The Soho Theatre is a theatre and registered charity in the Soho district of the City of Westminster, in London, England. It produces and presents new works of theatre, together with comedy and cabaret, across three performance spaces.
The theatre has established itself as a vital launchpad for new artists[1] and offers commissions, attachments and residencies for both emerging and established writers. It has launched the careers of numerous screenwriters and comedians in theatre, film, TV and radio.
The theatre's programme is a mix of comedy, cabaret and theatre, with a particular focus on new writing and alternative comedy.
Soho Theatre Company
The Soho Theatre Company was formed in 1969 by Verity Bargate and Fred Proud, and initially performed at a venue in New Compton Street.[2] Soon, the company moved to a small basement leased for the Soho Poly, where it would remain for eighteen years.[2] Sue Dunderdale was artistic director of the company for several years in the 1980s.[3][4]
In 1997, work began on a new venue for the Soho Theatre on Dean Street, after securing an £8 million Lottery grant and raising an additional £2.6 million in funds.[2] In 2000, the building opened.[2]
Soho Theatre on Dean Street
A mizrach in the Soho Theatre marking the former site of the West End Great Synagogue
In 2000, the theatre moved to its current home on Dean Street. The purpose-built venue houses the 165-seat Main House, the 90-seat Studio (upstairs), and the 140-seat Cabaret Space (downstairs).[6] The ground and lower-ground floors are also occupied by the Soho Theatre Bar.
Its current executive director is Mark Godfrey and its Creative Director is David Luff. Following his 2018 appointment as Creative Director, Soho Theatre has undertaken a re-investment in commissioning and producing new plays, moving towards a producer-led playhouse model.[7] Their creative team is a tight-knit group of associates including Head of Comedy Steve Lock, Associate Directors Lakesha Arie-Angelo and Adam Brace, Touring Producer Sarah Dodd[8] and their newly appointed Literary Manager, Gillian Greer.[9]
In 2014, the theatre was fined £20,000 for a health and safety incident in which a stage manager, Rachael Presdee, was paralysed in a fall through an unmarked balcony door on to the stage some three metres below. Compensation of £3.7m was agreed with Presdee.[10]
Soho Theatre Walthamstow
In 2012, Soho Theatre, Walthamstow Forest Council and Waltham Forest Cinema Trust won a public enquiry securing the future of the Walthamstow Granada building as an entertainment venue. In 2019 the Council funds purchased the building with Soho Theatre announced as its operator.[11]
Currently undergoing a £30m redevelopment,[12] the venue is now scheduled to open in 2024.[13]
The Verity Bargate Award
The Verity Bargate Award is Soho Theatre's flagship new writing award with the winning play produced in a full production on their stages. For almost 50 years, Soho Theatre has championed new writing and since 1982, the Verity Bargate Award has uncovered the best new and emerging writers. It has launched the careers of some of Britain's most established playwrights and screenwriters including Matt Charman (Bridge of Spies), Vicky Jones (Touch at Soho Theatre), Toby Whithouse (Doctor Who) and many, many more.
↑ "About Us". Soho Theatre. Archived from the original on 1 May 2013. Retrieved 7 May 2023. Soho Theatre owns its own Central London venue housing the intimate 150-seat Soho Theatre, our 90-seat Soho Upstairs and our cabaret space, Soho Downstairs.
The Soho Repertory Theatre, known as Soho Rep, is an American Off-Broadway theater company based in New York City which is notable for producing avant-garde plays by contemporary writers. The company, described as a "cultural pillar", is currently located in a 65-seat theatre in the TriBeCa section of lower Manhattan. The company, and the projects it has produced, have won multiple prizes and earned critical acclaim, including numerous Obie Awards, Drama Desk Awards, Drama Critics' Circle Awards, and a Pulitzer Prize. A recent highlight was winning the Drama Desk Award for Sustained Achievement for "nearly four decades of artistic distinction, innovative production, and provocative play selection."
Theatre503, formerly the Latchmere Theatre, is a theatre located at 503 Battersea Park Road in Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth, above the Latchmere pub. The venue is known for promoting the work of new writers.
Matt Charman is a British screenwriter, playwright, and producer. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for his 2015 film Bridge of Spies, directed by Steven Spielberg and co-written with Joel and Ethan Coen. Charman started out writing for theatre, making a breakthrough as writer-in-residence at the National Theatre in London, where then-director Nicholas Hytner described Charman as having "a priceless nose for a story".
Arinzé Mokwe Kene is a Nigerian-born British actor and playwright.
Stuart Silver is a screenwriter, television writer, actor and director. He works solo and collaboratively and is co-founder of the BAFTA-nominated, performance duo Noble and Silver, who won the 2000 Perrier Award for Best Newcomer. Stuart has since appeared on stage in his own one-man show, You Look Like Ants and in shorter pieces. He has also featured in television shows such as Get Off Me, The Mighty Boosh, Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, and Man to Man with Dean Learner.
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Phoebe Mary Waller-Bridge is an English actress, screenwriter and producer. As the creator, head writer, and star of the comedy series Fleabag (2016–2019), she won three Primetime Emmy Awards, two Golden Globes and a British Academy Television Award. She received further Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for writing and producing the spy thriller series Killing Eve (2018–2022).
Fred Proud is a British theatre director. He graduated from Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama in 1967. He is the co-founder of the Soho Theatre Company, which he set up with his partner, the writer Verity Bargate, in 1969. Known at the time as the Soho Poly Theatre, it won wide acclaim for its production of cutting-edge plays establishing itself as a home of good acting and arresting texts, which ranged from modern English and American plays to Sheridan. He was artistic director with the company for many years - initially at the Soho Theatre, 6a, New Compton Street, then for two seasons of plays at the King's Head, 199 Upper Street and thereafter at the Soho Poly in Riding House Street. The Soho Poly was the starting point for many of the best-known actors, writers, designers and directors still working today. It was especially important in the showcasing of women in the theatre. He continued directing at such venues as the Ludlow Festival, Greenwich Theatre and the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre. He returned to the Riding House space when it was revived by the University of Westminster helping with the restoration and giving poetry readings and talks. In 2018 he directed a staged reading of Friedrich Durrenmatt’s play One Autumn Evening starring Peter Marinker, Paul Alexander, James Sanderson and Poppy Abbott to mark exactly 50 years since the Soho Theatre was founded. This play was the first ever production by the company, performed at the Open Space in 1968. He puts his verse speaking skills to good use on his YouTube channel.
Verity Eileen Bargate (1940–1981) was an English novelist and theatre director.
Moses Raine is a playwright and screenwriter. He was born in Oxford and is the son of the poet and critic Craig Raine and Ann Pasternak Slater; he is also a grand nephew of the Russian novelist Boris Pasternak. He attended the Dragon School and St. Edward's School, in Oxford.
Lisa Goldman is a British theatre director, dramaturg, writer and author. She was Artistic Director and joint Chief Executive of Soho Theatre (2006–10) and The Red Room Theatre Company which she founded (1995-2006). In 2008 Lisa was included in the London Evening Standard’s ‘Influentials’ list as one of the 1000 most influential people in London.
Phoebe Eclair-Powell is a British playwright from South-East London. Her plays include WINK (Theatre503) and One Under. As an actress, she appeared in Peckham: The Soap Opera at the Royal Court. Her play Fury was a finalist for the Verity Bargate Award at Soho Theatre In the summer of 2016, Eclair Powell had three new shows running: Fury, at Soho Theatre, Torch at Underbelly and Epic Love and Pop Songs at Pleasance, both at the Edinburgh Fringe. In 2019, Eclair Powell won the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting for her play Shed: Exploded View.
Walthamstow Granada is a Grade II* listed building housing a pub, cinema and cultural centre in Walthamstow, London. The building is famous for having been frequented by Alfred Hitchcock during its time as a cinema. It was built on a site where films were shown as early as 1896.
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Iman Qureshi is a London-based writer, awarded the PAPAtango prize for new writing for her play 'The Funeral Director' in 2018. Her work explores themes of race, gender, and sexuality, and she has spoken openly about her identity as a Muslim and her desire to create community and political change through her work.
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