Coronet Theatre, Notting Hill
The Coronet Theatre is a theatre located in Notting Hill, London. The building originated as an Off West End theatre in 1898. It became The Coronet Cinema in 1923. In 2014, it was acquired by The Print Room, a nearby theatre company , which made it its new home. It produces a programme of theatre, art, dance, poetry, film and music. The theatre is run by Artistic Director Anda Winters.
The Coronet Theatre currently operates using the 195-seat main auditorium, and a smaller, 100-seat black box theatre and studio space called The Print Room.
The Coronet Theatre stages lesser-known work by classic authors such as T.S Eliot, Arthur Miller and Harold Pinter, and new works by contemporary dramatists such as Brian Friel and Will Eno.
History
Building origins
The Coronet Theatre was designed as a theatre by leading architect W. G. R. Sprague at a cost of £25,000 and opened in 1898. It was described in The Era as a "theatre of which the whole country may be proud". Famous actors who appeared at the theatre in its early days included Ellen Terry and Sarah Bernhardt. It suffered, however, from being outside the traditional London theatrical district of the West End, whilst being sufficiently close to that district to find itself in competition with it.Switch to cinema
In 1916, films were shown at the theatre for the first time, as part of variety programmes mixing live and filmed performances.In 1923, it became a cinema full-time, and capacity was reduced from 1,143 to 1,010 seats, but it retained, as it still does, its original theatre interior, consisting of stalls and two upper tiers. However, the boxes on each side of the auditorium, next to the stage, were removed in 1931. The stage was blocked off, and the cinema screen is placed within the proscenium arch. The projection equipment was housed in the former dress circle bar.
In 1931, the cinema became part of Gaumont British, and it was at this time that the theatre boxes were removed. In 1950, it was renamed the Gaumont and the upper tier was closed for seating, and capacity was therefore reduced to 196 in the dress circle and 319 in the stalls, a total of 515.
In 1972, the Rank Organisation proposed to demolish the building, but a local campaign based upon its architectural merit and its interesting history secured its survival and, indeed, refurbishment. In 1977 it was sold by Rank to an independent cinema operator, and its name reverted to the Coronet. The new owners replaced the seating in the stalls so as to provide more legroom, reducing the total cinema capacity to 399 seats.
In 1989, the building was again under threat, but it was protected by a Grade II listing and the threat passed. In 1996, a second screen with seating for 151 was opened in the stage area.
In 2004, the Coronet was acquired by the Kensington Temple, a large local Pentecostal church congregation. However, it continued to offer mainstream independent cinema programming, without any censorship or Christian slant. It was, for example, the cinema at which future prime minister David Cameron was reported to have watched Brokeback Mountain on its opening night.
In June 2014, it was announced that the Coronet had been acquired by nearby fringe theatre The Print Room, which planned to make it its new home.
Print Room original premises
The theatre began in a converted 1950s warehouse which had served as a graphic design workshop in Westbourne Grove. The venue had two spaces: an 80-seater studio, which was used for its larger productions, and a 40-seater space for smaller theatre pieces, play readings, and art exhibitions.Print Room moves to new premises
In July 2014, it was announced that The Print Room was taking over the Coronet Cinema in Notting Hill Gate as its new home. In May 2019, Print Room at the Coronet re-branded the company to the original 1898 name The Coronet Theatre.Productions
- Fabrication by Pier Paolo Pasolini
- Snake in the Grass by Alan Ayckbourn
- Kingdom of Earth by Tennessee Williams
- "Devils Festival" a two-week festival featuring work from the theatre's artistic apprentices: The Printer's Devils
- One for the Road/Victoria Station by Harold Pinter
- Judgement Day by Mike Poulton, a new version of Henrik Ibsen's When We Dead Awaken
- The Brodsky Quartet: Petit Fours
- Toujours Et Pres de Moi, a Print Room/Opera Erratica co-production
- Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov in a new version by Mike Poulton
- Thom Pain by Will Eno
- Lot and His God by Howard Barker
- Ivy and Joan by James Hogan
- Molly Sweeney by Brian Friel
- Screaming in Advance – a two-day festival, comprising four new plays in rehearsed readings performed by members of the company, and Howard Barker in discussion with the company and the journalist Mark Brown.
- 4000 Miles by Amy Herzog
- Tutto Bene, Mamma? by Gloria Mina in a new English version by April de Angelis
- The Summer Concerts, featuring Antonio Forcione and Adriano Adewale Duo, Death's Cabaret: A Love Story and L'Homme Orchestre: Jean Michel Bernard
- The Last Yankee by Arthur Miller
- The Dumb Waiter by Harold Pinter
- Amygdala by Geraldine Alexander
- The Cocktail Party by T.S. Eliot
- Ubu and the Truth Commission directed by William Kentridge in collaboration with Handspring Puppet Company
- Trois Ruptures/Three Splits by Remi De Vos
- Table of Delights by Theatre Damfino
- Five Finger Exercise by Peter Shaffer
- Terra, written by Hubert Essakow and performed by the Print Room Dance Company
- Deathwatch by Jean Genet and translated by David Rudkin
- In the Depths of Love by Howard Barker
- Trouble in Mind by Alice Childress
Awards and nominations
- Peter Brook Empty Space Award Nominee 2011
- Off West End Award for Best Set Designer 2012, for Kingdom of Earth, won by Ruth Sutcliffe
- Off West End Award for Best Sound Designer 2012, for Snake in The Grass, won by Neil Alexander
- Off West End Award for Best Production 2013, for ''Uncle Vanya''
In popular culture