Former National Theatre team Nicholas Hytner and Nick Starr’s new London Theatre Company is to open a new 900-seat theatre overlooking Tower Bridge in spring 2017.
The venue, which according to the London Theatre Company’s website will answer “the needs of contemporary audiences and theatre-makers”, will be part of the One Tower Bridge development and will be designed by Steve Tompkins and Roger Watts of Haworth Tompkins. The architects previously worked with Hytner and Starr on the NT Future renovation of the National Theatre and the NT’s Temporary Theatre.
The new theatre will predominantly be a home for ambitious new work, providing the modern comfort and facilities that will “galvanise audiences, playwrights, directors and actors”.
The ambitions of Hytner and Starr reach beyond the One Tower Bridge development, which is set to become the duo’s “flagship” theatre. In the years following its opening, the pair hopes to launch theatres of different scales following similar principles.
Olivier Award winner Hytner left the National Theatre in March this year after 12 years at the helm of the world renowned institution. Starr left the Southbank venue in 2014.
During their time at the NT, the pair introduced initiatives including the Travelex seasons and NT Live and produced hit productions including War Horse, One Man, Two Guvnors and The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time.