We are undoubtedly blessed in London to have some of the greatest theatre buildings in the world. It is an amazing heritage it is sometimes easy to take for granted, and a heritage that sadly isn’t always being honoured by their gatekeepers — the people who actually own the buildings and are happy to cash in the profit they generate, but not re-invest it in maintaining them, which has sadly become a regular hobbyhorse of mine.
Of course there’s a big difference between the buildings held publicly and those owned privately - the public ones have been able to draw on lottery funds to assist their refurbishment and redevelopment plans. But that is as it should be; they are using public money to properly resource buildings that have variously become vibrant public spaces. Head to the National, day or night, for instance, and it has long been open to all comers, with coffee bars, bookshops and exhibitions to visit even if you haven’t got a ticket for a show.
And there are plenty of shows that don’t even need tickets.
The annual free outdoor season Watch this Space in Theatre Square in front of the main riverside entrance is now in its 10th year, and is celebrating its anniversary tomorrow with an all-day series of events. (The National’s free performance schedule continues throughout the year with live indoor foyer music, too). And there’s plenty of free fun next door at the Southbank Centre, too - though retail and restaurant opportunities may have proliferated there since its refurbishment, the venue isn’t only about its commercial life fortunately, but is a venue that is open for all throughout the day and again regularly offers free entertainment in places like the Clore Ballroom)
West End venues, by comparison, continue to miss a trick in being open only during showtimes, but since many are not fit for even that purpose, it’s difficult to know what else they can do to attract customers outside their traditional hours. Though the Arts Theatre opened a daytime cafe bar in its street level entrance (and turned out to be the liveliest and best-run part of the operation - at least you didn’t have to suffer one of the run of terrible shows there to enjoy it), the venue is now no more - and with it, the bar has shut, too.
There’s a street level cafe to Camden’s Roundhouse, too - a venue that was spectacularly reclaimed in a £30m, lottery-funded refurbishment two years ago. I blogged here after attending its opening show then that the challenge would be “to fill it with events that match its scale (and potential seating capacity)”.
I needn’t have worried. The venue has quickly become once again an indispensable part of London’s live performance fabric. Its theatrical credentials were gloriously confirmed earlier this year when the RSC brought is history cycle here - and instantly became the theatrical event of the year. But I’ve also been back to the venue twice in the last week alone, and I am rapidly coming to think of the Roundhouse as London’s most epic, versatile and vibrant performance spaces.
Last week I adored Miss Behave’s Variety Nighty, as I reported here, and the cabaret-style seating configuration was maintained for last night’s gig by the Matthew Herbert Big Band that proved to be a revelation, too. You don’t get me at gigs too often, to be honest; theatre inevitably precedence in my diary to everything else. But a Polish friend who had heard and loved this show in Poland came over specially to see it, and invited me to join him - so I did.
And I’ve never heard or seen anything quite like it. With an 18-piece band behind him - mostly brass, but with additional drums, bass, piano and vocalist Esca - Herbert is like the Katie Mitchell of contemporary electronic dance music: while it is being made live behind him, he instantly samples and remixes those sounds at onstage decks to create his unique sound, somewhere between jazz and dance music but all his own. The place was packed - I even spotted theatre director James Macdonald amongst the throng - and I was glad to have been pushed outside my theatrical comfort zone to experience it. Yet I also always feel entirely at home in the Roundhouse, so it’s the perfect space in which to take a walk on the wilder musical side.
All that and a Knickerbocker Glory at Marine Ices across the street before the show: what more can anyone possibly want?
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