October sees the opening of a new theatre venue for London, Bridge Theatre, sited by the River Thames close to Tower Bridge and City Hall.
Home to the London Theatre Company, it is the brainchild of the National Theatre's former artistic director Nicholas Hytner and executive director Nick Starr and is funded by venture capital investors.
Bridge Theatre is to have a 900-seat adaptable auditorium with a seven day a week programme of plays from Tuesday to Sunday and gigs and conversations on Monday evenings.
Committed to the commissioning and production of new shows, four or five new theatre productions a year are envisaged.
Bridge Theatre has been designed by architects Steve Tompkins and Roger Watts of Haworth Tompkins. The building forms part of the Berkeley Homes One Tower Bridge development.
The Theatre's inaugural programme is comprised of:
-
Young Marx
A comedy by Richard Bean and Clive Coleman, directed by Nicholas Hytner with Rory Kinnear in the title role. -
Julius Caesar
A promenade performance of Shakespeare's tragedy directed by Nicholas Hytner, with Ben Whishaw as Brutus, Michelle Fairley as Cassius, David Calder as Caesar and David Morrissey as Mark Antony.
-
Nightfall
A new play by rising playwright and novelist Barney Norris, directed by Laurie Sansom.
For the second half of next year, the programme includes a collection of new plays by Lucinda Coxon (based on the novel Alys, Always by Harriet Lane), Nina Raine (about J S Bach with Simon Russell Beale in the title role), John Hodge and Sam Holcroft (from the novel by Fred Hoyle The Black Cloud).
A new version of Bizet’s opera Carmen by Lucy Prebble titled Carmen Havana will have choreography by Miguel Altunaga and will be directed by Nicholas Hytner.
Public booking for the first season opens on 27 April.