The curtain has come down on the Cock Tavern theatre, as the award-winning venue has been forced to close due to non-regulation staircases.
During negotiations to extend the venue’s entertainment licence it was noted that two 110-year-old staircases, one which leads to the auditorium and one which serves as an emergency exit, are both “too steep and too short”. The venue, which won the Dan Crawford Pub Theatre Award at the 2009 Peter Brook Empty Space Awards, does not have the funds to rebuild the staircases, so has been forced to suspend performances and close while searching for an alternative performance space.
Speaking about the decision, the Cock Tavern theatre’s Artistic Director Adam Spreadbury-Maher said: I’d like to thank my hard working and talented writers, directors, actors, designers, producers, agents and general management for their dedication, commitment and passion to the Cock over the past 26 months. I also thank the press for their belief in, and support of, our venue and work, with special mention to the Peter Brook Empty Space Award, and the local and national publications. And to our fearless audiences without whom it would have been lights-out long ago. The Cock will continue to produce world-class theatre, so stay tuned.”
The closure does not mark the end of the road for either of the venue’s current productions. The world premiere of Tennessee Williams’s A Cavalier For Milady will transfer to the Charing Cross Theatre this autumn, where it will play as part of a double bill with the Cock Tavern theatre’s previous Williams hit I Never Get Dressed Till After Dark On Sundays, while Rob Hayes’s A Butcher Of Distinction will transfer to Islington’s King’s Head theatre.
MA