VISION 2015-2018 LONDON’S MOST VIBRANT VENUE FOR NEW THEATRE, COMEDY AND CABARET. 3 SOHO THEATRE’S MISSION IS TO: CONTENTS PRODUCE VISION NEW WORK CORE DISCOVER WHAT THE WORK AND NURTURE HOW DISCOVER, DEVELOP, PRODUCE NEW WRITERS WHO AUDIENCES & ARTISTS AND ARTISTS WHERE DEAN ST & ELSEWHERE TARGET GROWTH AND DEVELOP NEW AUDIENCES VALUES Chair of Board: Nicholas Allott OBE Artistic Director: Steve Marmion Executive Director: Mark Godfrey SUMMARY 2 La Bohème, 2010 Soho Theatre and OperaUpClose (associate company) 3 2011 Olivier Award winner for Best New Opera VISION Over the next three years... Over the last five years we WE WANT TO MAKE have almost trebled our audiences, opened a new MORE WORK venue and produced more work than ever before. WE WANT TO MAKE Each year we have over BETTER WORK 2000 performances on our stages and audiences of more than 220,000 people WE WANT see our work. MORE PEOPLE TO SEE IT 4 Utopia, 2012 Soho Theatre and Newcastle Live (associate venue) 5 “If you’re putting on stuff that’s a regurgitation of a newspaper article for people who’ve already read it, and already agree, then nothing changes – it’s basically an act of mutual masturbation – very nice but doesn’t make the world better.” “We want to make things WHAT you’ve never seen before.” THE WORK QUALITY IS OUR MAIN CRITERIA THEATRE COMEDY DOES NOT BORE DOES NOT LEAVE THE AUDIENCE CABARET FEELING STUPID FOR PEOPLE WHO THINK THEY DON’T LIKE THEATRE “We are at our most innovative and distinctive with work at the convergence point of the “The two parts of our name sum us areas we excel in.” up nicely. We are all the things you associate with Soho, and we make Steve Marmion, Artistic Director theatre. Edgy, not-the-mainstream, and a-bit-slutty-sometimes theatre.” 6 Realism, 2011 Soho Theatre 7 WhatsOnStage Award nominee HOW Productions, PRODUCE co-productions, & PRESENT transfers, tours, festivals, Edinburgh... Workshops, discussions, DEVELOP rehearsal space, previews, & SUPPORT placements, attachments, commissions, Soho Six, advice, mentoring... Young Company, DISCOVER outreach, pitches, seeing & ENGAGE shows, VBA, partners, Walthamstow, India, scripts, showcases, scouting, tip offs... 8 Pastoral, 2013 Soho Theatre and HighTide. VBA winner 2011 9 Bottom to top: initial sketch, model box, production shot “A masterclass in how to deliver imaginative new writing.” Times “People can get into a bit DISCOVER of a habit of what young writers are supposed & ENGAGE to do. Soho Theatre are encouraging me to think bigger and think beyond that. And there’s a down- YOU FIND US PARTNERSHIPS to-earth-ness about every- 2000 scripts a year We partner with other companies one that works there. We look at every script and to reach artists and communities we proposal we are sent. may not otherwise find. I feel quite at home.” Charlotte Josephine WE FIND YOU YOUNG WRITERS We see thousands of shows (over 400 Almost 60 entries each year at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe alone) Soho Theatre Young Writers’ Award. from emerging artists every year. The prize? A full public reading. “We are looking for unique and unheard voices – from all THE VBA YOUNG COMPANY backgrounds, attitudes and places.” Over 900 entries 350 members each year The Verity Bargate Award Our Youth Theatre for writers, for first-time writing. The prize? theatre makers and comedians A full production. aged 11–30. CHARLOTTE JOSEPHINE Took part in the inaugural Young Company Writers’ Group OUTREACH Won our Young Writers’ Award Bitch Boxer Over 1000 people each year with Across London, the UK and India, and designed to offer a deepening A sell-out run at the Edinburgh road of engagement with our work – Festival Fringe and two at from homes, schools and screens, Soho Theatre through our auditoria and onto our stages. Performed across the world Under commission as one of the Soho Six 10 Bitch Boxer, 2015 Production of Charlotte Josephine’s Soho Theatre Young Writer’s Award winning play at the Michael Cacoyannis Foundation, Athens 11 “I love working in your building. DEVELOP You guys do the best and most experimental work in the & SUPPORT country, no one else produces such a breadth of work, and the atmosphere of ‘let’s do it’ is palpable. A powerhouse of ADVICE COMMISSIONS ASSOCIATES creativity that feels entirely From creative suggestions to From traditional writer led plays to Our network of partner venues, inclusive; comedy, cabaret and producing and marketing advice. devised company projects. companies and artists enable us to extend our reach way beyond our theatre, the Venn diagram – own building. it’s all there!” Joel Horwood SOHO SIX ATTACHMENTS Artists and companies on a Artists, administrators, assistants, year-long residency creating apprentices, designers, directors, work for our stages. practitioners and producers. BLINK Phil Porter was commissioned as part of the Soho Six SPACE WORKSHOPS Blink was sent to & PREVIEWS & DISCUSSIONS His script associate company nabokov Supporting new projects with For anyone who wants them. Workshop with associate venue the space and time to experiment “We act in whatever Live Theatre Newcastle and collaborate. way serves the show-in-the-making. Co-production in Soho Theatre Upstairs We have lots of awards, schemes Second production opened with and programmes to international associates Jagriti Theatre help find, focus and develop it, but the Our associates include: UK tour (including all associate venues) tail never wags the closing in New York Live Theatre Newcastle, Late Night Gimp Fight, Simon Kunz, Paul Sirett, dog – the work leads.” Theatre Royal Plymouth, Tamasha, Pajama Men, David Johnson, Phil Porter has goneThe on Christmas to write Truce Birmingham Rep, nitroBEAT (resident Anthony Neilson, for the RSC show Jagriti Theatre Bangalore, company), Nina Steiger, Suzanne Gorman, Director Joe Murphy has joined Soho Joe’s Pub New York, Joe Murphy, Tom Scutt, Owen McCafferty, Theatre full time as associate artist Blink was seen by over nabakov, OperaUpClose, Roy Williams, Bryony Kimmings, In the end, DryWrite, Blind Summit, Gordon Anderson, Rubberbandits (house band) 4000 people in 15 venues across three countries 12 Blink, 2012/13 Soho Theatre and nabokov (resident associate company) 13 National UK Tour, peformances in India and New York PRODUCE & PRESENT “Over the past three years, we played a part in getting 177 new shows and over DEATH OF A 1500 artists in front of an COMEDIAN audience. We move in many ways to get work to our Owen McCafferty’s award winning stages. We want to initiate Quietly spotted at the Edinburgh and produce more quality Festival Fringe work and deepen our resources for its creation, Remounted with the Abbey Theatre support, performance Dublin and the Lyric Theatre Belfast and exposure.” New commission from Owen with Abbey and Lyric FLEABAG Directed by Steve Marmion, opened in Belfast then Dublin Associate company DryWrite (while there we workshopped approached us to do an evening a new co-production with the of shorts Rubberbandits), before finishing off at Soho Theatre Produced Mydidae by Jack Thorne in Soho Theatre Upstairs Owen joins the company as an associate artist Transferred to the West End The Abbey and Soho go on to Developed which Fleabag “When I got a call saying co-produce a new show in 2016 went on to sell-out runs at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and [my play] had been short- Soho Theatre Upstairs listed, I started to think, Olivier Award nomination ‘Wow, maybe something Remounted at Soho Theatre for a UK and international tour might come of this’. And (including South Korea) then it won and had a five- Director Vicky Jones went onto win the VBA as a writer, and is week staging at Soho... now script editing for Channel 4 LA BOHE` ME alongside a Soho commission It got me an agent, led Spotted in a room above Actor/writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge to my relationship with a pub in Kilburn performed in VBA winning play at Soho and is under The One the National Theatre, and Developed and produced commission for her own TV series really was the beginning at Soho Theatre OperaUpClose joined as of everything.” an associate company 14 Matt Charman, Won Olivier Award for VBA Winner 2004 Best New Opera Produced three more shows together Now a planned feature film Fleabag, 2013 DryWrite (associate company) and Soho Theatre 15 WHO “Artists and audiences collide; they share feedback in inspiration, and with the creative lubricant flowing, collaborate and invent ideas that could fill our stages in the future.” “The initial attraction may be the bar or a popular name, but from there we open up our whole programme. The bar is the cigarette to the heroin of the new work.” AUDIENCE “You always have new and original and ARTISTS “Soho Theatre – the best theatre of all amazing shows for me to see any time time in terms of artist treatment, as far Our audience is diverse – Our artists are diverse – class, age, sexuality, gender and race. of the year. I know I can rely on Soho class, age, sexuality, gender and race. as I am concerned.” Bryony Kimmings to always have a beautiful diversity of Their taste is broad – new theatre, to opera, Their taste is broad – new theatre, to opera, to performance art, to comedy, to cabaret. artists. As a black woman I like to see to performance art, to comedy, to cabaret. other black people and women in the They come back to see work they want to They come back to make work they want to see in a place they want to be. spotlight and I appreciate a diversity of make in a place they want to be.