Almeida Theatre
| 1833: Islington Literary and Scientific Society 1875: Wellington Club |
|
Almeida Theatre in June 2011
|
|
| Location |
Islington London, N1 United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 51°32′22″N 0°06′12″W / 51.5395°N 0.1032°W |
| Public transit |
 Essex Road
|
| Owner | Almeida Theatre trust |
| Designation | Grade II listed |
| Type | Studio theatre |
| Capacity | 325, over two levels |
| Production | Short seasons |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1833 (as reading rooms) |
| Rebuilt | 1982 (as theatre) 2000 |
| Architect | Roumieu and Gough |
| Website | |
| almeida.co.uk | |
The Almeida Theatre, opened in 1980, is a 325-seat studio theatre with an international reputation, which takes its name from the street on which it is located, off Upper Street, in the London Borough of Islington. The theatre produces a diverse range of drama. Successful plays are often transferred to West End theatres.
The theatre was built in 1837 for the newly formed Islington Literary and Scientific Society and included a library, reading room, museum, laboratory, and a lecture theatre seating 500. The architects were the fashionable partnership of Robert Lewis Roumieu and Alexander Dick Gough. The library was sold off in 1872 and the building disposed of in 1874 to the Wellington Club (Almeida Street then being called Wellington Street) which occupied it until 1886. In 1885 the hall was used for concerts, balls, and public meetings. The Salvation Army bought the building in 1890, renaming it the Wellington Castle Barracks (Wellington Castle Citadel from 1902). To suit the building's new purpose, the front-facing lecture hall's tiered benches were replaced so that the congregation was seated in the conventional position, facing away from the front, and a balcony added. The Salvationists remained there until 1955. For a few years from 1956 the building was a factory and showroom for Beck's British Carnival Novelties, then remained empty until in 1972 a campaign began to turn it into a theatre.
The building was Grade II listed by English Heritage in 1972. The current modified building retains the listing.
The campaign to open the building as a theatre was led by the Lebanese-born internationally renowned opera and theatre director Pierre Audi, after he had acquired the derelict building in 1972. A public appeal was launched and in 1980, with the building renovated, the theatre opened with a festival of avant-garde theatre and music, held both there and at other Islington venues, with Audi as the Artistic Director.
Under Audi the theatre's reputation grew and its annual summer International Festival of Contemporary Music and Performance (now known as Almeida Opera) became highly regarded. In the summer of 1985 Ástor Piazzolla, the renowned Argentine tango composer and bandoneón player, made a week-long appearance with his Quinteto Nuevo Tango. Peter Greenaway's 1983 series of films for Channel 4 Four American Composers featured Almeida presentations of works by Robert Ashley, John Cage, and Philip Glass and a Dance Umbrella presentation of Turtle Dreams by Meredith Monk.
...
Wikipedia