Royal Opera rescue bid

The future of London's Theatre Museum could be secured by a rescue deal with its Covent Garden neighbour the Royal Opera House.

The Victoria & Albert Museum, which owns the Theatre Museum site, is considering closing it for good after it was twice refused Lottery money for renovations.

But after a campaign by stars including Dames Judi Dench and Vanessa Redgrave, ROH chief executive Tony Hall has begun talks with the V&A to keep the Theatre Museum open.

He believes that a merger of the ROH's opera and ballet memorabilia with that of the Theatre Museum could create a new collection dedicated to the performing arts.

'We both want to attract children and we both have a wonderful archive,' he said.

'It's much better that we do it together. We have an astonishing collection that tells the story of opera and ballet for the last 300 years and presently we can only show a fraction of it.

'Though the [Theatre Museum] space is not ideal, it has a fantastic collection. We can make that place really buzz.'