Before we open later in spring, listen to the Arcola team talk about the conception and creation of Arcola Outside, our brand-new 90 seat outdoor performance space and bar in the heart of Dalston. First broadcast via Resonance FM – 6 January 2021Produced by Neil McKeown for Hackney Social RadioListen to Hackney Social Radio here …
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 …
Arcola announces new outside space, with plans for a festival in 2021 Read More »
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.
The impact of COVID-19 is a critical threat to the livelihoods of all those who work in the arts. If you work in theatre, we encourage you to check out the following guidelines and sources of support: The Theatre Artists FundThe Theatre Artists Fund has been set up to provide emergency support for theatre workers and …
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, …
Arcola Bar is looking for bands, individuals and orchestras – in a span of genres from classical to jazz, soul, funk and more – to be part of a new, curated music programme. Our license allows us to be open all day and until 3am. We are looking for daytime and late-night acts that can …
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 …
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 …
HUNGER is a story about a young man on the poverty line, struggling to make his way in an unfeeling city. It was first published as a novel in 1890, and had a notable influence on psychological literature. The author of the novel, Knut Hamsun, held racist views and was sympathetic to fascist regimes. He made a …
Maddy Breen, Marketing Manager at Arcola, talks about hydrogen buses and sustainability in the arts. By the end of January 2018, London air pollution reached the legal limit for the whole year. There is a word for drought and a word for famine. We have no word for a lack of clean air. The lack of …
Green Arcola | From Performances to Public Transport Read More »
Rosabella Gregory, composer of Where No Bell Tolls, talks about the biographical work she will be presenting with Mosaic as part of this year’s Grimeborn festival. Featuring an extensive programme of events and workshops, the showcase series uniquely champions BAME artists and creatives working in opera. I am the composer of Where No Bell Tolls, and my …
Following her acclaimed Grimeborn productions of Madama Butterfly and Tosca, director Julia Burbach now prepares to turn the lens of Benjamin Britten‘s The Rape of Lucretia on the representation of women from ancient myths to the #MeToo movement. Here, she tells us more about what to expect from her latest production and one of the centrepieces of …
Playwright Rabiah Hussain reflects on the origins of her exhilarating debut play Spun. Telling the story of two British Pakistani friends from East London, she wants to readdress how we look at representation and truthfulness around South Asian narratives. After months of staring at words on the page, rehearsals for Spun have been a welcome break. I’ve been …
Sophie McKay is a writer, playwright and performer, and one of the members of Arcola’s new Women’s Company. Here, ahead of their first production Smile, Darling, she writes about putting women’s stories on stage. What constitutes a ‘woman’s story’? Well you’ve got the usual haven’t you: the first sexual experience in all its uncomfortable glory, the dress you …
Will Self reflects on the origins of his novel Great Apes, which first burst onto the page in 1996. The disturbing and hilarious story of a Turner Prize-winning artist, undergoing treatment for a psychotic delusion that he’s human, is being brought to the stage by Patrick Marmion, in its very first stage adaptation. In the early 1990s …
Joanne Ryan based her award-winning show Eggsistentialism on her comical journey to decide if she should have a baby. Here she discusses the show and why, despite all the best-intentioned advice, we should all ultimately listen to our heart. On a cold, January morning in 2015 I sat in a room with 5 other writers and first …
Over the next few weeks, in the build up to the opening of Napoleon Disrobed, we will be sharing Told By An Idiot‘s rehearsal diary. Written by different members of the company that are working on devising this epic production, stay tuned to find out how it’s shaping up ahead of its opening in February! …
In 2018, the Arcola Queer Collective will present its fourth annual season of theatre and performance. In 2017, we presented forgotten and rediscovered plays from queer theatre history, from Mae West’s effervescent The Drag, and a new re-imagining of Edouard Bourdet‘s La Prisonnière, to a series of plays from the activist queer theatre of the …
Call for Submissions: Global Queer Playwriting/Queer Plays in Translation Read More »
In her new play, The Blue Hour of Natalie Barney, writer Frances Bingham brings to the stage one of history’s most fascinating and pioneering women. She spoke to us about her writing process and the art of turning biography into drama. Natalie Barney’s life seems made for the stage. A Parisian-American who lived through Decadence and Modernism, two …
ArcolaLAB is a residency and development programme to support BAMER (Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and Refugee) artists and theatre-makers. Each year Arcola support the equivalent of 26-weeks worth of R&D, readings, rehearsal and development space, ranging from 1 day to 2 weeks. From Monday 4th to Friday 8th September 2017, ArcolaLAB supported the development of …
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