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     London Theatre Tickets » List of London Theatres » Arts Theatre » History
Arts Theatre - Information & History
The Arts Theatre is located in Great Newport Street in WC2 and was designed by Mr P Morley Horder in 1927 as a conversion of an existing building at a cost of only £18,500. Opening on the 20th of April 1927 The Arts Theatre was originally created to be a private members theatre for anyone interested in the Theatre, whether they be in the business or members of public that share the passion for the Theatre. The primary reason was to avoid any censorship by the Lord Chamberlain who had the legal right to censor and even force closure of any theatrical public production, which continued right up to 1968.
The Arts Theatre was designed to be a small intimate Theatre with a seating capacity of only 300 across stall, circle and boxes, creating a close ambiance for any production. The Arts Theatre opened with a review called 'Picnic' produced by Harold Scott.
The Arts Theatre gained an enviable reputation over the following 3 decades for producing more than 20 productions a year, with a mixture of classics and brand new plays.
The Arts Theatre was, and still is, renowned for producing and performing breaking ground theatre and sometimes even controversial material, often by new playwrights, and had numerous successes which went on to play in the West End main stream theatres. This was possible as a private theatre club, not under the watchful censorship eyes of the Lord Chamberlain, The Arts Theatre gave the opportunity to air new works and permitted those ones with a future to flourish, which would otherwise had been banned if staged in the open theatres.
Productions held at the Arts Theatre have been under Theatre Managers and Artistic Directors such as Actor Manager Alec Clunes, who managed the Arts Theatre in the 1940's, and Sir Peter Hall who directed the UK premiere of 'Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, Waltz of the Toreadors by Jean Anouilh and Morning Becomes Elektra by Eugene O'Neill. Some plays made their UK premiere at the Arts Theatre before they toured the UK or started their World Tour, such as Harold Pinter's 'The Caretaker', 'The Iceman Cometh' by O'Neil, Orton's 'Entertaining Mr Sloane' and Tennessee Williams' 'Suddenly Last Summer', to name but a few.
The Arts Theatre became very popular amongst theatre buffs and the Arts Theatre was once described as a 'pocket national theatre' due to its diminutive size and quality productions. In 1962 the Art Theatre became the home for the experimental department of the Royal Shakespeare Company, but this was a very short lived occupation.
In 1967 Caryl Jenner's Unicorn Company leased the Arts Theatre becoming the very first Theatre building used for children in the UK. The Company produced numerous productions for children during the daytime, returning to more adult productions in the evening. This lasted until 1999 when the Unicorn Company moved to offices in North London awaiting a new location.
In 2000 a consortium of American and UK producers invested £250,000 into a major refurbishment of the Arts Theatre frontage to breathe a new face on the Arts Theatre, and took over a 5 year lease. During that period the Arts Theatre put on successful runs of 'Closer to Heaven', Justin Butcher's satire 'The Madness of George Dubya', Richard Dormer's acclaimed 'Hurricane' and the Pet Shop Boys Musical. At the cessation of the lease the consortium was unable to re-negotiate a renewal and the Arts Theatre was forced to close in June 2005 for a short period of less than 1 year, when finally the Arts Theatre reopened in April 2006 under new ownership. Their mission was to revitalise the Arts Theatre as a theatre open to all and to offer new innovative productions as well as internal refurbishment to include an Art gallery, the creation of rehearsal rooms and studio spaces. The Arts Theatre is once again ready to enlighten and enthral the artistic theatre goer.
The Arts Theatre hosts new, innovative and revival plays as well as musicals, comedy, music, dance and other original stage performances.
Once again, the Arts Theatre's bars are heaving with people to establish the theatre's reputation as a popular rendezvous for the performing artists. The bars provide an ideal location for pre-theatre drinks in trendy surroundings and décor, offering coffees and teas during the daytime where you can watch the world go by through the unusual street level windows. Drinks can also be taken into the auditorium in plastic cups, so you're not forced to down your drinks before a performance.
The Arts Theatre, despite its successful runs, has been under threat of demolition many times, most recently in 2006, and its future is far from certain. If you would like to know more about the current state of play with the Arts Theatre you should contact the Save London's Theatres Campaign. www.savelondonstheatres.org.uk
Arts Theatre | Performances | Information | Directions | History
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