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11 places to see boundary-pushing UK theatre
British theatre has seldom been in better shape, with a new generation of venues and companies creating immersive, radical and original work. Time Out London's theatre editor tells you where to go.
If you’re under the impression that theatre is overpriced and conservative… then you’re probably thinking of the West End. Get out of Theatreland and there’s a world of mad and challenging work shaping the future of stage, screen and more.
1. The Yard Theatre
This Beautiful Future at The Yard Theatre
© Richard Lakos
2A, Queen’s Yard, London E9 5EN theyardtheatre.co.uk
East London is weirdly poorly-served for theatre, but Hackney Wick’s The Yard goes a long way in compensation. A model of how to do fringe theatre in the 21st century, The Yard stages exciting agenda-setting experimental plays and new writing, while its building – made from recycled material – boasts a rotating curated menu and drinks list that runs from tinnies to cocktails.
2. Young Vic
66 The Cut, Lambeth, London SE1 8LZ www.youngvic.org
Outgoing Young Vic artistic director David Lan completely revolutionized British theatre during his 18 years in charge by empowering directors to create the sort of big budget avant-garde takes on the classics rarely seen outside Europe’s hippest houses. His successor, the actor, director and broadcaster Kwame Kwei-Armah – who takes over in February 2018 – will be Britain’s first black artistic director of a major theatre.
3. Almeida Theatre
Charlotte Hope in Albion at The Almeida
© Marc Brenner
Almeida St, London N1 1TA www.almeida.co.uk
Since wunderkind Rupert Goold took over in 2013, the tiny Almeida has gone from chintzy backwater to London’s most influential theatre. Goold and protégé Robert Icke have fired out a gargantuan number of West End transfer smashes, from Lucy Kirkwood’s epic political thriller Chimerica to Icke’s dreamy, Andrew Scott-starring Hamlet. The place to see tomorrow’s hits today.
4. Royal Court Theatre
Minefield at the Royal Court
© Tristram Kenton
Sloane Square, London SW1W 8AS royalcourttheatre.com
Responsible for John Osborne’s snarling Look Back in Anger, Sarah Kane’s terrifying Blasted and Jez Butterworth’s visionary Jerusalem, new writing powerhouse the Royal Court is the most distinguished theatre on this list and the most radical. Under current boss Vicky Featherstone it has mixed genuinely challenging Brit and international work with the odd West End transfer smash from returning heroes like Butterworth and Martin McDonagh.
5. Camden People's Theatre
58-60 Hampstead Rd, Kings Cross, London NW1 2PY www.cptheatre.co.uk
London’s wokest theatre is an unprepossessing concrete box just north of Warren Street. But its themed festivals of new work talk about up-to-the-minute issues that other theatres are years off dealing with: recent subjects have included sex positivity and gender fluidity.
6. The Vaults
Arch 236, Leake Street, London SE1 7NN www.thevaults.london
London’s disused railway arches have long provided atmospheric homes for theatres, though TfL usually gives them the boot before long. Currently in play, The Vaults under Waterloo Station offer a mix of posh immersive theatre shows and the hipper Vaults Festival, a subterranean mini Edinburgh Fringe that runs at the start of the year.
7. Unicorn Theatre
147 Tooley Street, London SE1 2HZ www.unicorntheatre.com
This London Bridge kids’ theatre basically takes the most exciting oddballs from the experimental theatre hinterlands, chucks a load of money at them and asks them to make kids’ shows. There is some more trad stuff at the Unicorn too, but it’s the really WTF shows that make it a proper adult destination too.
8. Battersea Arts Centre
Lavender Hill, London SW11 5TN www.bac.org.uk
One of the most stunning theatres in London, the old Battersea Town Hall hit the headlines for the wrong reasons in [2015] when a chunk of it was destroyed by a fire. Recovery has been slow but steady (it had insurance). Its vast numbers of rooms play host to a kaleidoscopic range of new work – there are ‘proper’ headline shows, many of them quirky gems, but its bread-and-butter is the numerous ‘scratch’ (ie work-in-progress) performances.
9. Punchdrunk
Of no fixed abode www.punchdrunk.com
Punchdrunk took immersive theatre mainstream in the ’00s with the huge, creepy, detailed, interactive worlds that they created in shows like Masque of the Red Death and Adam Curtis collaboration It Felt Like a Kiss. After their huge 2013 show – The Drowned Man – they’ve pretty much gone underground, with their last publically bookable show, 2017’s Kabeiroi, only offering 864 tickets across its entire run. They’ll be back, though: if you see the hint of a new show, snap up tickets quick.
10. Wise Children
Wise Children
© Wise Children
London home will be the Old Vic, The Cut, SE1 8NB www.wisechildren.co.uk
One of the brightest talents in UK theatre, director Emma Rice staged a glorious two-year rampage in charge of Shakespeare’s Globe before she was given the boot by a board aghast at her use of amplified sound and electric lights. Her new company looks like our gain, though: Wise Children will kick off their career in 2018 staging Angela Carter’s "unstageable" novel of the same name.
11. Hamilton
Victoria Palace Theatre, from Dec 6 www.hamiltonthemusical.co.uk
Oh go on, one West End show. Having seen Lin-Manuel Miranda’s game-changing hip-hop musical about Alexander Hamilton, the duel-happy first secretary of the US treasury, I can confidently tell you it’s worth all the hype and we should be very excited about its UK debut (check out the soundtrack on Spotify for a taster). It’s sold out as hell, but once it’s up and running daily and weekly ticket lotteries will distribute last-minute tickets at affordable prices.
Andrzej Lukowski is the Theatre Editor at Time Out London. Follow him on Twitter @MrLukowski
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