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Dateline: 14th January, 2009
New Hampstead Theatre Venue After over thirty years of lying derelict, St Stephen's Church, Hampstead, will reopen in March 2009 as a new arts and community venue, in which theatre company Antic Disposition will take residency, presenting a season of three plays in 2009. Designed by architect Samuel Sanders Teulon (1812 – 1873), St Stephen’s is considered to be one of the finest Victorian churches built in the Gothic style. Built in 1869 and regularly attended by over a thousand parishioners each Sunday, it was closed for worship in 1977, following which it has lain derelict until the present day. Original proposals for its future included conversion to luxury flats and demolition to make way for a car park for the adjacent Royal Free Hospital. Neither plan came to fruition and the building achieved Grade 1 listed status, and vandals and squatters moved in and left their mark on the building during the years it stood empty. In 1999, the St Stephen’s Restoration and Preservation Trust was awarded a lease to restore the building. To celebrate the building’s new lease of life, Antic Disposition’s first resident season at St Stephen’s follows the theme Second Chances. The stories of all three productions emphasise the idea that, no matter how bad the crime or how distant hope seems, it’s never too late to change and find happiness. The characters of Edmund in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing and Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, all deserve punishment for their misdeeds but instead find forgiveness and the opportunity of a new life – they are given a second chance, just as St Stephen’s has been. Antic Disposition was founded in 2005 by director Ben Horslen and designer John Risebero, with the aim of producing innovative and entertaining theatrical work from a variety of genres. Over the past three years the company has earned a strong reputation for high quality productions of classic plays, including Richard III, performed in the derelict setting of St Stephen's and a sell-out run of The Importance of Being Earnest at the Jermyn Street Theatre in London's West End. Each August the company produces Festival Shakespeare du Quercy, a celebration of the works of Shakespeare, which takes place in open-air locations across the South West of France. For its inaugural season in 2005, Antic Disposition produced The Shakespeare Revue, which also toured the UK and played at the New End Theatre in Hampstead. It produced Romeo and Juliet in 2006, Twelfth Night in 2007 and A Midsummer Night's Dream in 2008, all of which subsequently appeared at the Cochrane Theatre in London. Season listing
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