Tabard Theatre Relaunched As Chiswick Playhouse

---

Ambitious plans to be 'the breeding ground for the next generation of top creatives'

The Tabard Theatre has been relaunched with a new name, a refurbishment and an ambitious new line-up of shows for the next three months.

It will now be known as Chiswick Playhouse, and there are plans to bring new directing and acting talent to Chiswick.

The Executive Director, Mark Perry commented; "Chiswick Playhouse may be a small space but it has big ambitions and promises a fantastic opening season to mark its exciting relaunch."

The plan is to produce new work as well as reimagining classic stories. The theatre will create its own in-house productions and bring shows of West End calibre to West London at a fraction of the ticket price!

The season will open on 30 October with I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, directed by Charlotte Westenra (Kiss of the Spiderman, Donmar Warehouse) which will star George Rae (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat and The Lion King, West End) and Dominic Hodson (War Horse and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, West End), alongside Laura Johnson (Hair 50th Anniversary, The Vaults and Hope Mill Theatre) and Naomi Slights (Mamma Mia, West End).

The new season also includes a Hansel and Gretel story, and a gripping revival of Tryst, (a passion-fuelled thriller which saw huge success in 2017).

The festive option, Christmas at Chiswick Playhouse is a series of Sunday evening concerts throughout December featuring a host of the UK’s leading musical theatre talent. There will be free mulled wine, songs from hit shows and Christmas classics.

The Tabard Theatre has been part of the community and cultural life of Chiswick since the 1980s, and like most pub theatres has been run on a small budget.

It has, however, successfully hosted a huge variety of plays ranging from small independent theatre company productions, to comedy gigs 'from top performers.

Local actors who have graced the stage include Fenella Fielding, Janet Ellis, Kevin McNally and Phyllis Logan. Even Alan Alda flew over from Hollywood when his play was staged a few years ago.

Perry comments; "Having been a Chiswick resident myself for over 15 years, I’m aware of the remarkable history of artists and theatre practitioners that have lived and worked in the area. By changing the name, we want to demonstrate our pride in our local heritage and ensure that the local community recognises the venue as Chiswick’s local theatre.

"We also want the wider London theatregoing audience to recognise our reputation as an exciting producing theatre, creating shows that will start in Chiswick and move on to other London venues and beyond. Lots of venues focus on types of work – new writing, musicals etc. Rather than genres, we want Chiswick Playhouse to be the breeding ground for the next generation of top creatives.

"As part of our first season we’re delighted to have rising stars Charlotte Westenra, Lucy Jane Atkinson and Phoebe Barran directing our in-house productions."

The 100-seat theatre has also been used as a venue for political debates and for author interviews during the Chiswick Book Festival.

The theatre is upstairs at the Tabard pub, a Grade II listed building in Bath Road. It did close two years ago for a refurbishment, including a new bar and improved seating.

The Tabard brought important and innovative theatre back to Chiswick after a gap of over twenty years following the 1959 closure of the much-loved Chiswick Empire.

You can read more about the history of theatre in Chiswick and the playwrights and writers from the area here, on the Chiswick Timeline, compiled by the director of the Chiswick Book Festival, Torin Douglas.

 

October 9, 2019

 

Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We’ve always done that and won’t be changing, in fact we’d like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we’d be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you’d like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site.

 

October 10, 2019