This article needs additional citations for verification .(March 2011) |
Address | Dingwall Road, Croydon, CR0 2NF Croydon, London United Kingdom |
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Coordinates | 51°22′30″N0°05′38″W / 51.3749°N 0.0938°W Coordinates: 51°22′30″N0°05′38″W / 51.3749°N 0.0938°W |
Owner | Warehouse Theatre Company Ltd |
Capacity | 100 |
Current use | Theatre performances |
Construction | |
Opened | 1977 |
Closed | 2012 |
Rebuilt | 2016 |
Years active | 31 |
Website | |
www.warehousetheatre.co.uk |
The Warehouse Theatre was a professional producing theatre in the centre of Croydon, England. [1] [2] Based in an oak-beamed Victorian former cement warehouse, it had 100 seats. The theatre closed in 2012 following withdrawal of funding and the discovery, after a survey, of serious faults in the building. [3]
The Warehouse was known for its commitment to new writing, including an annual International Playwriting Festival, in partnership with the Extra Candoni Festival of Udine in Italy and Theatro Ena in Cyprus.[ citation needed ] Youth theatre was also an important feature of the theatre, with a resident Croydon Young Peoples' Theatre (CRYPT) and including an annual collaboration with the Croydon-based Brit School.
The Warehouse Theatre was founded by Sam Kelly, Richard Ireson and Adrian Shergold when lunchtime theatre was particularly popular, with the aim of presenting a varied season of plays with an emphasis on new work to the highest possible standards.[ citation needed ] The first production — Hell's Angels on Typewriters by Angela Wye — opened in May 1977, [4] and the then-50-seat auditorium became an instant favourite with local audiences for lunchtime performances whilst sharing the building with a Caribbean night club.
In 1978, the Arts Council recognised the work of the theatre by awarding a major grant, and in 1979 the nightclub closed, evening performances were introduced and the seating capacity was increased to 100. Respected touring companies began to visit the theatre between in-house productions.[ citation needed ] Cabaret evenings were introduced, with performers including Lenny Henry, French & Saunders, Rik Mayall, Ben Elton, and Julian Clary. Gradually more plays were premiered, with many being specially commissioned by successful writers, such as Sue Townsend, who wrote Groping for Words and Womberang for the theatre. [5]
After the withdrawal of an Arts Council grant in 1984, potential closure was averted when the London Borough of Croydon and the GLC agreed to replace the grant. Following a brief closure for major refurbishment, including the building of the bar, the theatre re-opened in 1985 under the directorship of Ted Craig [5] with the premiere of David Allen's Cheapside. Now concentrating exclusively on new playwriting, initiatives such as the South London Playwriting Festival were launched, giving an invaluable platform to works by both new and established writers. Kevin Hood's new play Beached won the first festival in 1986 and he later became Resident Playwright, writing both The Astronomer's Garden and Sugar Hill Blues for the theatre.
The building was demolished on 26/27 October 2013.[ citation needed ]
The South London Playwriting Festival quickly became the International Playwriting Festival, reflecting the number of entries from all over the globe. Finalists included playwrights from the United States, Trinidad and Tobago, Australia and Bulgaria, with the 1994 winner, Dino Mahoney, being half Irish, half Greek, living in Hong Kong. Mahoney's selected play Yo Yo had its premiere in April 1995. In 1996, the Warehouse Theatre inaugurated a partnership with the leading Italian playwriting festival, the Premio Candoni Arta Terme and in 1999 a partnership was also formed with Theatro Ena in Cyprus providing selected writers with a window for further productions in Europe. The new writers discovered by the festival, including James Martin Charlton, Sheila Dewey, Richard Vincent, Mark Norfolk, Maggie Nevill and Roumen Shomov have gone on to further productions, radio and screen contracts.
The Warehouse Theatre was a converted Victorian warehouse, built in 1882 for a sand, cement and lime merchant. In spite of refurbishments, it still had several original features. There were picture tiles from the 1880s, mostly on the cellar under the main staircase, and a "crab" winch and wall crane of unusual design in full working order on the side of the building. Early drawings show that the bar, opened in 1985, was actually sited in the old stable block, with the eating area above in the appropriately named "Hayloft" bar. The Victorian origin of the building also had negative sides: the removal of a false ceiling in 1981 uncovered the planked roof and vast beams and tresses of the original holes in the original roof to let in the rain over audience and cast alike.
For some years a new theatre has been planned in partnership with Stanhope / Schroders as part of their Ruskin Square development. [6] Designed by Foster + Partners around a park setting with the Warehouse Theatre occupying a £5 million, 200 seat custom designed building. Although a complete contrast to the existing Victorian warehouse, the new building has been designed to be as intimate as possible.
As part of the redevelopment, a Boxpark retail park was opened on the site in October 2016. [7]
Croydon Arena was a proposed arena part of the Croydon Gateway re-generation scheme in the south London district of Croydon. The site is next to East Croydon station and was in the ownership of the rival development, Ruskin Square. [6] The Arena scheme was backed by Croydon Council with developer partner Arrowcroft. The matter was the subject of a public inquiry that took place from September to November 2007. The full decision rejecting the Planning Application and the Compulsory Purchase Order was issued on the 31 July 2008 and 6 August 2008.[ citation needed ]
On 4 May 2012 the Warehouse was placed into administration by the board of management, with debts of £100,000, following Croydon Council's decision to withdraw funding. The last performance was on 20 May, at the end of the run of Call Mr Robeson. A fund-raising appeal was launched to try and save the company. [8] [9] A new company Warehouse Phoenix Limited was formed to continue the work of the theatre. It produced the annual International Playwriting Festival in June 2013 and a production of the selected play from the Festival The Road to Nowhere by Sean Cook was produced at the Ashcroft Theatre in Croydon in October 2013.
The London Borough of Croydon is a London borough in south London, part of Outer London. It covers an area of 87 km2 (33.6 sq mi). It is the southernmost borough of London. At its centre is the historic town of Croydon from which the borough takes its name; while other urban centres include Coulsdon, Purley, South Norwood, Norbury, New Addington and Thornton Heath. Croydon is mentioned in Domesday Book, and from a small market town has expanded into one of the most populous areas on the fringe of London. The borough is now one of London's leading business, financial and cultural centres, and its influence in entertainment and the arts contribute to its status as a major metropolitan centre. Its population is 386,710, making it the second largest London borough and fifteenth largest English district.
Croydon is a large town in South London, England that gives its name to the London Borough of Croydon. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensive shopping district and night-time economy. The entire town had a population of 192,064 as of 2011, whilst the wider borough had a population of 384,837. It is 9.4 miles (15.1 km) south of Charing Cross.
Ruskin House, situated in its own grounds on Coombe Road, Croydon, South London, has been a centre of Britain's progressive movements for a century. It is the headquarters of the Communist Party of Britain and Croydon's Labour, Trade Union and Co-operative movements and is itself a co-operative with shareholders from organisations across the four movements.
Coombe is a place in the London Borough of Croydon, situated south-east of central Croydon, between Addiscombe, Selsdon and Upper Shirley. It is located in the historic county of Surrey. Formerly a hamlet, since the growth of suburban development the area has become swallowed into the London conurbation and often does not appear on modern map.
South Norwood is a district of south-east London, England, within the London Borough of Croydon and the historic county of Surrey. It is located 7.8 miles (12.5 km) south-east of Charing Cross, north of Woodside and Addiscombe, east of Selhurst and Thornton Heath, south of Crystal Palace/Upper Norwood and Anerley, and west of Elmers End and Penge.
Ruskin Square is a project to redevelop a parcel of land between East Croydon railway station and the existing town centre of Croydon in South London. It is part of the major Croydon Vision 2020 regeneration scheme. It has been subject to substantial public debate which has featured in the national media.
Buxton Opera House is in The Square, Buxton, Derbyshire, England. It is a 902-seat opera house that hosts the annual Buxton Festival and, from 1994 to 2013, the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival, among others, as well as pantomime at Christmas, musicals and other entertainments year-round. Hosting live performances until 1927, the theatre then was used mostly as a cinema until 1976. In 1979, it was refurbished and reopened as a venue for live performance.
Constance Lalage "Lally" Katz is an American and Australian dramatist writing for theater, film, and television. She now resides in Los Angeles.
Richard Vincent is an English actor, playwright, theatre director and screenwriter from Croydon in London.
James Martin Charlton is an English playwright, theatre director and filmmaker. He was born in Romford, Greater London, United Kingdom in 1966.
Boston Playwrights' Theatre (BPT) is a small professional theatre in Boston, Massachusetts. Led by Artistic Director Kate Snodgrass. Boston Playwrights' Theatre is the home of the Graduate Playwriting Program at Boston University. As a venue, BPT rents its space to host other New England theatre companies who are producing new plays.
The Playwrights' Center is a non-profit theatre organization focused on both supporting playwrights and promoting new plays to production at theaters across the country. It is located in the Seward neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota. In October of 2020, the organization announced plans to move to a larger space in St. Paul.
Ted Craig FRSA is an Australian-born theatre director lately the artistic director of the Warehouse Theatre, South London, England.
The Island is a residential skyscraper in the London Borough of Croydon, London. In 2018, the building's 17th-floor penthouse apartment was described as the "most expensive flat in Croydon".
The International Play writing Festival was founded in 1986 by Steve Gooch and Ted Craig and was hosted by the new playwriting theatre, Warehouse Theatre until the Warehouse Theater Company Limited went into administration in May 2012. The Festival acted to ensure its reputation and continuation and is now under the umbrella of a new company, Warehouse Phoenix Limited. The IPF is held in two parts: the first is a competition with entries accepted from all over the world, which are judged by a panel of distinguished theater practitioners. The second is a celebration and a showcase of the selected plays which is performed the following May.
Wettern House was a high rise building next to East Croydon station in Croydon. Originally built in 1963, two years before the County Borough of Croydon disbanded into the London Borough of Croydon, it was demolished in November 2005 to make way for what would become Ruskin Square. Before demolition, the building had 12 floors and a structural height of 38 metres (125 ft). Its demolition was part of the Croydon Vision 2020 regeneration planning for a new generation of buildings.
The London Borough of Croydon has a wide variety of buildings mainly from post-war through to modern. Much of the modern architecture in the borough is centred on the commercial centre of the town, with much of the Victorian designs spread out on both the northern and southern corridors of the borough. Many former warehouses and factories have been converted for other uses changing the external appearance of Croydon erratically.
Mark Norfolk is a British prolific author and independent filmmaker. He has made documentaries, short films and feature films and authored plays for stage and radio and well as publishing several books.
Factory International is a cultural space currently being built in Manchester, UK, which is to be the permanent home of the Manchester International Festival. It is inspired by the city's history of innovation and MIF's "reputation for big-hitting world premieres, envelope-pushing new work" and "being one of the leading worldwide incubators for new, cutting-edge art."
Boxpark is a food and retail park made out of refitted shipping containers in Britain. It was founded by Roger Wade, who described it as the "world's first pop-up mall". The first Boxpark was launched in Shoreditch in 2011, another was built in Croydon next to East Croydon station in 2016, and a third opened in Wembley in late 2018. Other Boxparks are also planned for other cities and countries.