Camden People’s Theatre marks 30 years championing new artists. Anniversary celebrated with fundraising for future programs.
The building is quite old; it dates to the 1890s. It used to be The Lord Palmerston pub back then. It became a community center after the pub closed; that happened in the early 1980s.
In 1994, some young people took over. They wanted to create political theater and focused on community issues. Their approach was very unconventional then.
They championed avant-garde work that involved community engagement. They took theater out of the West End scene and had festivals on many topics. Feminism and housing were some too.
The theater faced many issues over time. The roof leaked quite badly, for one. People slept in the doorway often, and they also had cash shortages and squatters.
Camden Council and the Arts Council gave support. They also had renovations in 2021. The renovations secured the theatre’s future and expanded the space then too.
Frankie Thompson and others joined Rio Matchett, the current artistic director there. They discussed the theater’s past mission and want to champion new theatre now too.
CPT has raised £40,000 so far, and their goal totals £100,000 overall. They aim to expand their program in 2025 now and hope to develop emerging artists there.
CPT has launched many creative careers. Some became Olivier nominees later on, while others became West-End stars and TV personalities. Many are internationally renowned too.
Rio Matchett spoke at this recent event too. Last year, they helped 226 artists and companies and had 302 performances for 17,000 people. They gave rehearsal space to artists.
Rio said CPT is a big support hub. It supports emerging artists in London, embraces risk-taking and experimentation, and he said they are committed to artists.
They plan to support future generations and want to create space for new voices. These voices should challenge and inspire others; innovation remains important to them.
They intend to hold ‘Big Bang Scratch Nights’. Mindscape Arts will also perform there, as well as Wild Guess and Mama Quilla! That sounds really interesting to me.
