Jermyn Street Theatre

Lovely fringe theatre, so tiny, I did not even know it existed! Tucked away opposite Tesco’s in Jermyn Street, walked passed here, must be a million times!
The toilets are uniquely behind the stage, so at first with the bright lights announcing «Toilets» above the doorway leading off the stage, I thought it was part of the props! But where’s the equality, one men’s and one unisex? Does not make the queues outside the ladies any shorter, what is the theatre’s thinking behind this?
Saw the play Dry Land with Q&A afterwards. The play by Ruby Rae Spiegel, who wrote it when she was 21, takes place in a girl’s locker room after hours, about friendships and coming of age of two girls, team members in a swimming team. However, there is a controversial DIY abortion scene, which is mesmeric, excruciating, shocking and sad. Where are the parents in all of this? (The day before the Evening Standard reported that a man in his 50s collapsed during the abortion scene). And then afterwards the paunchy caretaker, comes to lock up, clearing the mess as if it was a normal every day work, listening to his headphones. Very disquieting scene.

Been to see a few productions here and they have always been well acted and scripted.
It is very small and you are almost sitting on the stage, you have to walk across it to get to the toilets. I like this, and prefer generally to watch a fringe show in a small theatre than an Andrew Lloyd Weber.

I visited this theatre to see a workshop production (that’s a work in progress to oiks like me) put on by some actors, one of whom I’d met at a Stargate SG1 convention (you want names? Suanne Braun, who played Hathor). As such it wasn’t really advertised, except by word of mouth. Great show of old musical numbers
Anyway, the theatre Though in many ways it has the feel you expect of a traditional theatre little bucket seats, velvet, dark colours it has its differences too. It’s actually tiny (only 70 seats), and in a basement (under a restaurant where they have theatre and dinner deals). Do not arrive late! To get to the toilets you have to walk across the stage! When I rang to book I asked for a seat with direct view onto the stage (I have an arthritic neck, so don’t do well with angles) and was glad I did, as they have some seats at 90 degrees to the stage. I was in the back row, which suited me fine, but getting in or out was tricky. There was only one entrance to the whole row, so it meant either moving loads of people or climbing over the seats in front.
So, not exactly spacious but the atmosphere there that evening was great. Of course it’s difficult to know how typical it was, but things seemed pretty friendly and relaxed. You had no choice but to talk to strangers, if only to negotiate getting in and out of your seat! I got an added treat too. Among the 70 of us was Anna Wing, who played Lou Beale on Eastenders. I talked to her after: lovely lady, very friendly, and a little posh in real life. She’d come to see Suanne too.
Of course I can’t promise you TV stars when you go but I have a feeling it’s probably a pretty friendly sort of place even on a normal day. And the list of shows on the website looks interesting, taking in Shakespeare and comedy at the moment. Worth a look as an alternative to the big tourist traps. Cheaper too.