ACTOR ALAN RICKMAN is leading a theatre consortium in a bid to take over Hammersmith's
Riverside Studios and re-launch it as a major new forcing house for drama and the
arts in the capital.ACTOR ALAN RICKMAN is leading a theatre consortium in a bid to take over Hammersmith's
Riverside Studios and re-launch it as a major new forcing house for drama and the
arts in the capital.
The high-profile team which he has brought together includes actresses
Juliet Stevenson and Fiona Shaw, producer Thelma Holt, director Deborah Warner,
BBC TV chief Alan Yentob and architect Richard Rodgers.
Riverside Studios, currently advertising for a new director, is carrying a deficit
estimated at £250,000 and its future is uncertain. Rickman, award-winning star of Truly, Madly, Deeply and Les Liaisons Dangereuses, gave his most recent stage appearance at Riverside with a controversial
Hamlet before capacity houses.
He began assembling the consortium three months ago and a 20-page
development plan has been lodged with a board which administers
the arts centre for Hammersmith and Fulham council.
With a huge box-office following of his own, his first commitment
was that he would make Riverside the exclusive venue for his own
theatre work in London, if the deal goes ahead.
International producer Miss Holt, who has just brought Shakespeare
back to Shaftesbury Avenue for the first time in half a century
with her production of Much Ado About Nothing, will be executive head of the group.
A previous director of two adventurous, non-West End theatre centres
at the Open Space and the Round House, she said: 'At first I thought
it was a lunatic plan to get involved in bricks and mortar in
these economic times, but when you see the abilities of the group
behind it you know it would work.
'There is a 400-seat theatre at Riverside which is one of the
best acting spaces in London. As well as doing our own work we
would bring in international directors like Peter Brook, Peter
Stein and Robert Sturua.'
Miss Holt said the group would need time to work off the centre's
financial deficit.
'But with the pulling power of the actors in the company, the
place would be packed. With names like the ones we have, the money
will follow.'
Riverside enjoyed a high reputation as a producing theatre a decade
ago, with directors like Peter Gill and David Leveaux creating
shows which had the House Full notices regularly going up.
More recently it has been a receiving house for incoming touring
productions.
The new group would continue to make the studios available for
festivals such as Dance Umbrella and London Internatiuonal Festival
of Theatre, as well as developing the art gallery and cinema potential
of the building.
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