Old Compton Street is a road that runs east–west through Soho in the West End of London, named after Henry Compton who raised funds for St Anne's Church in 1686. The area, particularly this street, became home to French Protestant refugees in 1681. Known for its diverse and artistic traditions, the street housed businesses, artists, philosophers, and was frequented by communists and proto-beatniks. The Algerian Coffee Stores, one of the oldest shops on the street, was established in 1887. Post World War II, the street became a center for modern and trad jazz. Since the 1970s, Old Compton Street has been a focal point for London's gay community, with numerous gay bars, restaurants, and specialty shops. The Admiral Duncan pub, a notable gay venue, was bombed in 1999 in a hate crime attack. The street is also home to the Prince Edward Theatre.
Sir Richard Charles Hastings Eyre is an English film, theatre, television and opera director.
The Almeida Theatre, opened in 1980, is a 325-seat producing house with an international reputation, which takes its name from the street on which it is located, off Upper Street, in the London Borough of Islington. The theatre produces a diverse range of drama. Successful plays are often transferred to West End theatres.
Così is a play by Australian playwright Louis Nowra which was first performed in 1992 at the Belvoir St Theatre in Sydney, Australia. Set in a Melbourne mental hospital in 1971, Così is semi-autobiographical, and is the sequel to his previous semi-autobiographical play, Summer of the Aliens.
The Finborough Theatre is a fifty-seat theatre in the West Brompton area of London under artistic director Neil McPherson. The theatre presents new British writing, as well as UK and world premieres of new plays primarily from the English speaking world including North America, Canada, Ireland, and Scotland including work in the Scots language, alongside rarely seen rediscovered 19th and 20th century plays. The venue also presents new and rediscovered music theatre.
Mark Ravenhill is an English playwright, actor and journalist.
Out of Joint is a British and international touring theatre company based in London. It specialises in the commissioning and production of new writing, interspersed with occasional revivals and classic productions.
The Old Red Lion is a pub and fringe theatre, at Angel, in the London Borough of Islington.
Artist Descending a Staircase is a radio play by Tom Stoppard, first broadcast by the BBC in 1972, and later adapted for live theatre. The play centres on a murder mystery involving an artist who dies from falling down a set of stairs. The play is a humorous exploration of the meaning and purpose of art. The title alludes to Marcel Duchamp's 1912 painting Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2.
The York Realist is a 2001 play by Peter Gill. It was premiered at the Lowry in November 2001 before moving to the Bristol Old Vic and the Royal Court Theatre in January 2002 by English Touring Theatre, with Gill himself directing. It transferred to the Strand Theatre in March 2002.
Stephanie Sinclaire Lightsmith, also known as Stephanie Crawford, was a painter and director in theatre and film, and a writer. She ran the King's Head Theatre in Islington with her husband Daniel Crawford.
Stephen Henry is a British stage director, a theatre producer, and an educator.
The Cock Tavern Theatre was a pub theatre located in Kilburn in the north-west of London. The venue specialised in new works and critical revivals. Resident companies Good Night Out Presents and OperaUpClose were also based at the venue. It shut in 2011, due to health and safety problems regarding the Victorian staircases that serviced the theatre.
Adam Spreadbury-Maher is an Australian/Irish theatre artistic director, producer and writer. He is the founding artistic director of the Cock Tavern Theatre, OperaUpClose and The Hope Theatre, and was artistic director of the Kings Hesd until 2021 King's Head Theatre. Spreadbury-Maher introduced the first unionised pay agreement for actors in a pub-theatre in 2011, and in 2017 introduced the first fringe creative pay agreement and gender policy.
Good Night Out Presents is one of the resident theatre companies at The Cock Tavern Theatre in London.
OperaUpClose is a national touring opera company, led by Artistic Director Flora McIntosh, The company was founded in 2009 to produce its début production, Robin Norton-Hale's Olivier Award-winning adaptation of Puccini's La bohème at The Cock Tavern Theatre.
The Park Theatre opened in Finsbury Park, north London in 2013. It describes itself as "a neighbourhood theatre with global ambition", offering a mixed programme of new writing, classics, and revivals. As well as the main auditorium seating 200, the building includes a 90-seat studio theatre, a rehearsal space and a café bar.
Robin Norton-Hale is an English writer and director for opera and theatre. She is the Artistic Director of OperaUpClose, having founded the company alongside Adam Spreadbury-Maher and Ben Cooper in October 2009 and was previously Artist in Residence at Oxford Playhouse. She studied English Literature at Hertford College, Oxford and was a Clore Cultural Leadership Fellow (2013/14).
Coming Clean is a play by Kevin Elyot. The play premiered in 1982 and was Elyot's first professionally produced play.
The Rosemary Branch Theatre is a pub theatre located in Islington, London. It has been operating for 35 years. It was originally known as the Rosemary Theatre in 1986. In late spring of 1986 the upstairs of the Rosemary Branch was converted into a theatre. The same space has always been used but the technical area was originally between the stage left entrance corridor and the central aisle just adjacent to the entrance. The first production, starring Mark Heath and directed by James Marcus was "Napoleon Noir", describing the heroic feats of Toussaint L'Ouverture, who in the late 18th century fought to abolish slavery in Saint-Domingue. The next play was the well-received dark comedy "Curtains" by Tom Mallin. This had its premiere at the Edinburgh Festival in 1970 with Nigel Hawthorne as one of a couple made murderous by the introduction of a third party. Lastly, before the Theatre's initial season closed, Cavada Humphrey presented her autobiographical solo performance "Walking Papers"; a powerful and focused work. The building was previously a Victorian music hall.
Angel 
Essex Road 
