London’s newest theatre!

The Royal Court Theatre has secured its place in the history of British theatre. It’s where many of the great plays of the 1960s were premiered, and it’s still putting on edgy new work. But most excitingly, it’s just opened a new small theatre.

Not the most inspiring background for a night at the theatre?

‘Theatre Local’ takes plays out of the Royal Court into new homes. For the next six months, the Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre will be hosting plays – in a former lock-up unit that’s been converted to a theatre, and with tickets at £8 against £15 or more at the Royal Court. There’s even a ‘pay what you like’ deal on the first night of each play.

Elephant & Castle gets a bad press – the shopping centre was meant to be a bright new commercial centre, and it never really took off. It’s an interesting mix of pound stores and funny little shops, in fact – some Latin American cafes and interesting haberdahsers – but it’s going to be pulled down in a few years’ time. Meanwhile, there are enough empty units for such experiments as this one to be tried out.

My guess is that the Royal Court will find audiences here in South London quite different from the audiences they often see in their Sloane Square ‘headquarters’.

If you don’t fancy the West End, but want to see ‘unplugged’ performances in the raw, this sounds like a great way to see interesting new work.The Royal Court is now looking for where to take the ‘Theatre Local’ season after the Elephant & Castle – any ideas?

Photo by SomeDriftwood on flickr