Shaw Theatre

What a great space that I had no idea existed!
We recently attended a taping of the BBC Radio 4 show «The Unbelievable Truth» at the Shaw and it was great. The arrangement of seats makes for no bad viewpoints, the seats are incredibly comfortable, the sound is great, and the staff working were polite and helpful. Nice lobby and bar area as well. As far as a small theatre goes — it’s great! The location (just off Euston Road and next to the British Library) is a bit less obvious than most theatre spaces, but it seems to be more suited to lectures, radio shows, small theatrics, etc.
Thus far, the Shaw is my favorite location to have attended a radio show or podcast recording!

Not a terribly beautiful or exciting building, but it’s conveniently located by Kings Cross station, and the theatre itself is well thought out. Good acoustics, good gradient for the seat rows so that your view isn’t blocked by the person in front, comfortable seats, and the theatre is bigger than I expected with plenty of seating. This is very important, my friends, if you’re queuing to get into a free BBC Radio 4 recording, as we were. We turned up for The Unbelievable Truth well before doors opened, but the queue was already snaking up the road and round the corner. Thought we would be turned away, but were relieved to discover the place seats nearly 450 people. Phew! So we got to see David Mitchell and Sandi Toksvig after all. Hoo-​bloody-​rah!

Cosy theatre near Kings x. This year It’s the Snow White pantomime.

What a nice little theatre we have here. I hope on visiting many more times, as this is where they host free tapings of The Unbelievable Truth from Radio 4. It’s a panel show hosted by David Mitchell (Peep Show, Mitchell & Webb, HILARITY) and various comedians who have to speak for a few minutes about a pre-​specified subject and put lies in there which the other comedians have to pick up on. It’s quite brilliant.
Anyway, back to the theatre. If you’re coming to one of these free radio taping shows, you have to spend quite a bit of time waiting in the lobby. Which is fine as they have a bar and a few seats, but it is a little bit cramped. The auditorium itself is great though. Small enough to have a good view wherever you’re sitting, modern enough to have good acoustics, comfortable enough seats. I’ll be back for more comedy gold.

Last year, I went to go see my favourite female comic Sandra Bernhard (hot) at the Shaw Theatre opening night, 3 rows from the stage. I could have died. She winked at me.
I also saw Chrissie Hyde work the red carpet and some hot women who looked all hollywood and some gay looking guys. I bragged about the coolness of this adventure for weeks afterwards.
Anyway, the theatre itself was really nice, just the right size (not to big, not a coffee shop) with slanted seats.
It was very clean and had a nice, albeit small lobby. There are a lot of comics who perform at this venue. I did not find the pricing to be unreasonable and for 30 pounds or so, you can see a good show from a well known act.
Additionally, if you are from out of town, the Novotel is next door and you could maybe surprise your sweetie with a show and a hotel room. I was plenty hot after seeing Sandra, I wish my room was next door rather than hour on the train.

I have been here for two events. The first was a free afternoon talk between Elaine Page and Elaine Stritch, which was fascinating. I didn’t know Stritch was the original choice for Dorothy in the Golden Girls until she annoyed the producer for example, or that she’d had problems with alcohol. Recently saw Romance and Cigarettes, she was great in that, but I’ve missed her appearances in 30 Rock. The auditorium was large, the seats were comfortable, and you could hear everything that was being said.
The second event was quite recent, the Felix Dennis Did I mention the Free Wine tour. Felix Dennis created Oz and Maxim Magazines, is very wealthy and is now a poet of strictly structured verse only. The free wine was supplied by The Wine Week. We had to walk along various corridors attached to the hotel and reached a large room with a door that led directly to the theatre. In that room were six or seven groups of tables with fantastic wine on all of them. I forgot to sample the whites, because I am an idiot, but had several glasses of the Pedesclaux and the Margaux, which were superb, probably the best wine I’ve ever had. Nibbles were mini Yorkshire Puddings, long meaty spring roll things, prosciutto, salmon on blinis (and a tiny amount of caviar) and small crisp jelly and camembert slices. Dennis was a very entertaining performer, giving it everything, evidently learnt a lot frmo his contact with the rsc. Behind him was a large screen, on which were projected video of himself reading, and the occasional animation. His best poem was probably the one about being 15 and losing his virginity. Again the theatre space was great, even this time with a capacity house, you could hear everything very clearly, even though the by now rather drunk audience had a tendency to respond.