Feature: DISPATCHES FROM THE WEST END FLEA MARKET, St Paul's Church

It’s been a few minutes into my wander around this year’s West End Flea Market, and I’ve already heard an excited anecdote about a revival of a 1960s German-language vampire musical.

I’m speaking to Sonja and Melissa, two childhood friends who’ve travelled from their homes in Cologne and Hamburg for the West End Flea Market in aid of Acting for Others, which took place last Saturday (25 July). They’re just two among hundreds of attendees, who raised over £134,000 for the charity offering financial and emotional support to theatre workers.

“It’s just a way of stepping out of our daily business,” Sonja tells me, in the middle of listing off her schedule of London musicals to see that week. They’re not alone in that mindset, with people from around the country – and the world – descending on Covent Garden’s St Paul’s Church in search of theatrical escapism.

There’s one punter asking in great detail about a particular Les Mis anniversary programme. Others frantically debate how much certain autographs are worth paying for (stars including Bonnie Langford and Alice Fearn are signing merchandise), or wear shirts with slogans like ‘Rachel Zegler’s wife’. Overall, there’s an aura of theatre fans indulging in their most unapologetically niche passions.

Meanwhile, outside the church, almost every major West End show is running a stall selling original memorabilia, and in many cases hosting auctions or competitions to win tickets. Les Mis wins the official award for ‘Best Dressed Stall’, but The Producers has a strong claim for most unique prop on sale – a Zimmerframe adapted for tap dancing. There are also QR codes scattered around with links to an auction with higher-ticket items, like a signed briefcase from Operation Mincemeat.

For the spiritual among us, Su Pollard returns as a psychic, with lines for her booth snaking around the church. Queues are also long for overflowing tables of posters and theatre programmes spanning the last six or so decades of London theatre. On the culinary side, Kent-based Jamie’s Bakery, run by theatre marketing professional Jamie Leadbeater, supplies baked goods along the lines of a ‘Legally Blondie’.

It might have been knocking on the door of 30 degrees that day, but the theatre community is out and ready to give back.

Photos by Clementine Scott