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Post by showgirl on Jul 22, 2022 18:06:47 GMT
It's a very similar name and location to those of the existing Soho Theatre so something more distinctive would have been helpful.
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Post by andys on Jul 22, 2022 20:46:40 GMT
It is miles away from soho isn’t it? It's about 20 seconds from Soho Square.
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Post by crowblack on Jul 22, 2022 23:04:41 GMT
Oh god, even worse, the name is all lower case. Just call it the New Astoria or something. The Astoria was a great venue with a great name.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jul 23, 2022 5:06:05 GMT
Oh god, even worse, the name is all lower case. Just call it the New Astoria or something. The Astoria was a great venue with a great name. They think they’re being terribly current but the name is just dreary and uninspiring. And you can bet they’ll have people turning up at the other soho theatre thinking it’s this one, and vice versa.
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Post by n1david on Jul 23, 2022 8:18:01 GMT
I think someone else mentioned earlier that Soho Place is the name of the overall development (see here: www.derwentlondon.com/properties/1-oxford-street ). So I think they're trying to be clever by making this "The theatre At Soho Place". I assume that there has been some incentive offered to the theatre to assist with the marketing of the development as a whole. I wouldn't be surprised if it has a new name within five years.
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Post by cavocado on Jul 23, 2022 8:34:00 GMT
Might have been more fun to name it after Judi Dench or someone alive and kicking who could bring in the punters. What’s the first show, then? Anyone know? The main theatre at the Questors in Ealing is called the Judi Dench Playhouse, but agreed there are plenty of other luminaries who could have been honoured.
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Post by Jan on Jul 23, 2022 9:04:03 GMT
While we're on the subject of closed theatres Menier Chocolate Factory is still ominiously quiet bearing in mind they recieved a £831,830 grant from the Cultural Recovery Fund Wow. Up until now I thought the £500,000 to the Orange Tree was the most inflated award. I suppose it could be the RSC syndrome - they discover that by taking grant money they can survive perfectly well without actually making any effort to stage anything at all. It was those who got little/no grant and the commercial sector who came back fast after the lockdowns, because they had to.
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Post by Jon on Jul 23, 2022 11:02:12 GMT
I suspect when one of the great knights and dames pop their clogs, we'll see @sohoplace quietly renamed.
I would say it that adding the @ even though I'm not keen on it does make it easier to search.
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Post by crowblack on Jul 23, 2022 14:06:58 GMT
The name sounds like it's a private members club or restaurant. It absolutely does not say 'theatre' or 'arts venue'. I wonder how much they paid someone to come up with it?
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Post by n1david on Jul 23, 2022 15:24:08 GMT
The name sounds like it's a private members club or restaurant. It absolutely does not say 'theatre' or 'arts venue' Well it is going to have an all-day public restaurant and bar, and it's possible that will get more punters over the course of a day than a 600-seat theatre...
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Post by Jon on Jul 23, 2022 17:11:12 GMT
The name sounds like it's a private members club or restaurant. It absolutely does not say 'theatre' or 'arts venue'. I wonder how much they paid someone to come up with it? TBF Neither does the Donmar Warehouse or Menier Chocolate Factory.
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Post by crowblack on Jul 23, 2022 19:28:29 GMT
The name sounds like it's a private members club or restaurant. It absolutely does not say 'theatre' or 'arts venue'. I wonder how much they paid someone to come up with it? TBF Neither does the Donmar Warehouse or Menier Chocolate Factory. And the latter passed me by completely until I joined this board and heard Kiss of the Spider Woman was on there, because of the name.
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Post by harrystyles on Jul 25, 2022 0:50:15 GMT
It’s opening with a 2 handed apparently Is it Shirley Valentine directed by Matthew Dunster?
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Post by Jon on Jul 25, 2022 0:55:45 GMT
It’s opening with a 2 handed apparently Is it Shirley Valentine directed by Matthew Dunster? Shirley Valentine's a one woman show.
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Post by harrystyles on Jul 25, 2022 1:08:05 GMT
Is it Shirley Valentine directed by Matthew Dunster? Shirley Valentine's a one woman show. Haha. Educating Rita?
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Post by Deal J on Jul 25, 2022 11:21:49 GMT
Might have been more fun to name it after Judi Dench or someone alive and kicking who could bring in the punters. What’s the first show, then? Anyone know? The main theatre at the Questors in Ealing is called the Judi Dench Playhouse, but agreed there are plenty of other luminaries who could have been honoured. @supollardplace
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Post by evilmat360 on Aug 19, 2022 10:16:10 GMT
Finally the first production has been announced
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Post by TallPaul on Aug 19, 2022 10:22:57 GMT
That is indeed 'marvellous', but it's not a two-hander!
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Post by Jon on Aug 19, 2022 10:40:26 GMT
I'm guessing a transfer is a safe way to test the theatre and sort out any snags before they start having original shows.
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Post by TallPaul on Aug 19, 2022 11:45:37 GMT
From the New Vic's accompanying announcement:
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Post by TallPaul on Aug 31, 2022 10:46:42 GMT
Me again. I'm just greedy! I happened to be in the vicinity of @sohoplace yesterday, just as the light was going, so took some snaps. The canopy lights change colour. How cool is that? There's a small LED marquee above the entrance. Just look at the curves on the staircase. It's almost as beautiful as the Nelson Stair in Somerset House. And there's a proper stage door, with lights, and everything!
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Aug 31, 2022 12:20:58 GMT
I mean, I love a morphing LED don’t get me wrong but it’s not exactly state of the art these days is it? They’re putting them around headboards in cheap hotels. Anyway who let TallPaul out of Yorkshire to go gallivanting around London bold as brass?
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Post by Marwood on Sept 7, 2022 18:10:33 GMT
Until they put something on here I’m actually interested in paying money to see, I’m more excited about the opening of Outernet in Denmark Street which is more of a music venue (I’m seeing Daniel Avery there in December but among the other acts they’ve got lined up are Ride and Hercules & Love Affair): good to see this side of Soho being revitalised after so long
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Post by Jon on Sept 30, 2022 20:20:27 GMT
The Outernet seems to be more of a like for like replacement for the Astoria rather than @sohoplace.
It's quite exciting that in two weeks, a new West End theatre is opening.
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Post by mkb on Nov 7, 2022 2:47:16 GMT
It is very unusual to have queues for the Gents, but the architects of @sohoplace have managed it, even though the audience level was nowhere near full.
Another gaffe is the signposting for all three of Gents, Ladies and Disabled on the left side of Level 1 (Stage level) despite there being only a Disabled toilet there. A staff member was exasperated at having to turn people back with "Yes, I know the signs are wrong".
Level 3 (Second Balcony) was not in use so I used the quiet toilets there. I was only able to reach them because I used the lift. When I tried the same trick at the interval and at the end, my passage was blocked by a guard on the staircase. Given the toilet capacity inadequacy, it was poor not to be allowing access to all the facilities publicly available.
I very nearly used the ladies by mistake because I initially failed to work out what the triangle and its upside-down variant were meant to represent. I always struggle with icons and long for the days when plain old words were used.
Being a nosey bugger, and because there was nothing to stop me or say I couldn't, I also rode the lift pre-show to levels 4 and 5. Through the glass doors, I could see rehearsal rooms and an attractive outdoor balcony at the top. The doors on level 4 opened on to what looked like a cleaner's cupboard.
After the Saturday matinée, egress from the building was excruciatingly slow - surprising considering the theatre holds only 600 people and was running at less than two-thirds of that. From seat to outside took five minutes, with the spiral staircase down to ground level being the bottleneck. I wouldn't want to be here if there were an emergency evacuation.
The lack of leg room on the front rows is difficult to forgive in a newly designed venue. The stage was raised two foot. Quite why it needed vertical sidewalls flush with the stage edges rather than allowing recesses for feet, I have no idea.
Sightlines for the current in-the-round configuration appear to be excellent from all seats. Even the view from the second balcony was impressive.
Where the building scores is in its aesthetic appeal. It looks both stunning and classy. I will look forward to seeing further productions here, but I won't plan on a quick getaway after.
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Post by Someone in a tree on Nov 24, 2022 9:18:36 GMT
I liked the venue. Feels a bit like a casino though.
Lovley big windows with great views of the mega walkin billboard at Outernet
We had a poke around rhe auditorium beforehand and think the best seats would be the middle of the circle. Great auditorium and seating - my friend and I are 5ft9 and had no probems with the seating.
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Post by Someone in a tree on Nov 24, 2022 9:53:11 GMT
Is the auditorium intended to have any other configurations? I could see Thrust as a possibility but I know zilch about these things.
Edit from the theatre website
The flexible auditorium can be transformed into a number of different configurations
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Post by n1david on Nov 29, 2022 12:58:56 GMT
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Post by alece10 on Nov 29, 2022 14:37:02 GMT
[b Literally not found it as the door is so well hidden I had to get security to show me where it was and I wasn't the only one that night with the same problem. But I can report that the food and service is excellent.
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Post by Marwood on Dec 3, 2022 19:34:28 GMT
I went to Outernet last night, it’s good that there’s a new music venue in central London but the actual concert space once you’ve got past the miles of barriers is like a jazzed up Electric Ballroom; it was a long walk to the toilets and when I got back it was impossible to find anywhere to stand where I could see anything that was going on so I called it a night by half ten and left (just as well, it was freezing out and the Christmas party mayhem has started so I didn’t want to get home too late, good Lord I’m turning into Victor Meldrew)
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