Early days in the King’s Head bar

A PUB theatre famed for catapulting playwrights from “barstools to Broadway” is celebrating its 50th birthday just as it prepares to move into a new venue.

The King’s Head Theatre turned 50 in 2020, but celebrations were delayed because of the pandemic.

To mark this special anniversary, the King’s Head is running a “Barstools to Broadway” event. The programme has been carefully curated with largely unknown plays billed beside works known the world over.

Playwright Mark Ravenhill, the theatre’s artistic director, said: “We looked back through the [theatre’s] 52 years. Some of the plays have become quite famous. Others we found deep in the archives – some of these were faded photocopies from the 80s. We’ve got things that became world-famous and things that got forgotten, but are genuine exciting rediscoveries.”

Stephanie and Dan Crawford

Opened in 1970 by Dan Crawford, the King’s Head was the first pub theatre to open in England since Shakespearean times. Its tiny 110-seat performance space has worked “miracles” over the years, Mr Ravenhill said.

It has a reputation for spring-boarding actors and playwrights from the building’s small backrooms onto the world stage. Actors such as Hugh Grant made their acting debut at the King’s Head, and on the same stage the world premiere of Tom Stoppard’s Artist Descending a Staircase was performed before transferring to Broadway.

“The theatre has always had a very wide variety of performances from opera to musicals to comedies,” Mr Ravenhill said. “There’s the miracle of this tiny room where all these things can happen, where things that should be impossible are done.”

The poster for Tom Stoppard’s Artist Descending a Staircase

However, the theatre is set to move to a new venue next door in early 2023, meaning this historic “tiny room” will see its last theatrical performance at the end of this year.

The building was bought by Young’s pub chain several years ago. Once the theatre moves, the pub plans to refurbish the space.

“It’s economically very hard to make it work as a 100-seater,” Mr Ravenhill said. “Also being in a pub means we can’t work with young people. Having a bigger capacity will allow us to make the money work better, and work with young people, and make a strong strand of digital work.”

Mark Ravenhill. Photo: Nick Rutter

Based beneath Islington Square, the new space will be largely underground, with a bar and “a much bigger theatre with a balcony,” Mr Ravenhill said. “It should feel a bit alternative and funky and not too corporate.”

The theatre has always been a place where work by new playwrights brushes up against established names in the business. “There’s always been the combination of brand-new and established talent,” Mr Ravenhill said.

The event is as much about celebrating the past as it is about welcoming the future. “Part of [these celebrations] are about getting the message out about the future and anticipating what’s to come,” Mr Ravenhill said.

“It’s good to celebrate and remember all the good things but not be sentimental about it. I like change – change is good.”