Provost's calls were not supported by his councillors and his attempts to gain city council control of programming at the Citizens failed. The entire run of Dracula at the Citizens was a sell-out. Throughout its later existence the Citizens has been both criticised and acclaimed for its insistence on producing works which are not specifically populist, although heavily subsidised from public funds. While many have claimed that a citizens' theatre should deliberately appeal to a mass audience the theatre has a history of experimental works which have gained notice despite rather than because of their subject matter. Rebuilding works Following a fire, an order was made with little warning for the destruction of the Palace Bingo Hall (née Theatre) in 1977. Staff of the Citizens arranged a stay of execution to rescue the best of the Victorian fittings, including the six statues which stood atop the columns. Following these works, almost the entire tenement block which had sat in front of the auditorium was razed, leaving the Citizens' foyer as the only remaining piece In an article for the Guardian newspaper, Bunny Christie described the theatre in this period as "[sitting] on its own, surrounded by potholes and puddles, everything else seemed to have been pulled down." This state of affairs lasted until 1988, when the remaining foyer and bars were torn down as part of a new development on Gorbals Street by Strathclyde Regional Council, which included a new foyer and bars for the theatre. During the reconstruction, a limited "in the round" theatre operated on the stage behind the safety curtain, accessed via a temporary foyer located at an emergency exit with a capacity of 250. The main theatre was reopened for the Christmas show, in slightly makeshift fashion due to uncompleted works, as it had been identified as essential to the Company's finances. The new foyer, fronted in glass and yellow brick, opened in 1989 and lasted until its demolition, which began in September 2019. Further works throughout the 1990s included the creation of two studio theatres in 1991-92; office space on the north side in 1996-1998 which also included a new rehearsal room, scene dock, front-of house offices and lift access with National Lottery funding As part of the 2019-onward works, delayed somewhat by the COVID-19 pandemic, the south and west of the building, including the 1989 foyer, were demolished completely with the intention to rebuild