The Bloomsbury Theatre is a

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 perform ...

Gordon Street Gordon may refer to: People * Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters * Gordon (surname), the surname * Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War * Clan Gordon, ...

, Bloomsbury, in the

London Borough of Camden The London Borough of Camden () is a London borough in Inner London. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the area of the former boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn, and ...

, owned by

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

. The Theatre has a

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

of 547 and offers a professional programme of innovative music, drama, comedy and dance all year round as well as providing a space for student-led productions. Funded by a UGC grant and a considerable private donation, the theatre was opened in 1968 as the Collegiate Theatre, and was renamed the Bloomsbury Theatre in 1982. Between 2001 and 2008, the theatre was known as The UCL Bloomsbury, to emphasise links with UCL, who use it for student productions 12 weeks a year. The Bloomsbury Theatre recently returned to the logo designed by cartoonist

Gerald Scarfe Gerald Anthony Scarfe (born 1 June 1936) is an English cartoonist and illustrator. He has worked as editorial cartoonist for ''The Sunday Times'' and illustrator for ''The New Yorker''. His other work includes graphics for rock group Pink ...

which it had used for nearly twenty years until 2001. The main theatre was closed for building works in 2015 and reopened in February 2019. The theatre building also provides access to the

UCL Union Students' Union UCL (formerly University College London Union) is the students' union of University College London. Founded in 1893, it is one of the oldest students' unions in England, although postdating the Liverpool Guild of Students which ...

Fitness Centre and Clubs and Societies Centre on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors. The basement also holds one of the three University Shops. A UCL Union-run café is on the Ground Floor. Access to the Main UCL Wilkins Building ( Octagon Building) and the UCL Refectory is possible through the theatre building. Amongst the many other artists who have performed at the theatre are; UCL alumnus Ricky Gervais has performed two of his standup shows in the theatre, where they were also filmed for release on DVD and was the venue for Crusader

Norman Housley Norman Housley is a professor of History at the University of Leicester. Educated at the University of Cambridge, Housley was a research student of Jonathan Riley-Smith. He was research fellow in history at Girton College in 1979 and came to the ...

come-back lecture series: Contesting the Crusades, which he developed into a popular history book. In July 1982, the Bloomsbury Theatre premiered the English language performance of Pirandello's Liola by

Internationalist Theatre Internationalist Theatre is a London theatre company founded by South African Greek actress Angelique Rockas in September 1980. The company was originally named New Internationalist Theatre, with an intention to pursue an internationalist approac ...

directed by UCL alumnus Fabio Perselli who also did the translation. From 2001, the theatre provided a residency for the

New London Orchestra The New London Orchestra began as a body of players regularly assembled by Ronald Corp to accompany concerts given by Highgate Choral Society, and was formally founded in 1988. It developed into an orchestra specialising in rarely heard late 19th ...

and hosted Robin Ince's "Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People" for several years.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bloomsbury, The Ucl Theatres completed in 1968 University College London Theatres in the London Borough of Camden University and college theatres in London Buildings and structures in Bloomsbury