The King's Head Theatre
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| The King's Head Theatre | |
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| Type | Pub theatre |
| Opened | 1970 |
| Production | Visiting productions |
| www.kingsheadtheatre.org | |
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The King's Head Theatre, founded in 1970 by the late Dan Crawford, is an Off-West End venue in London. It was the first pub theatre in the UK.
The theatre is located in the back room behind the bar at the King's Head pub on Upper Street, in the London Borough of Islington. The small area creates a very intimate setting for actors and audience alike.
The King's Head has presented a wide array of productions: musicals, stand-up comedy, revues, forgotten classics, British contemporary classics, and new works by both newcomers on the theatre scene and established playwrights. It has won multiple awards. Numerous productions have moved into the more mainstream West End and Broadway venues.
Artists to have appeared at the King's Head Theatre include Steven Berkoff, Kenneth Branagh, Kathy Burke, Judy Campbell, Dan Castellaneta, Ken Campbell, Quentin Crisp, Anita Dobson, Dawn French, Brian Friel, Rupert Graves, Patricia Hodge, John Hurt, Neil Innes, Ben Kingsley, Peter Land, Joanna Lumley, Jean Marsh, Sylvester McCoy, Ron Moody, Gary Oldman, Clive Owen, Susan Penhaligon, Nigel Planer, Michael Praed, Corin Redgrave, Alan Rickman, Prunella Scales, Mel Smith, Victor Spinetti, John Standing, Imelda Staunton, Tom Stoppard, Janet Suzman, Sylvia Simms, Victoria Wood, Susannah York and Leigh Zimmerman. Many of them participated in a documentary about the theatre, The King's Head: A Mavverick in London (2006), produced by Dragonfly Films and Xi Pictures.
The theatre is now housed in a Victorian building, but a public house, originally known as The King's Head Tavern, has remained on the same site, opposite the parish church, since 1543.[1]
Dan Crawford disagreed with the introduction of decimal coinage. For twenty-plus years after decimalisation (on 15 February 1971), the bar continued to show prices and charge for drinks in pre-decimalisation currency.
[edit] Current Productions
The King's Head Theatre recently relaunched with a season of World Premieres. The current show is the musical "Betwixt!" by Ian McFarlane.
Prior to Betwixt! saw the world premiere of a new Cole Porter musical "The Black and White Ball" with a book by Warner Brown
[edit] References
[edit] External links
http://www.betwixtthemusical.com
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