Menier Chocolate Factory


The Menier Chocolate Factory is a 180-seat Off-West End theatre, which comprises a bar and theatre offices.
It is located at the rear of a former 1870s Menier Chocolate Company factory at 53 Southwark Street, a major street in the London Borough of Southwark, central south London, England, some 2.5 km from the theatrical West End. The theatre stages plays and musicals, live music and stand-up comedy. According to the Evening Standard, it is "one of the most dynamic fringe venues in London".

History and awards

The French company Menier Chocolate Company expanded overseas and built a five-storey factory and warehouse of brick with stone dressings in London between 1865 and 1874. It was listed Grade II in 1996.
The Menier Chocolate Factory was opened in 2004 in its current incarnation, it is within a purpose built space at the rear of the factory, connecting through the adjoining buildings. It is run by artistic director David Babani. In 2005, the theatre received the Peter Brook/Empty Space Up and Coming Venue Award. In the same year, he and co-founder Danielle Tarento jointly won the Evening Standard Milton Shulman Award for Outstanding Newcomer. Tarento left in 2006 to pursue a solo producing career, and was replaced by General Manager Thomas Siracusa.
In 2007 the Chocolate Factory production of the Stephen Sondheim musical Sunday in the Park with George won five Olivier Awards, including Best Actor in a Musical for Daniel Evans and Best Actress in a Musical for Jenna Russell. The pair went on to perform the lead roles when the production transferred to Studio 54 on Broadway in February 2008.
In the 2009 Olivier Awards, Douglas Hodge won the trophy for Best Actor in a Musical for his portrayal of Albin in La Cage aux Folles. The production also won the Best Musical Revival category.
In 2010, the Chocolate Factory productions of A Little Night Music and La Cage aux Folles opened on Broadway, the former starring Catherine Zeta Jones and Angela Lansbury and the latter starring Douglas Hodge and Kelsey Grammer. At the Tony Awards 2010 the shows won in the following categories: Best Leading Actress in a Musical – Catherine Zeta Jones for A Little Night Music; Best Leading Actor in a Musical – Douglas Hodge for La Cage aux Folles; Best Director of a Musical – Terry Johnson for La Cage aux Folles; Best Musical Revival – La Cage aux Folles.
The theatre continues to produce a mixture of musical and play revivals, new writing and comedy.

Productions

2005
  • Murderer by Anthony Shaffer – 10 November 2004 to 22 January 2005.
  • This Other England – a series of new writing from Paines Plough, including Philip Ridley's controversial Mercury Fur.
  • Tick, Tick... Boom! by Jonathan Larson – 31 May to 28 August 2005.
  • What We Did to Weinstein by Ryan Craig – 21 September to 12 November 2005.
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
  • Candide by Leonard Bernstein from 23 November 2013 to March 2014.
  • Two Into One by Ray Cooney from 8 March 2014 to 26 April.
  • Fame: Not The Musical by David Baddiel from 29 April 2014 to 23 May 2014
  • Life of the Party by Andrew Lippa from 27 May 2014 to 14 June 2014.
  • Forbidden Broadway by Gerard Alessandrini from 18 June 2014 to 30 August 2014.
  • Fully Committed by Becky Mode from 3 September 2014 to 15 November 2014.
  • Assassins by Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman from 21 November 2014 to 7 March 2015.
2015
  • Buyer & Cellar by Jonathan Tolins from 12 March to 2 May. Starring Michael Urie.
  • Communicating Doors by Alan Ayckbourn from 7 May to 27 June.
  • What's It All About by Kyle Riabko from 6 July to 5 September. Subsequent transfer to the Criterion Theatre 16 October – 14 February.
  • Dinner with Saddam by Anthony Horowitz from 10 September to 14 November.
  • Funny Girl by Jule Styne, Bob Merrill and Isobel Lennart from 20 November to 5 March 2016. Starring Sheridan Smith Subsequent transfer to the Savoy Theatre 9 April – 8 October. and UK and Ireland tour 18 February to 19 August 2017.
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
  • Indecent from 3 September