Warehouse Theatre
The Warehouse Theatre is a studio theatre with up to hundred seats in Croydon, South London, based in a Victorian warehouse. It is well-known for its commitment to new writing, including its annual International Playwriting Festival, in partnership with theatres in Italy and Cyprus. Youth theatre is also important, including an annual collaboration with the Croydon-based Brit School. Within the building, there is also a bar and restaurant.
The early years
The Warehouse Theatre was founded by Sam Kelly, Richard Ireson and Adrian Shergold at the height of the lunchtime theatre boom with the aim of presenting a varied season of plays with an emphasis on new work to the highest possible standards. The first production - Hell's Angels on Typewriters by Angela Wye - opened in May 1977, and the then 50 seat auditorium became an instant favourite with local audiences for lunchtime performances whilst sharing the building with a Caribbean night club.
In 1978, the Arts Council recognised the work of the theatre by awarding a major grant and in 1979 the nightclub closed, evening performances were introduced and the seating capacity was increased to 100. Highly respected touring companies began to visit the theatre between in-house productions. Extremely popular cabaret evenings were introduced, with performers including Lenny Henry, French & Saunders, Rik Mayall, Ben Elton, and Julian Clary. Gradually more plays were premiered, with many being specially commissioned by successful writers, such as Sue Townsend, who wrote Groping for Words and Womberang for the theatre.
After the withdrawal of an Arts Council grant in 1984, potential closure was averted when the London Borough of Croydon and the GLC agreed to replace the grant. Following a brief closure for major refurbishment, including the building of the bar, the theatre re-opened in 1985 under the directorship of Ted Craig with the premiere of David Allen's Cheapside.
Now concentrating exclusively on new playwriting, initiatives such as the South London Playwriting Festival were launched, giving an invaluable platform to works by both new and established writers. Kevin Hood's compelling new play Beached won the first festival in 1986 and he later became Resident Playwright, writing both The Astronomer's Garden and Sugar Hill Blues for the theatre.
Building on success
The South London Playwriting Festival quickly became the highly acclaimed International Playwriting Festival, reflecting the number of entries from all over the globe. Finalists have included playwrights from the USA, Trinidad and Tobago, Australia and Bulgaria, with the 1994 winner, Dino Mahoney, being half Irish, half Greek, living in Hong Kong. Dino's selected play Yo Yo had its premiere here in April 1995. In 1996 the Warehouse Theatre inaugurated a partnership with the leading Italian playwriting festival, the Premio Candoni Arta Terme and in 1999 a partnership was also formed with Theatro Ena in Cyprus providing selected writers with a window for further productions in Europe. The new writers discovered by the festival have since gone from strength to strength and further productions, radio and screen contracts, and success with other work has followed.
The building
The Warehouse Theatre is a converted Victorian warehouse, built in 1882 for a sand, cement and lime merchant. In spite of refurbishments, it still has several original features. There are picture tiles from the 1880s, mostly on the cellar under the main staircase, and a "crab" winch and wall crane of unusual design in full working order on the side of the building. Early drawings show that the bar, opened in 1985, is actually sited in the old stable block, with the eating area above in the appropriately named "Hayloft" bar.
But the Victorian charm of the building does have its less engaging side. The removal of a false ceiling in 1981 uncovered the planked roof and vast beams and tresses of the original holes in the original roof to let in the original rain over audience and cast alike.
Space is another problem. The office looks like a cupboard crossed with a corridor and is actually another entrance to the auditorium. In fact, until 1985 it was the entrance and many bemused latecomers are still escorted up the backstairs and past the kitchen to avoid walking through the scenery. With so little room to manoeuvre, one (unnamed) actress was once forced to crawl along a wooden beam in the roof in order to reach her entrance after she had left by the wrong door the scene before!
But the problems have helped to encourage the ingenuity and imagination in staging and design for which the Warehouse Theatre is rightly acclaimed - and cheerfulness in adversity has seen staff and audiences alike through many a minor crisis.
The future
The Warehouse Theatre is situated on the "Croydon Gateway" site, next door to East Croydon station on land which has been awaiting development for nearly 40 years. Two rival schemes have emerged for the site and these were put to a public enquiry. The judgement was delivered on 22 July 2004. Although the Stanhope/Schroders' appeal was eventually dismissed, the Inspector's recommendation, endorsed by the Deputy Prime Minister, made it clear that there was no fundamental objection in principle to the proposal and she commended the decision to replace the theatre.
Arrowcroft, in partnership with Croydon Council, plan a 12,500 seat arena, state-of-the-art offices, a large supermarket, restaurants and housing. Arrowcroft have indicated that they may consider including a new theatre for the Warehouse Theatre Company.
Stanhope/Schroders, owners of the majority of the site, meanwhile, have applied for a large urban park, state-of-the-art offices, housing (both luxury and affordable), restaurants and a leisure centre, with a new 200-seat theatre for the Warehouse Theatre Company at the heart of the development.