Currently celebrating over 150 years as a pivotal part of London’s Off-West End scene, the theatre presents one of its most exciting offers yet – featuring a mix of both owned and external productions, as well their first in-house musical in the last two decades. Guillermo Nazara chats with the man making it all happen, to learn more about this new ambitious roster, and its intentions to lead the venue into its next golden era.
How does it feel to be bringing such a diverse, point-turning offer to the Greenwich Theatre?
It’s exciting for a lot of reasons, but I think most of all we’re proud to be honouring our heritage – Greenwich Theatre has hosted live performances since 1855, but in the 1960s it was scheduled for demolition by the local authority. It was only thanks to an astonishing campaign led by actor Ewan Hooper that the theatre was saved, rebuilt and opened as a producing house. Without Ewan, we wouldn’t be here, so we are delighted to be really embracing our producing past at a time when so many theatres are having to scale back in-house production. This year’s programme is also a statement of intent for the future. After occupying this special venue without any security of tenure for decades, last year we signed a 24-year lease, ensuring the future of theatre in this part of London. Inevitably, there is then huge interest in our plans – so this year’s programme shows the artistic ambition that we intend to bring year on year.
From family musicals and pantos to intense, thought-provoking adult dramas. It seems like there’s something for everyone. Has that been the intention behind this year’s selection?
Yes, absolutely. There is a unifying experience, I hope, in that this is a programme of rediscovery – work by major writers not seen in London for years or, in our summer rep, much-loved tales revisited and revitalised – but the aim was absolutely to cater to the broad audiences of the capital and the Southeast. “Theatre should be for everyone” is an oft-heard political cry both from and to our industry, but there are not many theatre buildings that can claim to offer that broad a programme. With luck, in 2025 we can make that possible in Greenwich.
What other criteria have you followed when selecting the work?
For the adult programming, as in recent years, I’ve been looking for work by high profile writers that has had limited exposure in London – shows that audiences may well have missed the first time around. That’s certainly true of both Parlour Song by Jez Butterworth, which had a brief run at the Almeida in 2009, and Murder Ballad which played in the West End nearly ten years ago. Casting also plays a part. For example, I met Jeremy Edwards for a possible project a couple of years ago. That didn’t come off, but we got on well and I’ve been keeping an eye out for the right part for him. His role in Parlour Song is just perfect and gave me the chance to build a cast around him.
For the family programming, it has been about matching creatives to stories and catering for a range of ages. As a performer, Anthony Spargo is one of the best pantomime villains out there, so for him to take on Captain Hook is perfect. This year we have also invited Anthony to write one of our summer shows, and he is so good at blending comedy with real characters having real adventures that the swashbuckling Three Musketeers seemed perfect. Alongside that, emerging writers Sidonie Welton and Brad Tutt are writing The Elves and the Shoemaker for younger children, while our children’s theatre festival at Easter welcomes a whole range of titles for all ages.
It’s also the first time in two decades that the venue will be hosting an in-house musical. What’s prompted you to bring back this genre after so long?
We have welcomed touring musicals in that time – titles like Rent, Avenue Q and Spring Awakening have all done great business – but we’ve always been aware that musicals can be a much larger undertaking than plays. Financially they’re riskier as, even with a small cast, adding a live band increases costs quickly, they require a larger creative team, and royalties can be more costly. However, we felt that this was the right time – we’ve proved with our in-house pantomimes that we have the infrastructure now to produce on a larger scale, and I felt our audiences were missing out on a whole genre of theatrical storytelling. As long as the musicals we choose honour that storytelling spirit – music and songs that drive a real story with strong characters – then there should be no reason that Greenwich Theatre doesn’t continue to include musicals in the in-house mix.
What other highlights can you tell us about what’s coming up in 2025?
Aside from our own shows, and the children’s theatre festival at Easter, we welcome a host of artists and companies with touring work, particularly in the studio, including a return visit for Eleanor Hill’s award-winning SadVents (new title pending), a captivating stage version of Kafka’s The Hunger Artist, and a solo version of Jane Eyre. We are also, for the first time, producing a show specifically for another London theatre. From 26 February we present a revival of One Day When We Were Young by Nick Payne (Constellations, We Live In Time). This is a big moment for us, asserting that we are a production company as much as we are a venue.
As an Artistic Director, have you found any particular challenges when designing the programming?
The biggest challenge is always securing the rights for the shows that you’re hoping to produce. There are a number of plays that I would love to stage that are either being produced elsewhere or have either confirmed or potential productions coming soon, so in those cases the stage rights won’t be available. We’ve pursued titles that are currently being produced in the US, only to find out that those international producers have their sights set on a London transfer; shows which are turned down which then turn up in venue programmes elsewhere in London; shows which are attached to, and waiting for, particular casting – but I have to say, this has been the easiest year yet, and I think one of the reasons for that is our growing reputation for quality work. It took two years for the rights holders of Jez Butterworth’s The River to grant us permission for last year’s production, but for Parlour Song, it took a phone call. Similarly for Nick Payne’s play and for the musical. It seems that things are beginning to change at Greenwich.
How would you define the essence of this year’s offer?
Like a series of eclipses – a chance to catch something special that doesn’t come around very often, something to anticipate and share with others and talk about afterwards.
Why come see Greenwich Theatre’s 2025 programming?
Greenwich Theatre is on an exciting journey – producing more while others are maybe producing less, reclaiming a reputation for high quality in-house theatre, making work within and beyond our historic building – so a visit to one of our shows means joining us on that journey, finding a show to love now and helping secure the quality of theatre in the future.
Help us continue our work
We count on your support to keep bringing the greatest quality in theatre-related content, from interviews with the biggest names in the industry to reviews of every show in town and beyond.
We appreciate every donation to maintain our high pace and standards and continue to grow.
Thank you for believing in us!
***************************************************
All upcoming shows at the Greenwich Theatre and tickets are available on the following link.