‘A sight to behold!' Soho Theatre Walthamstow brings live performance back to historic venue

The Guardian

27-01-2025

It opened as a Victorian music hall, had various incarnations as a picture house and hosted concerts by the Beatles, Dusty Springfield and James Brown. But for most of the 21st century, the site of the former Granada cinema in Walthamstow, east London, has remained shuttered.
Now, after a major restoration in partnership with the local council, the Grade II* listed building in Hoe Street is set to reopen as Soho Theatre Walthamstow, with a 960-seat main auditorium, three studio spaces and a generous four bars. It will be operated by Soho theatre, which has run a lively venue in Dean Street, central London, for 25 years. The sister site will present a similar mix of comedy, cabaret and theatre from May onwards.
The opening programme, announced on Tuesday, includes a monthly comedy lineup show, Neon Nights, with guests including Sara Pascoe, Rosie Jones and Sindhu Vee. Acclaimed autobiographical theatre-maker Bryony Kimmings has been commissioned to create a new show, Bog Witch, 'about uncertain times and finding new ways to be happy'. There will also be a pantomime, Aladdin and the Magic Lamp, written and directed by Susie McKenna, who has an illustrious track record of creating pantos in Waltham Forest's neighbouring borough at the Hackney Empire.
Billed as 'a local theatre with a national profile', it will offer 15,000 tickets priced at £15 in its first year, available to those who live, work or study in Waltham Forest. The rich film history of the borough where Alfred Hitchcock was born (in Leytonstone in 1899) will be celebrated in a festival organised by the local McGuffin Film Society, which ran a lengthy grassroots campaign to save the venue during a period when its heritage as an arts destination (dating back to 1887) looked bleak. In 2003, the building – then operating as a cinema – was purchased by the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God which planned to convert it into a place of worship, like Finsbury Park's former Rainbow theatre which it had taken over in the 90s. But the plans stalled when the church was unable to receive planning permission. The disrepair to its interior was then made public after an illegal rave was held at the site in 2011; local MP Stella Creasy arrived and gained entrance, taking photos of the damage inside.
Mark Godfrey, Soho theatre's executive director and CEO, has been developing a strategy for the venue since around 2010. Nearby is a small performance and community space, Centre17, and the theatre pub Ye Olde Rose and Crown whose programme includes standup comedy. But the performing arts offering in the neighbourhood has been otherwise 'a bit thin on the ground', said Godfrey. 'At the same time, a tremendous number of artists and creatives live in the borough.' Alessandro Babalola, creative associate and co-chair of Soho theatre, added: 'It was frustrating because there was so much creative energy in the borough and it needed an outlet.' When he was growing up, Babalola was involved with local street dance and youth performing arts organisations but he and Godfrey, who also lives in the borough, said it had needed a better entertainment infrastructure for years.
Godfrey remembered attending early meetings about the future of the building which 'overflowed with passion' for its renewal as an arts venue. At one stage, plans had included a performance space and a cinema but there is now a new independent multiplex, operated by Forest Cinemas, around the corner. After a public inquiry in 2012, plans for the site to become an entertainment venue were deemed viable. The building passed from UCKG to the pub chain Antic, temporarily becoming a bar and performance space, before the council invested in its purchase as part of its London Borough of Culture 2019 legacy commitment.
The new theatre's USP, said Godfrey, is presenting comedy at a scale unavailable elsewhere. 'London has small venues for comedy like Soho theatre and Leicester Square theatre,' he said. The biggest is Hammersmith Apollo, which holds more than 3,500 people for comedy. 'But there isn't a dedicated space on that midscale level of around 1,000 seats.' The main stage at Dean Street has a capacity of 200. 'We have worked with so many brilliant artists who were once new and emerging and are now really established. We can work with some of those people on a scale that they deserve.' For example, the opening show is the Edinburgh festival hit Weer performed by Natalie Palamides, an American comedian who has been bringing shows to Dean Street for years. Later in May, Ahir Shah will perform his Edinburgh Comedy award-winning show Ends. In the summer, Walthamstow will host the biggest London shows to date for Biswa Kalyan Rath, one of a number of Indian comedians championed by Soho theatre in recent years.
The new venue will continue Soho theatre's community engagement programme. 'That's how we have created generations of artists who feel like part of a Soho theatre family,' said Babalola. Enthusiasts will be able to take part in labs – a way, said Babalola, 'to take inspiration from the work they've seen on stage and do something themselves'. The venue will also run the Primary Playwrights programme inviting primary schoolchildren to write plays, some of which will be performed by professionals, and launch a Panto Young Company in partnership with McKenna.
In 1930 the site was redeveloped with exteriors designed by Cecil Masey and interiors by Theodore Komisarjevsky. Its Moorish influence has been kept in an 'arrested decay' development by Willmott Dixon Interiors and Bond Bryan Architects. 'We want people to feel a sense of its history,' said Godfrey. The venue will acknowledge its musical history from the 60s, and a stint in the 00s as a Bollywood cinema, while also representing the cutting-edge brand of Soho theatre. 'It's a sight to behold,' said Babalola. 'A lot of people will want to come in just for the beauty of the venue.'
Comedy lovers may be used to heading to Hammersmith for a night at the Apollo. How easily will they be wooed to Walthamstow, the last stop on the Victoria line? 'It starts with the programme,' said Godfrey. 'You have to put on work that people want to see and I believe we're doing that.' He stresses that the venue is close to Walthamstow Central, served by overground trains, tubes and buses. 'We'll work hard to put it on the map,' he added, observing that there has been a 'move to the east' in the arts. The Islington dance institution Sadler's Wells, for example, has just opened a new venue in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in nearby Stratford.
Walthamstow already has a world-class visual arts reputation thanks to the designer William Morris, whose former family home in Lloyd Park is now a buzzy gallery. Soho theatre will be counting on comedians to pull in crowds just as the craftsman has done.