about who we are – to eradicate prejudice and anti-gypsy views in town.

“We are hopeless now, we don’t know how we are going to continue.

“Many of our families have been living in Oldham for one or two decades, so it’s very important for us to have our voices heard as well, to make friends and to build trust with other Oldham residents too.

“We don’t have our own clubs, our own social spaces – that’s what the Coliseum was offering us in the first place.

“It’s leaving me speechless, I don’t even know where to go from here in Oldham. I don’t know if there’s going to be anybody else who will be genuinely interested in working with the Roma community and I’m very sad.”

Juice said the Coliseum was the community’s ‘bridge to the outside world’.

He continued: “We found being welcomed, we found being human through them.

“Even myself, the local corner shop I’ve gone to for many years; people don’t give you a friendly look when you’re an Eastern European gypsy. Not just the shops, anywhere you go.

“The Coliseum was the smile for us.

“They were taking into consideration our traditions and customs, and they were respecting them as well, which is something we don’t get anywhere else.”