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You
wouldn't expect the spiritual home of the chattering classes - not
to mention the actual home of a celebrated actor and playwright
or two (including Judi Dench and David Hare) - to
be lacking in theatrical nourishment, and you'd be right.
Though
somewhat bizarrely not actually in Hampstead but in Swiss Cottage
down the road, Hampstead Theatre takes its name from the
fact that it was actually founded in a local Scout Hall in Hampstead
Village in 1959, before moving first to a room above the local Three
Horseshoes pub (now operating as another fringe theatre, the Pentameters).
Then
in 1962 it set up a 'temporary portacabin' - which it has occupied
next to Swiss Cottage library and tube station ever since.
New
auditorium
It
was expected to last for ten years, and is still standing (just
about!) 40 years later. But a handsome new purpose-built auditorium
is at last nearing completion nearby, and is scheduled to re-open
in late January.
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| Artist's
impression of the new-look Hampstead Theatre |
Meanwhile,
the Theatre ends its tenure in its old home with a revival of one
of its biggest-ever hits, Mike Leigh's Abigail's Party, launched
there a quarter of a century ago.
It
is proving to be a hit all over again, and has just extended a run
that was due to end this month to 9 November.
One
of London's most important addresses for new writing, other plays
and playwrights that have been nurtured here include Michael
Frayn's Clouds, Shelagh Stephenson's The Memory of Water,
and more recently Alastair Beaton's Feelgood, amongst a host
of productions that have subsequently transferred to the West End.
Hampstead's
other Theatre
Up
in Hampstead itself, the New End Theatre has also put itself
on the map since the venue was converted in the mid 70s from the
mortuary it used to be for the former New End Hospital.
 Coming
up there next: one-time Texan model Jerry Hall stars in a
new play directed by Michael Rudman and written by him with
Bud Shrake.
Two
men who once knew each other all too well meet by chance (or so
it seems), on a park bench in LA - and Hall plays a woman who has
been married to both of them.
It
runs from 11 September to 20 October, and is then followed by the
British premiere of More Lies About Jerzy, a new American play inspired
by the life of Polish novelist Jerzy Kosinski, running from
22 October to 24 November.
**Our
Q & A session with Jerry Hall plus video footage begins
here **
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through amazing shots of London from high up in a helicopter!