Assembly (events promoter)

Last updated

Assembly Festival Ltd.
TypePrivate company
IndustryArts
Headquarters Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
ProductsTheatre and comedy promotion, productions and venues
Website http://www.assemblyfestival.com

Assembly is a theatre and comedy promotion company, producer and venue operator. It programmes and promotes entertainment events at venues in Edinburgh, London and Brighton, and is the longest-established of the so-called Big Four [1] promoters at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August. [2] Year-round audience numbers at Assembly events are more than 500,000, and the company's artistic director is William Burdett-Coutts. [2]

Contents

History

Assembly can trace its roots back to the 1981 Edinburgh Fringe when William Burdett-Coutts, who at the time was working at the Old Vic, intended to bring a show to the Fringe, The Madman and the Nun. However, he had left it too late to organise a venue. Fortunately, the Assembly Rooms on George Street had been vacated by the Festival Club, which had found it unprofitable to operate there. This meant there was space for Burdett-Coutts to host both his own show, and others. [3] This was the foundation of the company which would become one of the "Big Four" Fringe venues, promoting shows at multiple venues across the city. [4]

An early success was Alternative Cabaret, a show featuring Tony Allen, Jim Barclay, Andy de la Tour and Pauline Melville, which became one of the critical hits of 1981. [3]

Edinburgh

Assembly Festival

During August, as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and under the title "Assembly Festival", the company now operates seventeen theatre spaces, and eight bars. In 2015, the Assembly Festival programme consisted of 163 shows, including performances by Milton Jones, Adam Hills and Jason Byrne. [2]

The company has been running events at the Fringe since the early 1980s, originally at the Assembly Rooms, from which the name is derived. In recent years, the contract for operating the Assembly Rooms building during the Fringe has been awarded to the promoters behind The Stand Comedy Club, separating the company from its origins. However, from 2016, the company will again be operating the building.[ citation needed ]

In more recent times, the Assembly has been based in and around George Square, and has made particular use of the George Square Theatre, having rebranded it as Assembly George Square.

The entire Assembly Festival operation is three times the size of the Edinburgh International Festival and plays to audiences the equivalent of the BBC Proms. [5]

Assembly Roxy

Assembly also run a year-round venue in Edinburgh in a converted church building near the main university campus. It is named the Assembly Roxy after the street on which it stands, Roxburgh Place. It hosts a small theatre, music and comedy programme, and also operates as a function suite for weddings and corporate events.

The current building dates to the early 20th century, when it was built to replace an old chapel on the site. That previous chapel - a "dark, oddly-shaped building" [6] - had been taken over in 1856 by the congregation of Lady Glenorchy's Parish Church, who had moved there when their original church was demolished in the development of Waverley Station. In 1904, the minister, Reverend Thomas Burns, decided to rebuild the church to better meet the needs of the people. It was built in 2 stages - the hall, by Thomas Ross, in 1908-10 and the church, by Peter MacGregor Chalmers, in 1912–13. It cost £21,000 and opened in December 1913. As Lady Glenorchy South Church (to distinguish it from Lady Glenorchy's Free Church in Greenside) which became the North Church it became one of the busiest churches in Edinburgh. The congregation diminished with the demolition of surrounding tenements in the mid 20th century. In 1969, it was sold to the University of Edinburgh, and used as an examination hall, under the name "Roxburgh Place Hall". [7] [6] During this time, it also served as a venue for the Fringe, under the management of the nearby Pleasance as "Pleasance Over The Road". The Edinburgh University Settlement charity, which owned the building, went bankrupt in 2010, and the building was bought by Assembly in a joint deal with restaurateur Malcolm Innes to become Assembly's first permanent Edinburgh home. [8]

It has four performance spaces, including the 250-seater Roxy Central, and a snug bar in the basement.

Assembly Checkpoint

Plans are also being discussed for the permanent conversion of another of Assembly's Fringe venues, Assembly Checkpoint, into a year-round music venue. The building, a former church built in 1900, was taken over by Assembly in 2012. It is situated on Bristo Place, near the National Museum of Scotland. The plan is for live music events to be held on the upper floor of the Grade B listed building, which has been soundproofed. [9]

Brighton

In September, Assembly run Brighton Comedy Festival, a curated festival, operating across five venues. In 2014, the festival featured 140 acts across 16 days including Simon Amstell, Bridget Christie, Marcus Brigstocke, Jack Dee and Seann Walsh. [2]

London

Assembly's London base is at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith. Riverside is currently under redevelopment, with a plan to reopen in 2018 will as a national live and digital arts hub. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edinburgh Festival Fringe</span> Arts festival

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 different shows in 322 venues. Established in 1947 as an alternative to the Edinburgh International Festival, it takes place in Edinburgh every August. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe has become a world-leading celebration of arts and culture, surpassed only by the Olympics and the World Cup in terms of global ticketed events. As an event it "has done more to place Edinburgh in the forefront of world cities than anything else" according to historian and former chairman of the board, Michael Dale.

<i>The List</i> (magazine) Arts and entertainment magazine based in Edinburgh

The List is a digital guide to arts and entertainment in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Demarco</span> British artist

Richard Demarco CBE is a Scottish artist and promoter of the visual and performing arts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilded Balloon</span>

Gilded Balloon is a producer and promoter of live entertainment events, based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and best known as one of the Big Four venue operators at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe each August.

The Pleasance is a street just outside the Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland, a remnant of the Flodden Wall flanking the west side of the street between Drummond Street and the Cowgate. Historically, the street was one of the main routes into Edinburgh from the south, meeting St Mary's Wynd at St Mary's Wynd Port, one of the gateways of the town walls. The name derives from the Scots plesance, meaning a park or garden. It first appears in 1507 as the name of a nearby house, and was later transferred to the street and then the suburb which was part of the regality of the Canongate. The derivation of the name from a nunnery of St Mary of Placentia, often mentioned in histories of Edinburgh, is an invention by William Maitland in his 1753 History of Edinburgh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">General Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland</span> Multi-purpose venue in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

The Assembly Hall is located between Castlehill and Mound Place in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the meeting place of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Free Fringe</span>

The Free Fringe is an organisation that promotes free shows during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world's largest arts festival, every August.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Komedia</span> Arts company in the United Kingdom

Komedia is an arts and entertainment company which operates venues in the United Kingdom at Brighton and Bath, and a management and production company Komedia Entertainment. Beyond hosting live comedy, the venues also host music, cabaret, theatre and shows for children, featuring local, national and international performers. The Brighton and Bath venues operate cinemas within their buildings in partnership with Picturehouse. Komedia also creates broadcast comedy and has most notably co-produced and hosted the live recordings of seven series of the Sony Award-winning Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show! for BBC Radio 4 and is a co-producer on BBC1's sitcom Count Arthur Strong.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Stephen's Church, Edinburgh</span>

Saint Stephen's Church is located in the New Town of Edinburgh, Scotland, at the bottom of Saint Vincent Street. It was built in 1827–1828, to a design by architect William Henry Playfair (1789–1857).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edinburgh Comedy Festival</span>

Edinburgh Comedy Festival was a short-lived festival of comedy shows which operated during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2008 and 2009. Effectively a marketing campaign for the "Big Four" venues at the Fringe - Assembly, Gilded Balloon, Pleasance and Underbelly - the designation was quietly dropped after widespread media and industry criticism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Potterrow Student Centre</span> Students union building in Edinburgh, Scotland

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assembly Rooms (Edinburgh)</span> Historic site

The Assembly Rooms are meeting halls in central Edinburgh, Scotland. Originally solely a meeting place for social gatherings, it is now also used as an arts venue and for public events, including the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the Hogmanay celebrations. There are four rooms, with moveable chairs or tables, that are used year-round and are available for private functions: Music Hall, Ballroom, Supper Room and Edinburgh Suite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church Hill Theatre</span>

Church Hill Theatre is a Category B listed pink sandstone former church and current theatre venue owned by the Edinburgh City Council. Built originally as Morningside Free Church, the council purchased it in 1960. After undergoing an extensive refurbishment, it re-opened in August 2006. It is managed by the team operating the Assembly Rooms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Pleasance</span> Theatre and recreation complex

The Pleasance is a theatre, bar, sports and recreation complex in Edinburgh, Scotland, situated on a street of the same name. It is owned by the University of Edinburgh, and for nine months of the year it serves the Edinburgh University Students' Association as a societies centre, sports complex, student union bar and entertainment venue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King Khalid Building</span> Church building in City of Edinburgh, Scotland

The King Khalid Building is an event space in the Southside, Edinburgh, Scotland, owned and operated by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. The building was constructed Roxburgh Free Church in 1847 and converted to its current use in 1982.

William Burdett-Coutts is the founder and director of theatre and comedy promotion company Assembly, one of the major venue operators at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world's largest arts festival. He was the Chief Executive and Artistic Director of the Riverside Studios in London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guy Masterson</span> British born actor, writer, theatre director, producer acclaimed for his solo work.

Guy Alexander Masterson is a British actor, writer, theatre director, producer and playwright widely known for his solo theatre performances of Under Milk Wood, Animal Farm, and Shylock by Gareth Armstrong. He is a regular producer at the annual Edinburgh Fringe Festival and responsible for several of its most notable productions including Twelve Angry Men in 2003, The Odd Couple in 2005 and Morecambe in 2009 – which transferred to London's West End and won a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment, and The Shark Is Broken in 2019 – which transferred to London's West End and won a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for Best New Comedy. It opens on Broadway in August 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holden Street Theatres</span> Theatre in Adelaide, South Australia

Holden Street Theatres (HST) is a South Australian performing arts theatre complex in Hindmarsh, an inner-western suburb of Adelaide. It is housed in the heritage-listed All Saints' Anglican Church complex. The complex includes three performance spaces: The Studio, The Arch and The Bar, and is home to the Holden Street Theatre Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rose Theatre, Edinburgh</span>

The Rose Theatre is an arts venue and Category B listed building on Rose Street, Edinburgh, Scotland, owned by ballet dancer and Olivier Award winning director Peter Schaufuss and is as a year round venue for theatre, comedy, music, dance and cabaret. It is also the home of the Rose Theatre Cafe. The venue is playing a major role during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Lady Glenorchy's Church or Chapel in Edinburgh was a church founded in the 18th century by Willielma Campbell, Viscountess Glenorchy. It was made a quoad sacra parish in 1837.

References

  1. ↑ "Pleasance, Underbelly, Gilded Balloon and Assembly Launch Programme for Fringe 2015". The List. 18 May 2015. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "About Us". Assembly Festival. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  3. 1 2 Venables, Ben (6 June 2017). "How Comedy Captured the Edinburgh Fringe: Part 2". The Skinny . Retrieved 13 October 2017.
  4. ↑ "Who We Are: Our History". Assembly. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
  5. ↑ Fisher 2012, p. 8.
  6. 1 2 "Edinburgh, 4 Roxburgh Place, University of Edinburgh, Roxburgh Place Hall". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 6 November 2017.
  7. ↑ "Edinburgh, 2 Roxburgh Place, University Of Edinburgh, Roxburgh Place Hall". Canmore. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
  8. ↑ Cornwell, Tim (31 July 2012). "Edinburgh festivals: Sights set on year-round entertainment at Assembly Roxy" . Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  9. ↑ Ferguson, Brian (8 August 2015). "Assembly Boss Unveils Year Round Music Venue" . Retrieved 24 March 2016.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.