News Articles

The Wetsuitman Comes To The Arcola

Based on a true story of two bodies found off the coasts of Norway and the Netherlands wearing identical wetsuits, this curious news story briefly made headlines in 2015. It caught the eye of Belgian playwright, Freek Mariën who was inspired to write The Wetsuitman which will have an exclusive one week run at the …

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Arcola adopts Anti-Racism Rider

Here at Arcola we have adopted the Anti-Racism Rider as an important statement of intent and will work with colleagues from across the industry to implement this. As a company, we have made a commitment over the next 2 years to meet the baseline actions of the rider. The creation of the Rider was lead …

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Arcola Theatre is an OFFIES 2022 FINALIST in three categories

Arcola Theatre has received 3 nominations in this year’s shortlist for the OffWestEnd Awards. David Acton, Ammar Duffus, George Kemp, Beth Lily, Michael Lyle and Ellie Nunn are nominated for Best Company Ensemble for their performances in The Game of Love and Chance. This was Arcola’s first inhouse production at our new performance space Arcola Outside. …

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Spaces available for 13-16 year olds in Arcola Youth Theatre for Spring 2022

Arcola Youth Theatre is open to 13-16 year olds who live in and around Hackney. Arcola Youth Theatre begins in September and this term we will explore the different aspects of theatre making. We will spend time playing games, working together as a team, exploring set design, lighting, sound, script writing, directing and performance skills. From these …

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Carolyn Backhouse, Patrick Brennan, Adrian McLoughlin, Yasmin Paige, Dave Perry

Cast announced for BROKEN LAD

Casting is today announced for the world première of Robin Hooper’s new drama Broken Lad, a comic and moving examination of masculinity in distress, directed by Richard Speir. It is Arcola Theatre’s second production at their new venue, Arcola Outside. Broken Lad runs from 13 October – 6 November, 2021. Press night: Monday 18 October …

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design sketch of audiences in the new Arcola Outside space

Arcola announces new outside space, with plans for a festival in 2021

We have today announced plans to build Arcola Outside, a brand-new outdoor performance space and bar in the heart of Dalston, designed by multi-award-winning stage designer Jon Bausor, and built by a team of freelance theatre and live events technicians. Scheduled to open for a series of trial performances in December 2020, the new space …

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Arcola Theatre

Arcola receives Culture Recovery Fund survival grant

We are really pleased to share the news today that our application to the Culture Recovery Fund has been successful, and Arcola will receive a grant to help us survive for the next six months.

Information for ticket holders

We still plan to stage all of the productions in our 20th anniversary season. However, due to the impact of COVID-19 (coronavirus), it may be necessary to postpone some productions. We will contact you if you have tickets for a production that is postponed, and once we can confirm new dates we will offer an …

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Watch Mark Thomas’ OUR NHS @ 70 and support food banks during COVID-19 outbreak

Mark Thomas performed his critically-acclaimed show, Check-Up: Our NHS @ 70, at Arcola Theatre in October 2018. Until Thursday 26 March 2020, you can watch it from your own home and support foodbanks. It’s pay what you can, with all proceeds going to the Trussell Trust. ★★★★ “A devastatingly thorough portrait of a system in crisis, shot through with unlikely humour” …

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Arcola‘s co-founders win Off West End Special Achievement Award

The co-founders of Arcola Theatre have received the Off West End Special Achievement Award for their work staging outstanding theatre in the heart of Hackney over 20 years. Mehmet Ergen (Artistic Director) and Leyla Nazli (Executive Producer) received the award at the Off West End Awards ceremony at Battersea Arts Centre on Sunday 8 March …

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Cast announced for GENTLEMEN

The full casting has been announced today for the world première of Matt Parvin’s new drama Gentlemen, directed by Richard Speir, which opens at Arcola Theatre on 24 March, with previews from 18 March.  Testing the limits of retribution and the power of social status at university, Gentlemen examines what happens when culture turns toxic, …

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Arcola Theatre announces 20th anniversary season

New, year-long season celebrates 20 years of Arcola 11 world premieres – from artists who helped shape Arcola’s first two decades, including Jack Shepherd, Barney Norris, Rebecca Lenkiewicz, Leyla Nazli, David Farr and Tena Štivičić, and from a new generation European premiere of Dominique Morisseau’s Pipeline, a new staging of Death In Venice starring Greg …

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Cast announced for #WeAreArrested

Arcola Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company today announce the full cast for the London première of Pippa Hill and Sophie Ivatts’ adaptation of #WeAreArrested by Can Dündar, a vital story about the cost of reporting the truth in the age of fake news. Ivatts directs Jamie Cameron (Son), Peter Hamilton Dyer (Can) and Indra …

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Cast announced for HUNGER

Arcola Theatre and Jump Spark today announce the full cast for Amanda Lomas‘ bold new imagining of Hunger, adapted from the ground-breaking psychological novel by Knut Hamsun. Fay Lomas directs Archie Backhouse (Hans), Katie Eldred (Ylayali), Kwami Odoom (The Young Man) and Jessica Tomlinson (Landlady). The production opens on 25 November, with previews from 20 …

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Grimeborn 2019 is most successful ever

The thirteenth edition of Arcola’s Grimeborn Opera Festival was the most successful of all time, attracting more than 6,500 people and over a thousand first-time visitors. There were £12 tickets for all 16 operas, and a record number of sold-out performances. Two productions – Arcola Theatre’s Das Rheingold and Arcola Participation Queer Collective’s Don Jo …

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Cast announced for ANNA BELLA EEMA

Arcola Theatre, Atticist and Ellie Keel Productions today announce full cast for the UK première of Anna Bella Eema by Pulitzer Prize finalist Lisa D’Amour. Jessica Lazar directs the ensemble Natasha Cottriall, Gabrielle Brooks and Beverley Rudd. The new production opens at Arcola Theatre on 16 September, with previews from 11 September, and runs until …

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Arcola to mark 50th anniversary of Stonewall riots with RIOT ACT

Arcola Theatre will stage Alexis Gregory‘s critically-acclaimed, verbatim theatre piece Riot Act over three Sundays in June, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. The 30 June performance will coincide with the actual anniversary weekend. A breathtaking journey through six decades of queer history, Riot Act was created from playwright and performer Alexis …

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