Comedy Theatre to be renamed in honour of Harold Pinter

Major theatre owner Ambassador Theatre Group has announced that it will rename one of its London playhouses in honour of  playwright, screen writer and director Harold Pinter, who died in 2008.

The Comedy Theatre on Panton Street, which opened in 1881 as the Royal Comedy Theatre, will be called The Harold Pinter Theatre from 13 October 2011. Its first production will be a revival of Death and the Maiden starring Thandie Newton.

The renaming of a London theatre after a theatre professional follows theatre owner Cameron Mackintosh’s decision in the 90′s and 2000′s to rename the Albery, Strand and the Globe theatres after Noel Coward, Ivor Novello and John Gielgud respectively.

The Comedy Theatre, which was designed by Thomas Verity and built by J. H. Addison, has a long association with Pinter and has been home to seven Pinter productions in the last 21 years including The Homecoming, No Man’s Land, Moonlight, The Hothouse, The Caretaker with Michael Gambon, The Lover The Collection starring Gina McKee, and most recently Betrayal starring Kristin Scott Thomas. Pinter also directed at the venue, including Otherwise Engaged by Simon Gray, Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose and The Old Masters by Simon Gray.

The first show to open at the newly named Harold Pinter Theatre, on 13 October, will be Death and The Maiden by Ariel Dorfman starring Thandie Newton.

Ambassador Theatre Groups ’s Joint Chief Executive and Creative Director Howard Panter said that, “the re-naming of one of our most successful West End theatres is a fitting tribute to a man who made such a mark on British theatre who, over his 50 year career, became recognised as one of the most influential modern British dramatists.”

Harold Pinter wrote 32 plays, 22 screenplays and directed 36 theatre productions throughout his long career. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005.

LINKS

Book tickets to Death and the Maiden at the Comedy Theatre, soon to be called the Harold Pinter Theatre

London’s Comedy Theatre To Be Renamed The Harold Pinter Theatre

The Ambassador Theatre Group Ltd (ATG) today announced plans to re-name London’s Comedy Theatre, The Harold Pinter Theatre , after the distinguished playwright, screen writer, director, political activist and actor.

The Comedy Theatre, owned by ATG since 2000, was built by J. H. Addison and originally opened in 1881 as the Royal Comedy Theatre. The Theatre was designed by the well known theatre architect Thomas Verity.

The range of work at the Comedy Theatre has been far reaching, from musical comedies to revival and experimental theatre and includes hugely successful shows such as Savages starring Paul Scofield in 1973 and The Rocky Horror Show making its West End debut in 1979. Alan Bennett has appeared with Patricia Routledge in his Talking Heads and Stockard Channing appeared in Six Degrees of Separation.

But no history of the Comedy Theatre would be complete without reference to Harold Pinter. The Comedy Theatre has been the West End home to no less than 7 Pinter productions over the last 21years including The Homecoming, No Man’s Land, Moonlight, The Hothouse, The Caretaker with Michael Gambon (one of the theatre’s biggest box office successes), The Lover The Collection starring Gina McKee (directed by Jamie Lloyd and produced by Howard Panter for ATG) and most recently, a sell-out run of Ian Rickson’s production of Pinter’s Betrayal starring Kristin Scott Thomas and produced by Sonia Friedman.

At the Comedy Theatre, Pinter also directed Otherwise Engaged by Simon Gray, Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose, The Old Masters by Simon Gray and another hugely successful run of The Caretaker.

The first show to open at the newly named Harold Pinter Theatre on 13 October, will be Death and The Maiden by Ariel Dorfman. Dorfman’s explosive moral thriller stars Thandie Newton and is directed by Jeremy Herrin.

Howard Panter, ATG’s Joint Chief Executive and Creative Director, said: “The work of Pinter has become an integral part of the history of the Comedy Theatre. The re-naming of one of our most successful West End theatres is a fitting tribute to a man who made such a mark on British theatre who, over his 50 year career, became recognised as one of the most influential modern British dramatists.”

Born in 1930 in East London Harold Pinter wrote 32 plays, 22 screenplays and directed 36 theatre productions. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005, and was awarded the Companion of Honour in 2002. His many awards include the Laurence Olivier Award and the Moliere D’Honneur for Lifetime Achievement, the European Theatre Award and the Legion d’Honneur. In October 2006, Pinter performed Samuel Beckett’s monologue Krapp’s Last Tape at the Royal Court Theatre, directed by Ian Rickson.

Harold Pinter was married to Antonia Fraser, with whom he lived from 1975 until his death in 2008. She said, “Harold would have been so pleased by this honour and I am very moved at the news.”

Ariel Dorfman, Novelist and Playwright, said: “That it should precisely be Death and the Maiden which begins its run in the building just after it has been christened with the name of my dear friend Harold Pinter, fills me with joy and also seems extraordinarily appropriate. That play is dedicated, after all, to Pinter. He was its godfather and guide when it first opened twenty years ago and my mentor for most of my writing life. How wondrous that the very play that owed its first life to Pinter, will now be reborn inside a theatre that bears its name!”

Co-founded by Howard Panter and Rosemary Squire in 1992, the Ambassador Theatre Group Ltd (ATG) is the largest owner/operator of theatres in the UK with 39 venues, an internationally recognised theatre producer and a leader in theatre ticketing services.

Current and recent ATG co-productions include Ghost the Musical, South Pacific, Legally Blonde the Musical, Monty Python’s Spamalot, The Misanthrope, West Side Story, Elling, Guys and Dolls, Sweeney Todd, Company, Exit the King and The Rocky Horror Show.

Release issued by: Ambassador Theatre Group

LINKS

Book tickets to Death and the Maiden at the Comedy Theatre, soon to be called the Harold Pinter Theatre

We’ve seen the future of theatre and it’s going to be comfortable!

Whenever we survey London theatre audiences there is one complaint that comes up again and again.

“We know that London theatres are historic and built for small Victorians, but why do the seats have to be so damn uncomfortable?”

Well good news is here. The largest theatre owner in the West End, the Ambassador Theatre Group, plan to address the back-ache with the roll-out of a new theatre seat.

The award-winning ProBax seats, we are told, are also available in Lotus cars (sounds comfy) and “use dual density foams to encourage an anatomically correct posture in the seat occupant… and dramatically increases the comfort experience for the seat user.”

The first venue to be fitted with the new seats will be the Fortune Theatre on Russell Street in Covent Garden, home to The Woman in Black. We recently featured the venue, as it is getting a much-needed external makeover, but ATG are also making the inside more comfortable with the new ergonomic seating.

Plans are afoot to roll the seats out across ATG’s other venues in London and the UK. Let’s hope that other theatre owners swiftly follow suit.

LINKS

Book tickets to The Woman in Black at the Fortune Theatre in London

More news on the Fortune Theatre

Manchester Gets it First: Following the success of GHOST The Musical at the Opera House, The Ambassador Theatre Group pledges to launch more new shows in the city

The Ambassador Theatre Group Ltd (ATG), owners of the Palace Theatre and Opera House, has launched Manchester Gets it First – the company’s commitment to bringing the biggest new musicals to Manchester before London and other major cities.

Manchester Gets it First follows the hugely successful run of GHOST The Musical at the Opera House, which earned standing ovations from sell out audiences and sold almost 100,000 tickets.

The plan to launch more shows at ATG’s Manchester theatres chimes with the City Council’s Cultural Ambition as a global city – and as such has won the backing of council Chief Executive Sir Howard Bernstein. Manchester City Council has warmly welcomed the collaboration with ATG on the project.

GHOST The Musical had its world premiere at the Opera House on March 28 as part of a strictly limited 7 week season in Manchester prior to opening at the Piccadilly Theatre in London’s West End on June 24.

It is the first of what ATG hopes will be many high profile productions opening in Manchester, with producers using the city as a launch pad for new musicals.

Howard Panter, along with his wife Rosemary Squire, is Joint Chief Executive of ATG. He says: “I wanted Manchester to get it first because I know it as a city with a great foundation in music and theatre. I’ve been talking to producers in North America and Australia and saying that Manchester is a great place to launch musicals and they get it, they understand it, because of Manchester’s heritage. It’s rare for a £6m musical like GHOST to premiere in Manchester, but I think it’s just the start. New musicals need to have a place where the team can work with a knowledgeable, sophisticated audience. If you can make it work in Manchester it will work anywhere.”

Colin Ingram, producer and general manger of GHOST The Musical, said: “We have found Manchester a terrific city to open a new musical. With a large catchment area, and two wonderful musical theatres – we’ve been able to have two months to fit up and rehearse a very complex show which could not have been done anywhere else outside London. Manchester and the surrounding area has a long tradition of theatre going and are extremely warm and open to new work. The audience has greeted GHOST with open arms instead of closed arms. The media have been extremely supportive and professional and ATG lead by Howard Panter and all the staff at the Opera House and Palace Theatre have worked diligently and professionally to help us bring GHOST to the market place. We transfer into London’s West End in a good place with strong word of mouth, powerful marketing tools such as an EPK, photography and a knowledge base of what our audience want from our show”

Councillor Mike Amesbury, Executive Member for Culture and Leisure at Manchester City Council, said: “These are exciting times and this collaboration with ATG reinforces how Manchester has become an artistic powerhouse, which brings tremendous cultural and economic benefits to the area. Just look at the success of the Manchester International Festival (MIF), where a world-class event is hosted in the city and draws massive audiences. Events such as MIF and major musicals like Ghost also boost the production capacity of Manchester, using our expert creative skills and creating further jobs in the industry.”

Release issued by: Ambassador Theatre Group

LINKS

Book tickets to Ghost The Musical at the Piccadilly Theatre in London

More News on Ghost The Musical

More News on Ambassador Theatre Group

The Changing Fortunes of the West End’s Fortune Theatre

Take a walk down Russell Street in Covent Garden and you’ll see one of the saddest looking theatre façades in London. But major plans are afoot to renovate the Fortune Theatre.

The years since 1924 have not been kind to the Fortune Theatre, the 400-odd seat theatre in Russell Street that is dwarfed by its neighbour, the giant Theatre Royal Drury Lane.

Home to successful thriller The Woman in Black for the last 21 years, the Fortune was one of the first buildings in London to experiment with concrete and, since the demolition of Wembley Stadium, is now the oldest remaining public building to be designed using concrete as a textured and exposed façade.

And it’s the concrete that is the problem. Last winter’s bad weather has led to the concrete façade becoming pot-marked and eroded, which is why David Blyth, who was upped last month to Property Director of Ambassador Theatre Group, owner of the Fortune, is planning a major renovation of the theatre.

Work is timed to start in June this year and completed at the beginning of September, ready for the winter onslaught.

“We plan to completely strip both the front and side façades of the theatre”, he told Westendtheatre.com, “and put a replica of the original canopy back over the front of the theatre”. The theatre will also see new display boards, signage and a brand new lighting system.

Originally designed by Ernest Schaufelberg, who also rebuilt the Adelphi Theatre in 1930, the Fortune was the first theatre in London to be built after the First World War and opened, suitably enough given The Woman in Black’s long residency, as the Fortune Thriller Theatre on 8 August 1924.

Owning West End theatres is not for the faint-hearted, with significant investment required in continually renovating these historic, often listed buildings. The Theatre’s Trust warned this week that recent Arts Council cuts will have an adverse effect on the protection of theatres, and even multi-millionaire Andrew Lloyd Webber, who owns a number of West End venues including the London Palladium and Her Majesty’s Theatre, admitted recently that the enormous investment required to continually redevelop West End theatres was “simply beyond me”.

Ambassador Theatre Group, now by far the largest theatre owner in the West End (and, according to their press, the world), will carry enormous responsibility in preserving West End theatres and continually investing in their upkeep.

David Blyth’s team seem up for the challenge, and are currently renovating the Phoenix Theatre, home to Blood Brothers, to be ready by the end of May. As David says, “both theatres will look quite smart when they are finished”.

GALLERY

The planned renovations for the Fortune Theatre

Howard Panter: Fame and fortune

We read with interest Ambassador Theatre Group co-owner Howard Panter’s spread in the Sunday Times Money section this weekend, “Fame and fortune: I put my savings on the stage”, in the hope of getting some tips.

Alongside his wife and business partner Rosemary Squire, they are now the most powerful people in British Theatre and certainly the largest theatre owners. Their deal last year to buy Live Nation’s venues boosted their portfolio to 39 theatres in the UK, including London’s Apollo Victoria, Comedy, Duke of York’s, Fortune, Lyceum, Phoenix, Piccadilly, Playhouse, Savoy, Trafalgar Studios and Donmar Warehouse. That means they manage more than 11,000 theatre seats in London. Powerful indeed.

In the feature, Panter, 61, revealed his ambition to capitalise on the current overseas interest in London shows. His aim is to export shows to other countries by selling the intellectual property of a show but getting it backed by investment from the home country, and populating it with the host country’s local talent.

Presumably it’s a similar model to Cameron Mackintosh but without actually producing the show – more in line with TV companies exporting formats overseas. This makes sense given ATG’s increasing emphasis on production (recent examples include Keira Knightly in The Misanthrope, Legally Blonde at the Savoy and a new tour of The Rocky Horror Show – which Panter owns the rights to). This virtuous circle of owning venues and then producing plays for them makes perfect business sense and mirrors Mackintosh in reverse (a producer who moved into theatre ownership).

Panter is also lobbying hard for tax breaks to help “angels” invest in commercial theatre. Angels – usually rich theatre-loving individuals who take a punt on backing a show in the hope of making some money (rare) and getting a bit of West End glamour (guaranteed) – have long been the life-blood of commercial theatre financing. As Panter says, “With the cuts that are coming, commercial theatre is the bit that’s going to grow, while the publicly subsidised sector of the theatre will be under huge additional strain. The problem, though, is how you sell this politically right now”.

Hard to do, I imagine, when you put it like that.

If commercial theatre is going to grow then tax breaks are going to be less likely. The argument needs to be that, like productions and venues, the subsidised and commercial theatre run in a virtuous circle of talent and creativity – generating lots of money for the UK in the process. It doesn’t pay to have one without the other, so in the short-term commercial theatre will grow as it takes audiences away from a dwindling subsidised world, but in the long-run the whole thing dries up.

We also learnt that Howard has minor dyslexia, likes a good holiday, started in theatre with £1 but now turns over about £230m a year, and has got showbiz in his bones: he originally studied lighting, sound, design, stage management and direction at Lamda.

Which is good to know because with great power comes great responsibility (ref: Spider-man), and we are going to need some seriously passionate, powerful and benevolent theatre people to see us through the next few years.

LINKS

Sunday Times – Howard Panter 15/08/10

Power couple top Stage poll

The Stage 100, the entertainment newspaper’s annual list of the 100 most powerful people in UK theatre, has placed Howard Panter and Rosemary Squire, joint chief executives of Ambassador Theatre Group, in first place.

The couple, who are both professional and personal partners, have topped both Cameron Mackintosh and Andrew Lloyd Webber in the list of the UK’s most senior arts professionals.

Their climb to first place follows their company’s acquisition in 2009 of Live Nation’s UK theatres, which they purchased for £90 million. The deal has made their ATG Group the largest theatre operator in both the West End and across the UK – with almost five times as many seats in their control as rivals.

The poll is usually dominated by Cameron Mackintosh (Les Miserables, Oliver!) and Andrew Lloyd Webber (The Phantom of the Opera, Love Never Dies) who have continually vied for top place, and come in this year at numbers two and three respectively. Other theatre producers in the list include Bill Kenwright (Blood Brothers, Dreamboats and Petticoats) in eighth place, Sonia Friedman (A Little Night Music, La Cage Aux Folles) in 12^th and David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers (Calendar Girls) in 13^th place.

Also in the top 20 of the poll are theatre performers Mark Rylance (Jerusalem) and John Barrowman (la Cage Aux Folles), artistic directors Dominic Cooke of the Royal Court, who rises six places to number seven, Kevin Spacey of the Old Vic at number 10,   Michael Grandage of the Donmar Warehouse,  recent New Year’s Honours List beneficiary Nicholas Hytner of the National Theatre and  Michael Boyd of the RSC.

The full top twenty is as follows [last year’s position]:

1. Howard Panter/Rosemary Squire (ATG) [5]

2. Cameron Mackintosh (producer/ theatre owner)[1]

3. Andrew Lloyd Webber (producer/ theatre owner / composer) [2]

4. Michael Grandage (Donmar Warehouse) [3=]

5. Nicholas Hytner (National Theatre) [3=]

6. Nica Burns / Max Weitzenhoffer (Nimax)[7]

7. Dominic Cooke (Royal Court Theatre)[13]

8. Bill Kenwright (Bill Kenwright Ltd) [6]

9. Michael Boyd (RSC) [8]

10. Kevin Spacey/ Sally Greene (Old Vic Theatre) [11]

11. Nick Thomas / Jon Conway (Qdos Entertainment) [9]

12. Sonia Friedman (Sonia Friedman Productions) [12]

13. David Pugh / Dafydd Rogers (producers) [18]

14. David Babani (Menier Chocolate Factory) [New Entry]

15. Jonathan Church (Chichester Festival Theatre) [16]

16. Bill Taylor (Stage Entertainment) [15]

17. Rupert Goold (director)[14]

18. Alex Poots (Manchester International Festival)[19]

19. John Barrowman (entertainer)[New Entry]

20. Mark Rylance (actor) [New Entry]

New Entry denotes new entry into top 20, not Stage 100

And the rest, by category

N denotes New Entry. i.e. they were not in last year’s Stage 100. There were 38 new entrants in total.

Directors

Howard Davies, Marianne Elliott , Jeremy Herrin (N) Simon McBurney (N) Sam Mendes /Caro Newling (N), Katie Mitchell, Trevor Nunn, Ian Rickson (N) Max Stafford Clarke (N), Matthew Warchus

London venues

Michael Attenborough, Marcus Davey, Dominic Dromgoole, Mehmet Ergen & Leyla Nazli (N), Sean Holmes (N) David Jubb / David Micklem, Jude Kelly, Nicolas Kent (N), David Lan, Kerry Michael, Josie Rourke, Timothy Sheader (N), Graham Sheffield

Producers

Judy Craymer, Michael Harrison, David Ian, Richard Jordan, Michael McCabe (N), Kim Poster, Nick Salmon / Matthew Byam Shaw (N), James Seabright (N), Thomas Schumacher (N), Edward Snape, Paul Walden and Derek Nicol (N), Kenny Wax, Carole Winter / Michael Edwards (N)

Regional

Hedda Beeby, Gemma Bodinetz, Ian Brown, Vicky Featherstone / John Tiffany, Andy Field / Debbie Pearson (N), Peter Hall, Tania Harrison, Paul Kerryson, Danny Moar (N), Braham Murray / Greg Hersov / Sarah Frankcom, Laurie Sansom (N) John Stalker, Rachel Tackley (N)

Performers

Michael Ball, Rebecca Hall (N), Clare Higgins, Rory Kinnear (N), Jude Law (N), Adrian Lester (N), Ian McKellen (N), Clive Rowe (N), Simon Russell Beale, Rachel Weisz (N), Samuel West

Playwrights

Alan Ayckbourn, Alan Bennett (N), Richard Bean, Jez Butterworth (N), Lee Hall, David Hare, Lucy Prebble (N), Polly Stenham, Simon Stephens (N), Roy Williams

Designers

Felix Barrett, Jon Bausor (N), Miriam Buether (N), Ultz (N)

Opera / Dance

Carlos Acosta (N), Matthew Bourne, Daniel Kramer (N), Antonio Pappano/ Monica Mason, Arlene Phillips (N), Alistair Spalding

http://blogs.thestage.co.uk/newsblog/2009/12/the-stage-100—in-full/index.html

West End box-office boost

A recession may still be playing out in Britain’s economy, but the West End seems to be doing just fine.

Two West End productions have just announced record takings for their shows: Mamma Mia! recently took £511,145 in the week ending October 31- its highest ever box office at either its current home the Prince of Wales or former venue the Prince Edward Theatre; and in the same week Oliver! took £829,383 – the highest recorded by any production at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.

This news comes following Ambassador Theatre Group’s recent announcement that it is expanding its portfolio of 23 London and regional theatres. Husband and wife team Howard Panter and Rosemary Squire who run ATG, now dwarf the theatre empires of Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Cameron Mackintosh having spent £90 million on buying theatres currently owned by Live Nation.

The deal boosts their total playhouses to 39, making them the largest theatre owner in Britain, rivalling past, great theatre-owners such as Apollo Leisure or Stoll Moss Theatres. The expanded theatre group is now valued at £150 million with their theatres ranging from the barn-like Lyceum theatre where The Lion King has been playing for 10 years, to the intimate Donmar Warehouse and Trafalgar Studios.

West End box office takings are predicted to be up by 4 per cent so far this year, with advance sales approaching the £50 million mark. Even long running hits such as The Phantom of the Opera, which opened in 1986, currently has an advance of £2 million, audiences for Les Misérables are 20 per cent up on 2008 and its advance is £1.5 million and The Lion King, which has already been seen by eight million people, still reaches 93 per cent capacity at the Lyceum’s 2,000 seats, and takes a weekly average of £500,000 at the box office.

And the run of success is not confined to just musicals. Even new plays, a territory usually about art more than money, is doing good business. Enron, Lucy Prebble’s play about the US financial scandal, enjoyed sell-out audiences in Chichester and the Royal Court, and has already taken £750,000 at the Noël Coward theatre in the run up to its opening there in January.

But West End producers aren’t taking any chances, and are peppering a host of productions with big name stars this winter. Kim Cattrall will star in a new production of Noel Coward’s Private Lives at the Vaudeville Theatre from February, Keira Knightley and Damian Lewis will star in a revival of Molière’s Misanthrope at the Comedy theatre next month, and Rupert Friend and Gemma Arterton star in The Little Dog Laughed at the Garrick Theatre from January.

Paul Raven.