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No,
this isn't another feature on the Edinburgh fringe, but about the
year-round London fringe, that seemingly indefatigable network of
rooms above, behind and sometimes beneath pubs and other spaces
that allows creative outlets, and often training grounds, for London's
army of would-be actors, directors and writers.
These
venues usually rely on the self-subsidy (and DHSS benefits) of the
people working in them, and the passion of those that set up and
run them, to keep going.
But
what happens when that passion is spent?
Throwing
in the towel
After
22 years of struggle for recognition at the Man in the Moon
(392 Kings Road SW3, 020 7351 5701), its artistic director Leigh
Shine is finally throwing in the towel and shutting the venue
at the end of September.
Though
it has a fond place in the hearts of anyone who has descended the
stairs into its dank cellar auditorium, Shine says, "If after 22
years the person running the theatre is not synonymous with the
theatre itself, then you have to ask whether there is a lot of point
in banging your head against a brick wall."
Finance
struggle
Dan
Crawford, who established the King's Head as London's
first-ever pub theatre over thirty years ago at the pub of that
name at 115 Upper Street, Islington (020 7226 1916), has seen shows
transfer from there to the West End and Broadway, but still struggles
to finance the place particularly after it lost its GLA grant.
But
he does, at least, have an alternative revenue stream: since he
runs the popular pub in front, too, there is some kind of cash flow
through the place, even if it doesn't stretch to mending the leaking
roof.
Make
overs
At
the Finborough Theatre, Neil McPherson is currently
in the interesting position of running a theatre above a pub that
is presently shut!
But
the box office staff (usually Mr McPherson himself) helpfully directs
you to the shop next door for refreshments, though it's his bold
artistic policy that regularly provides sustenance.
New
landlords for the pub are in the process of refurbishing it; the
theatre will get its own make over next, and will shut for seven
weeks from mid-October to accomplish that.
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| "We've
stopped calling ourselves a pub theatre," says the Bush Theatre's
artistic director Mike Bradwell |
The
Bush, which got its own extensive refurbishment a couple of
years ago (with new seating arrangements that meant you no longer
had to rest your back on the knees of the person behind you), has
also re-branded its image.
"We've
stopped calling ourselves a pub theatre," says artistic director
Mike Bradwell. "It's become a disincentive.
"In
the 70s, there was this idea that by opening a theatre in a room
above a pub you could demystify the theatrical experience - that
regular punters would go and see a show. Frankly, that never happened."
Now,
he goes on, "We can never forget we're only 20 stairs way from 150
people who don't even know the theatre's there and don't give a
f***."
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Our theatre critic Mark Shenton is
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