Theatre: New home for one of London's oldest pub theatres

The new venue for the theatre is based just behind the original pub

One of London's oldest pub theatres has re-opened after moving to a new venue behind its original home in Islington.

The King's Head Theatre opened at 115 Upper Street in 1970 and has since built up a reputation for supporting emerging artists.

Renowned actors like Hugh Grant, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French and Alan Rickman have all performed there.

The theatre describes itself as being part of the LGBTQ+ community, focusing on themes and issues of queerness.

The new, purpose-built space set over six floors on 116 Upper Street has a 200-seater auditorium, two bars and a 50-seater late night cabaret space.

Acting CEO and executive producer Sofi Berenger said: "The scale, opportunity and professionalism of what we're able to present here will be entirely different to what we were able to do when we were in the pub theatre."

Despite leaving its original home, Berenger insists the heart and soul of the old place will come with them and continue to be at the centre of everything they do.

"We are a space for artists to come and do something they are not able to do elsewhere," she said.

"We are for the mavericks, misfits and vagabonds of the industry to come and try things out. So, the heart that the former theatre had will continue to come across here."

Gay romantic comedy

The first show to debut in the new King's Head Theatre will be Exhibitionists by Shaun McKenna and Andrew Van Sickle.

In the true spirit of the theatre, the show is a new piece of writing and a new genre for McKenna who has never written a gay play before.

He describes Exhibitionists as "a gay romantic comedy in which no-one dies, no-one gets a horrible disease, no-one is abused and no-one is miserable".

He also insists it still deals with some serious themes despite being "basically a laugh-out-loud comedy based on the old screwball comedies of the 1930s and 1940s".

The King's Head theatre has been based at the pub on Upper Street since 1970.

The cast and crew have prepared without ever seeing the new theatre and although McKenna said he was "excited" and "thrilled" to be opening the space, they were "all slightly on the edge of our seats" ahead of the first night.

Ms Berenger hopes the new late night cabaret space will continue with that legacy and become a spot for emerging artists on their way up to come and introduce themselves to audiences.

She also says the flexibility of the main theatre will give artists and writers the opportunity to have fun with audiences and keep them on their toes.

It can change from being a traditional forward-looking configuration to a space that is in the round or runway layout, meaning the design options are "literally limitless".

Exhibitionists opens on 5 January.

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