Eyebrows were raised when the ever audacious producer Paul Taylor-Mills decided to add a Battersea theatre to his portfolio: a. because its modest seating capacity would make it hard to run shows commercially and b. because, for audiences, it’s a daunting bus ride and short walk from the nearest tube or train station.
Never-the-less it opened strongly with a well received revival of the LGBT classic TORCH SONG TRILOGY which I imagine was a title strategically chosen to establish a gay audience base, essential to any theatre project. This was followed by another critical success, a new musical based on the popular book and film HIGH FIDELITY (expect news of a further tour or central London run soon - this is too commercial an idea for the producers to drop) and finally a stage version of THE CAT IN THE HAT took-up residence for Christmas. There were plenty of cheap ticket offers around for that one but its busy performance schedule meant there was a lot of seats to fill at odd times of the day.
So far so good - so it comes as something of a surprise that their recently announced 2020 season contains virtually nothing originated by the venue and is crammed with short runs by guest companies and artists. Maybe it’s turned out that limited ticket sales can’t sustain the creating of new productions after all. However we only know their plans until the summer. Let’s hope Taylor-Mills has exciting in-house product lined up for the rest of the year.
For now the venue has lots of interesting theatre to offer, visiting from around the UK.
The new season will include Kathy Burke directing Amy Booth-Steel's Edinburgh Festival transfer #HonestAmy and Burlesque'd Live!, which will run on three evenings from 30 January to 1 February in which Ashley Luke Lloyd will direct and choreograph a group of West End showgirls including Kelsey Beth Crossley (Emmerdale) and Charlotte Gooch (Top Hat). On 16th February actor Alexis Gregory will bring his one-person show Riot Act about the history of LGBT rights to the venue after success at the Arcola Theatre, the King's Head Theatre and the Duchess Theatre in the West End.
The Barn Theatre brings its production of The Importance of Being Earnest to The Turbine Theatre from 18 to 29 February and we’re told this production reimagines the classic Oscar Wilde play with two men playing every single character, it marks the Cirencester theatre’s London debut. Original play Warped Sacrifice will play at the venue on 31 March “a show that takes place in a dystopian city where everything is dictated by money and everyone is obsessed with perfection”. Then Guy, a new musical that looks at the prejudices within the gay community from leo&hyde is promised from 4 to 7 March and finally Identity is a new show from CTC Company. Apparently “the 50-minute production examines society's negative perceptions on an individual persona.” It will run from 10 to 14 March.
It’s worth noting that the season also plays host to the previously announced return of Paul Taylor-Mills' MTFestUK which runs at the theatre from 3 to 15 February. It’s described as “A celebration of new musical theatre from around the world” so maybe there’ll be new piece showcased that can go on to be the venues’ s next hit production. The festival's full line-up and cast will be announced in January.
Fortunately three of last year’s top productions are currently still running in London so grab the last few tickets to celebrate the new year.