West End Gets New St. James Theatre

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 6:04am

http://www.stjamestheatre.co.uk/

[philitalia]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 6:35am

Love the name St James - it has a "je ne sais quoi"

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 6:42am

London used to have a St James Theatre until the mid 50's when it was demolished for an office block. It was a gorgeous place and a huge struggle was put up to stop the demolition let by Lord Olivier.

This new theatre is nowhere near St James but is actually on the site of the old Westminster Theatre

[philitalia]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 6:46am

Am I correct when thinking the Westminster was quite a modern building ? If I remember it well it was "rebuild" in the 80s. I can't remember anything being staged there in decades.

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 6:51am

Yes, 1920s/30s, but not he most attractive venue, inside, and especially, out!
It hadn't been used for many years and was badly fire damaged in 2002. It used to be open all the time up until the 80s and was a regular home of Kenwrights original touring 'Joseph'.




Updated On: 2/9/12 at 06:51 AM

[theatrepaul]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 7:54am

This is fantastic news. Any idea on the size of the new theatre?

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 8:00am

320 seats.

[theatrepaul]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 8:07am

Good that its on the small size, offering something different from much of the rest of the West End. Exciting news - isnt there also a new theatre planned for the Old Astoria site too?

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 8:11am

That was gonna be my next comment, a small studio has been promised on the site of the old Astoria.
We'll see.

[theatrepaul]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 9:12am

Be great if we get both though I do wonder if that will happen?

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 11:16am

It is very well having a new theatre and it is good London is getting one on the intimate size, London does lack spaces of this size. However as I said before and say again, it is what happens on the stage is the all important question?

Good if the theatre kicked off with something like 'Venus In Fur' or 'London Road'

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 11:19am

I'm guessing, though, that they are going to be a producing house rather than a receiving house?

[Jimbob2]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 2:45pm

Articles in The Stage and Whatonstage suggest it will be a mix of in-house production/co-production and hosting other producers' work. Seems like great news. Also the smaller studio space will be flexible either seated, or standing - so plenty of space for innovation there.

[devonian.t]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 3:14pm

very exciting!

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 5:05pm

'David Gilmore, Artistic Director, and James Albrecht, Assistant Artistic Director, will produce a varied programme to include musicals, comedies and classic revivals as well as offering a London venue to touring and regional productions'.

Now then , Mr Macintosh, where's that Sondheim Studio you've been blabbing about for the last 10/15 years?



Updated On: 2/9/12 at 05:05 PM

[Scripps2]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 5:50pm

Yeah. C'mon Cameron, pull your, errrrrr, finger out.

[Jonwo]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 7:17pm

Good to see a new theatre opening in London, The new Astoria Theatre is going to run by Nimax but it's not due to be built until Crossrail is done. I do wish they'd build a new theatre with 1400-1500 capacity but I imagine it's too expensive for any of the theatre owners to do.

The Sondheim Theatre as well as the remodelling of the Queens Theatre has been mooted for years, wonder if Les Miserables still running is preventing them from doing any major building work.

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 7:29pm

Updated On: 2/9/12 at 07:29 PM

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 7:37pm

^Best to take photo out and replace it with a smaller one, as it makes this thread impossible.

Agree with you on needing another theatre in the seating range of 1400-1600 people, this is the ideal size for a theatre and generally the size of Broadway houses, I would say we could do with a couple of theatres that size, problem with London theatres they are even too the too large size or too small.

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 7:39pm

Until you back check you have no idea how big the pic comes out!!!!!!

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 7:40pm

London has the greatest range of theatre seating capacities any city could dream of.

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 2/9/12 at 7:47pm

Thanks for that and agreed you do not know how a image will turn out until you back check. is it possible to enlarge or reduce a image, before posting?

I also agree London does have a diverse range of theatre sizes, but could do with a couple of the mid-size houses, It could be possible London has missed out on Broadway transfer, as a suitable size house couldn't be found, I am not basing my theory on fact though!!

[philitalia]

Posted: 2/10/12 at 3:49am

Hasn't suitability more to do with the stage and backstage facilities rather than number of seats?

[theatrepaul]

Posted: 2/15/12 at 3:46am

Wasn't there a thread on here a while back about a new larger scale theatre at Earls Court too; is that still on the cards??

Updated On: 2/15/12 at 03:46 AM

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 2/15/12 at 5:59am

No more news on that one as yet as it had only just gone to the planners. It will be many years away as Earls Court Exhibition Centre is still there and will for a little while longer.