Ovalhouse, formerly called Oval House Theatre, was an Off-West End

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perfor ...

in the

London Borough of Lambeth Lambeth () is a London borough in South London, England, which forms part of Inner London. Its name was recorded in 1062 as ''Lambehitha'' ("landing place for lambs") and in 1255 as ''Lambeth''. The geographical centre of London is at Frazier S ...

, located at 52–54 Kennington Oval, London, SE11 5SW. It closed in 2020, and moved to

Brixton Brixton is a district in south London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th cent ...

, becoming the

Brixton House Brixton House is an Off-West End theatre in Brixton in the London Borough of Lambeth, located at 385 Coldharbour Lane, London, SW9 8GL. It is the successor to Ovalhouse at Kennington, and opened in 2022. Ovalhouse The roots of Brixton H ...

theatre (located at 385 Coldharbour Lane, SW9 8GL).

History

The roots of Ovalhouse can be traced back to the 1930s and its foundations, as Christ Church (Oxford) Clubs, by the graduates of

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniq ...

. Young people from disadvantaged areas in South London were able to access sports activities, skills training and supervised leisure activities through membership of the club. Ovalhouse's reputation as one of the most important centres for pioneer fringe theatre groups dates from the 1960s, when the club underwent a radical change in the policy of the club with the arrival of newly appointed warden, Peter Oliver. Oliver refocused the club's activities from sport to drama and became the artistic founder of Oval House Theatre. Oliver staged the first theatrical production at the site; ''

A Taste of Honey ''A Taste of Honey'' is the first play by the British dramatist Shelagh Delaney, written when she was 19. It was intended as a novel, but she turned it into a play because she hoped to revitalise British theatre and address social issues that ...

'' by

Shelagh Delaney Shelagh Delaney, FRSL (; 25 November 1938 – 20 November 2011) was an English dramatist and screenwriter. Her debut work, ''A Taste of Honey'' (1958), has been described by Michael Patterson as "probably the most performed play by a post-war Br ...

. Oval House Theatre played a key part in supporting the experimental theatre companies of the 1960s and 1970s, the emergence of gay, lesbian and women's theatre in the 1970s and 1980s and the development of new Black and Asian writing in the 1990s and into the next millennium. Following a rebrand in 2011, the theatre relaunched itself as Ovalhouse, and continued to programme innovative, cutting edge theatre. Notable artists who began their careers at Ovalhouse include

Steven Berkoff Steven Berkoff (born Leslie Steven Berks; 3 August 1937) is an English actor, author, playwright, theatre practitioner and theatre director. As a theatre maker he is recognised for staging work with a heightened performance style eponymously ...

Howard Brenton Howard John Brenton FRSL (born 13 December 1942) is an English playwright and screenwriter. While little-known in the United States, he is celebrated in his home country and often ranked alongside contemporaries such as Edward Bond, Caryl Chu ...

Pierce Brosnan Pierce Brendan Brosnan (; born 16 May 1953) is an Irish actor and film producer. He is best known as the fifth actor to play secret agent James Bond in the Bond film series, starring in four films from 1995 to 2002 ('' GoldenEye'', '' Tomorro ...

Stella Duffy Stella Frances Silas Duffy (born 1963) is a London-born writer and theatremaker. Born in London, she spent her childhood in New Zealand before returning to the UK. Early life and education Born in London in 1962 to a New Zealand father and an ...

, Tamsin Greig, Jim Sweeney, David Hare (who worked at the theatre as a

stage manager Stage management is a broad field that is generally defined as the practice of organization and coordination of an event or theatrical production. Stage management may encompass a variety of activities including the overseeing of the rehearsal p ...

), Tim Roth,

Andrew Bridgmont Andrew Bridgmont is an English actor, playwright and stage director, son of thespian and author Peter Bridgmont (January 1929 - 24 June 2019). He is primarily known for his theatre work like at the Globe Theatre and appearing in such films as Mat ...

and

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and ...

Programmes

Ovalhouse had two theatre spaces, the Theatre Downstairs (up to 200 seats) and the Theatre Upstairs (70 seats); there was also a cafe-bar, gallery space and rehearsal rooms available for public hire. After 2011, the cafe-bar was also used as a venue for live-music and spoken word events. In addition to the professional theatre programme, Ovalhouse had a Participation and Youth Arts department working with young people and vulnerable adults. Its 33% London programme offered an alternative route into professional theatre for aspiring artists aged 18–25.

Ovalhouse in Brixton

In 2020 Ovalhouse closed, in anticipation of its move to purpose-built premises in Brixton, which subsequently opened as

in 2022.

Former Ovalhouse buildings

As a result of the move to Brixton, the existing premises were sold, along with the adjacent

Grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

listed White House, which had been used for arts administration. The White House is the former vicarage for

St Mark's Church, Kennington St Mark's Church, Kennington, is an Anglican church on Kennington Park Road in Kennington, London, United Kingdom, near Oval tube station. The church is a Commissioners' church, receiving a grant from the Church Building Commission towards its c ...

; there is a

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term ...

commemorating the birth of

Field Marshal Montgomery Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, (; 17 November 1887 – 24 March 1976), nicknamed "Monty", was a senior British Army officer who served in the First World War, the Irish War of Independence and th ...

, who was born there. The two buildings have been bought by

Surrey County Cricket Club Surrey County Cricket Club (Surrey CCC) is a first-class club in county cricket, one of eighteen in the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Surrey, including areas that now form South London. ...

, for conversion into hotel accommodation for cricket players at

The Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...

. The Ovalhouse building will be demolished, while the White House will be refurbished.

References

External links

Official siteOvalhouse Archive
{{Authority control Theatres in the London Borough of Lambeth