There is no shortage of theatre spaces in London, of course, of all shapes, sizes and all-too-often, states of disrepair. Some of this is being addressed - subsidised houses from the Royal Court to the Royal Opera House and London Coliseum, have been able to draw on a combination of lottery funds and private fundraising to invest handsomely in their futures, while next week sees the unveiling of Cameron Mackintosh’s latest privately-funded refurbishment to one of his theatres, Wyndham’s.
But while another of Mackintosh’s schemes to create a new studio space above the Queens’ Theatre that he was going to call the Sondheim Theatre seem to have been put on hold, we have a major vacuum in the West End for mid-scale commercial houses that could be the equivalent of off-Broadway in offering the sorts of seating capacities that could allow shows to run profitably for limited runs, but not require the full financial commitments of the West End proper. (The smallest West End theatres, from the New Ambassadors and Duchess to Fortune and St Martin’s, have each become gridlocked by long-running hits that show no signs of shifting now, thus taking them out of the availability pool).
ATG’s Trafalgar Studios was the first major intervention of a West End theatre chain to create this kind of interim space.
If I still have issues both about the severity of the rake in the main auditorium and the closeness of the seats to each other in it, it has more than proved its worth in programming terms; and ATG have even discovered that it can be a launch pad for productions like the current Fat Pig, closing there tomorrow, that may even warrant a further life elsewhere in their West End portfolio so are transferring it to the Comedy. (The Newbury production of Sweeney Todd that started its London life at Trafalgar Studios also subsequently moved to the New Ambassadors - and eventually ended up on Broadway). Meanwhile the smaller second studio downstairs has created an opportunity for fringe companies to extend their reach and boldly stake their claim to a piece of the West End, too.
Elsewhere, the Shaw Theatre may yet emerge as a viable mid-scale venue for commercial runs; but given that they have to juggle those with conference commitments to the adjoining hotel, they have so far mostly limited their programming mostly to very short runs of musical acts (and are strangely slow off the mark on the publicity front; I was due to see American drag star Jim Bailey there tonight, but was only told on Wednesday afternoon that the season has been “moved to December”).
Otherwise, there was only the Arts Theatre; but it had lately sunk so low in both physical and programming disrepair that it’s a relief, frankly, that it has now gone. The two attributes partly went hand in hand - given how poorly maintained it was, only the weakest shows would book it, and their consecutive failures eventually became a self-fulfilling prophesy. But now Martin Witts, who used to run the Arts, has upped his game and resurfaced to take over what used to be the Venue, which he has now re-named the Leicester Square Theatre - and thanks to securing a 30-year lease from the landlords, has also been able to start investing in it.
Visiting it last night for the first night of the opening show, Joan Rivers: A Work in Progress by a Life in Progress, I was relieved to discover that the plastic tip-up seats that I once named-and-shamed here as amongst the most uncomfortable seating in London that it used to have as the Venue have gone, and have been replaced by very comfortable, fully-cushioned theatre seating. But also gone is any kind of rake - the seating is all on one level, with only a modestly-raised stage at the front of the room, so I wonder what sort of views will be on offer - especially if someone particularly tall ends up directly in front of you. Weirdly, too, though seats for Rivers come in four price bands - including a staggering £75 “diamond package”, that reportedly includes a “Joan Rivers goody bag and meet and greet” - they are presently unreserved; you are shown to your designated area and then choose a seat for yourself.
But if the programme beyond Rivers seems to be majoring on developing it mainly as a comedy venue, this theatre could become the missing link in the West End’s infrastructure, and with 395 seats in the main house offer a viable commercial home for the sorts of shows that have originated in regional and fringe theatres and want to extend their lives but without having to take on a full West End run. And, as at Trafalgar Studios, I am pleased that there is also a second, smaller 90 seater studio that will allow for more developmental work, too.
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