2 October 2006 Written by Andrew Eglinton Print This Post  Email This Post

December last year, saw the opening of the new Unicorn Theatre in Southwark. An ultra-modern architectural wonder, perched tall and shiny Thames-side, just five minutes walk from London Bridge station. It’s a far cry from the old Great Portland Street Arts Theatre that the Unicorn spent such a long time in daytime/night time partnership with. I was fortunate enough to have a backstage tour of the new premises shortly after the official opening. Walking through the tall glass sliding doors into the spacious foyer, I was greeted by brushed concrete, glass floors and minimalist design; it all felt contrary to my image of a children’s theatre, but I was soon reminded that children’s theatre is for adults too, and besides, children are far more sophisticated and intelligent than tradition is willing to accept.

While the foyer may feel somewhat like a museum of contemporary art and design, hidden away behind the scenes, in two very attractive performance spaces, was the stuff of childhood marvel. The small studio space was housing a hands-on theatre piece for toddlers and to be honest it felt like walking through a dream. On my way out I came across a local school outing milling in the foyer. The kids had just finished watching ‘Tom’s Midnight Garden’ in the main auditorium and while the empty, minimal foyer has felt somewhat cold and daunting on the way in, it had now been transformed into a raucous, jubilant playground and the kids were ecstatic.

Shifting forward to the present day, and an article in the Guardian newspaper, by artistic director, David Lan, covers the regeneration project of the Young Vic theatre. Lan explains how he took on the enormous feat of raising £12.45m from 2002 onwards, partly through persuading the Arts Council that the then dilapidated theatre was worthy of rebuilding and partly through a succesful fundraising campaign spearheaded by Jude Law and many other well-wishers and funding bodies. The result will be open to public scrutiny in November this year.

From the outside, the project is showing all the hallmarks of another ultra-modern urban edifice, and while I am by no means opposed to modern architectural design, I do question the effect it has on the whole theatre ‘experience’. I cannot help but feel drawn to a type of theatre that goes on in murky, dim-lit spaces. The Shunt Vaults in London Bridge for example, a space that feels alive and breathing when you enter, albeit breathing like an old man puffing on a yellow Gauloise, but there is a tactile sense of history in old theatre spaces and I have always found that attractive. Certainly, such large-scale projects like the Unicorn and the Young Vic are signs of a healthy theatre industry, but it’s the ‘industry’ that bothers me. The red tape, the strings attached to funding bodies, the health and safety rules, the milimeter inspections etc etc. I openly encourage David Lan to hold onto his idea of saying ‘no to nothing’, unless that ‘nothing’ is the stale breath of government breathing down his neck, prescribing agendas.