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A CurtainUp
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London's Fringe Theatres
London has a large number of fringe theatres, often intimate studio spaces which put on experimental or new writing or are a first venue for fledgling directors and performers. They are usually very inexpensive with seats always under £16, averaging £10 and sometimes as low as £5. Shared Experience - innovative adaptations of 19th century great classical novels and 20th century plays (Lorca, Brecht). Critically acclaimed. The Steam Industry - talented director Phil Wilmott has staged musicals such as The King and I, The Sound of Music and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers as well as classic plays like Inherit the Wind. Also stages new plays and helps writers find their voice for theatre. Absolute Theatre - very physical and visual theatre. I have seen a wonderful Queen Christina and plays by Lorca. Out of Joint - My last production seen there was Timberlake Wertenbaker's Our Country's Good which proved to be very exciting theatre. Red Shift - Accessible story based theatre using actor's physicality. They staged an adaptation of Les Miserables, not the musical, but the Hugo book, with an ever changing cast of six using a small caravan type box with flaps to give forty changes of scene. Fringe Theaters The Barons Court Theatre 28A Comeragh Road W14 9RH 020 8932 4747 baronstheatre@hotmail.com Battersea Arts Centre (BAC) (Ex Town Hall architecturally interesting, beautiful marble staircase, now home to one main house and two studios and has been called "The National Theatre of the Fringe" - with restaurant and bar) Lavender Hill London SW11 020 7 223 2223 www.bac.org.uk The Bridewell (In the city, in a former printers' institute, a small theatre which often puts on musical productions as well as plays, with an historic but refurbished bar) Bride Lane London EC4 Blackfriars Tube 020 7936 3456 The Bush Theatre (Up and coming theatre with an exciting programme) Shepherd's Bush Green London W12 Shepherd's Bush Tube 020 8743 3388 Finborough Arms (Pub theatre, home of The Steam Industry) Finborough Road Fulham London SW10 020 7373 3842 Gate Theatre (Small intimate studio with some very highly thought of productions) Pembridge Road London W11 Notting Hill Gate Tube 020 7229 0706 Hampstead Theatre (Trying out ground for many subsequent West End transfers) Avenue Road London NW3 020 7722 9301 Jermyn Street Theatre (Like a small private theatre in the heart of the West End) Jermyn Street London SW1 Piccadilly Tube 020 7287 2875 King's Head Islington (above a pub, near The Almeida Theatre) Upper Street London N1 020 7226 1916 Lyric Studio (Studio attached to the main Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith) King Street Hammersmith London W6 Hammersmith Tube 020 8741 2311 New End Theatre Heath Street Hampstead London NW3 020 7794 0022 The Roundhouse (Old railway turning house where De La Garda, the Argentinian acrobatic show is playing) Chalk Farm Road London NW3 020 7424 9800 Soho Theatre and Writers' Centre (brand new theatre in Soho dedicated to new writing) 21 Dean Street London W1 Box Office 020 7478 0100 www.sohotheatre.com Southwark Playhouse (small independent theatre converted from industrial premises) Southwark Bridge Road London SE1 London Bridge tube 020 7620 3494 Tricycle Theatre Kilburn High Road London NW6 Kilburn Tube 020 7328 1000 Young Vic and Young Vic Studio (Established top quality Fringe theatre with small studio for more experimental work) The Cut London SE1 Waterloo tube 020 7928 6363 Another source of information is this website maintained by a cooperative group of fringe theaters |