Sketch of box office edited in Photoshop
Website: www.arcolatheatre.com
Location: 24 Ashwin Street, London E8 3DL
Disclaimer: Most of my posts are unlikely to be this long but since this is the grand premiere and involves a play I had to dedicate some extra time.
On my first night here, I pretty much just passed out after
I’d unpacked and it wasn’t until the next day that I ventured out of my cave to
explore. I took a fairly leisurely walk round the local area before I stumbled
into a fairly uninspiring arched entrance way with huge factory doors painted
grey. Positioned at a jaunty angle outside was an A-board with the words Arcola
Theatre scrawled across it in chalk and from the inside the gentle laughter of
a young woman spilled out onto the street. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to
pop in initially as there were groceries to be obtained.
However later that evening, I was sat in my room trawling
through events when I found highly acclaimed “Crouch. Touch. Pause. Engage.” As
an ex-rugby player I’d followed the story of Gareth Thomas in my teenage years
so when it came to light it was showing at the Arcola that night I had to go
along. There were two tickets left so I was stuck going alone to seat C28 on
the end of the row stage right. After almost being late for the 7.30 showing (I
had to switch the oven off with my dinner still inside) I flew up Dalston lane
and made it with two minutes to spare, still with no idea what to expect
inside.
The interior was an object of real intrigue, the stripped
down skeletal form of the former paint factory had been maintained. A bare-bones
aesthetic littered with prefabricated OSB board elements that had been positioned
to crudely generate a box office, coffee shop and upstairs; a bar. Ceiling elements
were visible, lighting was industrial and task driven, the box office even had
the foam insulation exposed, there was a fantastic parallel with the studio
built sets of old television shows, and I began to see that in its honesty the
Arcola holds its majesty.
The Arcola has two performance areas called “studios” (which
in my opinion presents a beautiful acknowledgement to the level of work that
goes on behind the scenes in theatre i.e. when we see a play it is not merely a
piece on a stage to be admired but an extensive network of people that have
been slaving away for months.) The performance I had gone to see was in Studio
2. The makeshift seating reminded me of a sporting grandstand, exposed
structural elements was again a theme, but what really struck me was the
intimacy, the actors were on the same level as the audience no more than one
foot away thereby destroying the traditional elevated stage or any notion of a
hierarchal relationship within the theatre.
I’d sat myself next to someone else who appeared to be on
their own, very individual in his appearance and spoke in a manner that made me
re asses my dull Birmingham drone. I later found out it was Lloyd Trott of the
Royal Academy of Dramatic arts and author of the Actors and Performers Year Book
(2015 & 2016 editions), so naturally I held my tongue when it came to the
discussion of theatre. The performance itself was fantastic, spine tingling at
times and at the end of a long tour expert in its delivery, afterwards Lloyd
was kind enough to invite me to meet the writer Robin Soans along with some of
his students. They were all lovely people, very inviting and wished me well on
my ventures while in London, a few Camden Hells later I finally went home to
enjoy my dinner.
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