Hackney Empire saved | reviews, news & interviews
Hackney Empire saved
Hackney Empire saved
Friday, 12 March 2010
Theatre lovers and theatre-history devotees alike will be delighted by the news that the Hackney Empire in east London, which went dark last month, is to be saved. A property developer will pay the theatre an unspecified sum to create 25 flats in an adjacent building it owns; there will also be offices and a community space for the use of the venue, a Grade II*-listed 1901 Frank Matcham beauty. The Empire's acting chief executive, Claire Middleton, described it as "a stabilising deal" and it will allow the theatre to regroup during 2010 before its next scheduled theatrical production, its enormously popular annual panto. A full 2011 season is expected to follow.
The announcement was made at the Barbican's launch of their 2010 season, which includes a tie-up with the Hackney Empire as part of their United in Swing programme. Wynton Marsalis will perform at the Empire on 20 June with the Jazz at the Lincoln Center Orchestra and tickets will go on sale through the Barbican shortly.
The announcement was made at the Barbican's launch of their 2010 season, which includes a tie-up with the Hackney Empire as part of their United in Swing programme. Wynton Marsalis will perform at the Empire on 20 June with the Jazz at the Lincoln Center Orchestra and tickets will go on sale through the Barbican shortly.
Theatre lovers and theatre-history devotees alike will be delighted by the news that the Hackney Empire in east London, which went dark last month, is to be saved. A property developer will pay the theatre an unspecified sum to create 25 flats in an adjacent building it owns; there will also be offices and a community space for the use of the venue, a Grade II*-listed 1901 Frank Matcham beauty. The Empire's acting chief executive, Claire Middleton, described it as "a stabilising deal" and it will allow the theatre to regroup during 2010 before its next scheduled theatrical production, its enormously popular annual panto. A full 2011 season is expected to follow.
The announcement was made at the Barbican's launch of their 2010 season, which includes a tie-up with the Hackney Empire as part of their United in Swing programme. Wynton Marsalis will perform at the Empire on 20 June with the Jazz at the Lincoln Center Orchestra and tickets will go on sale through the Barbican shortly.
The announcement was made at the Barbican's launch of their 2010 season, which includes a tie-up with the Hackney Empire as part of their United in Swing programme. Wynton Marsalis will perform at the Empire on 20 June with the Jazz at the Lincoln Center Orchestra and tickets will go on sale through the Barbican shortly.
more Theatre
Banging Denmark, Finborough Theatre review - lively but confusing comedy of modern manners
Superb cast deliver Van Badham's anti-incel barbs and feminist wit with gusto
London Tide, National Theatre review - haunting moody river blues
New play-with-songs version of Dickens’s 'Our Mutual Friend' is a panoramic Victori-noir
Machinal, The Old Vic review - note-perfect pity and terror
Sophie Treadwell's 1928 hard hitter gets full musical and choreographic treatment
An Actor Convalescing in Devon, Hampstead Theatre review - old school actor tells old school stories
Fact emerges skilfully repackaged as fiction in an affecting solo show by Richard Nelson
The Comeuppance, Almeida Theatre review - remembering high-school high jinks
Latest from American penman Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is less than the sum of its parts
Richard, My Richard, Theatre Royal Bury St Edmund's review - too much history, not enough drama
Philippa Gregory’s first play tries to exonerate Richard III, with mixed results
Player Kings, Noel Coward Theatre review - inventive showcase for a peerless theatrical knight
Ian McKellen's Falstaff thrives in Robert Icke's entertaining remix of the Henry IV plays
Cassie and the Lights, Southwark Playhouse review - powerful, affecting, beautifully acted tale of three sisters in care
Heart-rending chronicle of difficult, damaged lives that refuses to provide glib answers
Gunter, Royal Court review - jolly tale of witchcraft and misogyny
A five-women team spell out a feminist message with humour and strong singing
First Person: actor Paul Jesson on survival, strength, and the healing potential of art
Olivier Award-winner explains how Richard Nelson came to write a solo play for him
Underdog: the Other, Other Brontë, National Theatre review - enjoyably comic if caricatured sibling rivalry
Gemma Whelan discovers a mean streak under Charlotte's respectable bonnet
Long Day's Journey Into Night, Wyndham's Theatre review - O'Neill masterwork is once again driven by its Mary
Patricia Clarkson powers the latest iteration of this great, grievous American drama
Add comment