Chelsea Theatre

Coordinates: 51°28′53″N 0°10′47″W / 51.481389°N 0.179722°W / 51.481389; -0.179722

Chelsea Theatre
Address	Kings Road
City	Kensington and Chelsea, London
Capacity	110 seats
Type	Producing house
Opened	Reopened November 2001
Production	Short seasons
www.chelseatheatre.org.uk

Chelsea Theatre is a studio theatre located on the Kings Road in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London. It presents, commissions, and produces new work and is the only theatre in London dedicated to Performance Art. The theatre is also focused on working within the local community.They produces the live art and contemporary practice Sacred Festival.

Past Productions

The 2006/7 season, SACRED, consisted of new work commissioned by artists including: Goat Island (performance group), Ron Athey, Mem Morrison, Kazuko Hohki of the Frank Chickens, Gary Carter and Third Angel. These artists mentored emerging theatre makers, including: Silke Mansholt, Dominic Johnson, Sheila Ghelani, Meline Danielewicz, Helena Hunter and Action Hero.

In 2007 Chelsea Theatre presented work from live artists including Roland Loomis and Annie Sprinkle.

In April and May 2008 Chelsea Theatre produced and presented a new season of contemporary performance, with works from Curious, Richard Dedomenici, Marcella Puppini of the Puppini Sisters, Lois Weaver, Dries Verhoeven, Gustavo Ciriaco & Andrea Sonnberger, Julia Bardsley, Yara El-Sherbini, Rajni Shah, Dr Roberts' Magic Bus (including Olivier Award winner Miss High Leg Kick, Breathe and Chris Dobrowolski), Ernst Fischer and Helen Spackman. There was also a complementary series of critical symposia curated by the Live Art Development Agency, Artsadmin and New Work Network.

In October and November 2008, Chelsea Theatre played host to a string of new performances from international performers, including Lone Twin Theatre, Andrew Poppy, Leibniz performance collective and the Croatian company BADco.

The SACRED season returned in October and November 2009, in collaboration with Thomas Frank and brut Wien, and supported by Arts Council England, The Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture and the Austrian Cultural Forum. This season contained UK premieres of Central European performance by artists including Cezary Tomaszewski, Doris Uhlich, Jan Machacek, Thomas Desi's Operation Orlac (based on the classic silent film The Hands of Orlac), Oleg Soulimenko & Andrei Andrianov. These Central European artists were programmed alongside artists representing UK contemporary performance: 'The Divine' David Hoyle[1], Gob Squad, Helena Hunter, Paul Granjon, Stacy Makishi, Action Hero, Julia Bardsley & Andrew Poppy, Richard DeDomenici, Franko B and Curious. Alongside the performances were a series of workshops (led by Lone Twin, Bobby Baker, Franko B and Julia Bardsley & Andrew Poppy), lectures, an academic conference and community-led art events. For 2009, Chelsea Theatre also presented anarchic cabaret from such talents as: Frisky and Mannish, Frank Chickens, Bourgeois & Maurice and Miss High Leg Kick.

2010 saw an expansion to the season with a collaboration with artists from PS122 in New York. Chelsea hosted the UK premieres of Sara Juli's THE MONEY CONVERSATION, alongside Young Jean Lee's first play PULLMAN WA, and Richard Maxwell's ADS. Symposium contributors included PS122 Artistic Director Vallejo Gantner, Ontological Hysteric Theater's Richard Foreman and Professor Lois Weaver. UK artists represented in the season included newly commissioned work from UK artists Marisa Carnesky, David Hoyle and Robin Deacon. Early evening foyer performances came from seven early career artists including Hattie Prust and Gillie Kleiman.

Current and Upcoming Work

SACRED will return in 2011, and will be presented in collaboration with a new partner, Sergio Porto in Rio de Janeiro, together with existing collaborators brut in Vienna and Performance Space 122 in New York.

Theatre For Children

Since 2003, Chelsea Theatre has been presenting children's theatre, including companies like Monster Productions and Tall Stories. Past shows include: Weather Kitchen (2004), Feast (2005), A Handful of Sand (2006), Hogwash (2007), William's Monster (2008) and Room on the Broom (2009).

In December 2009 Tall Stories, presented Something Else, based on the picture book by Kathryn Cave and Chris Riddell.

In June 2010 peut-etre Theatre Company will present The Bug And The Butterfly, based on the poems of Federico Garcia Lorca, and in December 2010 Tall Stories return with their new show Twinkle Twonkle, bringing together the Big Bang and the magic of nursery rhymes.

References

External links

• Chelsea Theatre website
• Live Art Development Agency