| Tricycle Theatre | |
|---|---|
The Tricycle Theatre |
|
| Address | 269 Kilburn High Road |
| City | London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Architect | Tim Foster Architects |
| Capacity | 235 |
| Opened | 1980 |
| Rebuilt | 1998 |
| www.tricycle.co.uk | |
The Tricycle Theatre is located on Kilburn High Road in Kilburn in the London Borough of Brent, England. During the last 30 years, the Tricycle has been presenting plays reflecting the cultural diversity of its community; in particular Black, Irish, Jewish, Asian and South African works, as well as political work.
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The Tricycle Theatre opened on the Kilburn High Road, London, in 1980 as the permanent home of the Wakefield Tricycle Company, a touring theatre company that was known for producing British premieres, new writing, children's shows and theatre for the community in London and the South East.
After securing the support of the London Borough of Brent, the GLA and Arts Council England, the company began work converting an old music and dance Forester's Hall on the Kilburn High Road into what is now known as the Tricycle Theatre, opting for this space due to the lack of local entertainment facilities for the residents of Kilburn at the time.
The 235 seat auditorium, designed by architect Tim Foster and theatre consultant Iain Mackintosh, resembled a courtyard and was built using free-standing builders scaffolding that supported padded benches rather than individual seats, which resulted in 'an innovative, intimate and unique theatre space'. [1]
In 1987 the theatre suffered a devastating fire that spread from a neighbouring timber yard and which gutted the auditorium, however, after extensive fundraising, the theatre was rebuilt and reopened in 1989, with only minor alterations.
In 1998, a 300 seat cinema was added to the complex, and in 2001 the Creative Space was built for the theatre's extensive education and community work. All stages of the development were designed by Tim Foster Architects.[2]
The Tricycle has established a unique reputation for responding to contemporary issues and events with its ground-breaking 'tribunal plays' based on verbatim reconstructions of public inquiries and for its political work.
In 1994 the Tricycle produced Half the Picture by Richard Norton-Taylor and John McGrath (a dramatisation of the Scott Arms to Iraq Inquiry), which was the first play ever to be performed in the Houses of Parliament. This was the first of a series of plays that have subsequently become known as the Tricycle Tribunal Plays. The next, marking the 50th anniversary of the 1946 War Crimes Tribunal, was Nuremberg, which was followed by Srebrenica – the UN Rule 61 Hearings, which later transferred to the National Theatre and the Belfast Festival at Queen's.
In 1999, the Tricycle’s reconstruction of The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry - The Colour of Justice received tremendous critical and public acclaim went on to play for two weeks at Theatre Royal, Stratford East and transferred to the Victoria Palace in the West End. It completed a national tour in 1999 which included Belfast and the National Theatre.
In 2003 JUSTIFYING WAR – Scenes from the Hutton Inquiry opened at the Tricycle.
In 2004 the Tricycle produced Guantanamo: Honor Bound to Defend Freedom written by Victoria Brittain and Gillian Slovofrom spoken evidence, which transferred to the New Ambassadors Theatre in the West End and the Culture Project in New York (where Archbishop Desmond Tutu appeared in the production). In 2006 the Tricycle presented a performance of the play at the Houses of Parliament and also on Washington’s Capitol Hill. It has since been performed around the world and in the US through the ‘Guantanamo Reading Project’, which develops community productions of readings of the play. Twenty-five of these have already been held in cities across America.
Bloody Sunday: Scenes from the Saville Inquiry opened in 2005 and later transferred to Belfast, Derry and to the Abbey Theatre for the Dublin Theatre Festival. In 2006 the theatre was awarded an Evening Standard Special Drama Award for "pioneering political work", and a Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement[3] for Bloody Sunday.
In 2007 'Called to Account - the indictment of Tony Blair for the crime of aggression against Iraq - a hearing' was staged at the Tricycle with evidence from Richard Perle, the Chilean Ambassador to the U.N. and ex- Cabinet Minister Clare Short. All of these plays have been broadcast by the BBC on radio or television, and have together reached audiences of over 30 million people worldwide.