About
An innovative & award-winning fringe pub theatre in Clapham, South London
'one of the most exciting ones amongst the London pub theatres!' 'an extremely ethical organisation' 'a new wave of venues (....) – all on the sort of sweetheart deals of old. Further proof, then, that it’s far from last orders for pub theatre.' |
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A 40- to 60-seat fringe venue above The Bread & Roses Pub, the theatre programs a wide-spread variety of productions for local as well as far-reaching audiences. Artistic quality, equality and diversity are at the forefront of the theatre's programming, which features visiting companies as well as in-house productions, with a focus on new writing, underrepresented voices and distinctive work. The theatre has worked with award-winning ensembles with decades of experience but also frequently welcomes emerging companies taking their first steps and supports theatre-makers by providing box office split deals with no hidden fees. The programme includes new writing, contemporary revivals, reinvented classics and occasionally also devised work, improvisational theatre, comedy events, family shows and physical theatre.
Located within walking distance of several Underground and Overground stations in London Travel Zone 2 (Clapham North, Clapham Common, Clapham High Street and Wandsworth Road) as well as many bus routes nearby, the theatre sits in a brilliant location. Furthermore, the pub downstairs offers drinks, food, a beer garden and on Fridays and Saturdays often live music after the theatre performances. Since 2018 the theatre also publishes selected scripts that premiere at the venue.
Located within walking distance of several Underground and Overground stations in London Travel Zone 2 (Clapham North, Clapham Common, Clapham High Street and Wandsworth Road) as well as many bus routes nearby, the theatre sits in a brilliant location. Furthermore, the pub downstairs offers drinks, food, a beer garden and on Fridays and Saturdays often live music after the theatre performances. Since 2018 the theatre also publishes selected scripts that premiere at the venue.
'this kind of venue proves what can be accomplished in the city’s smaller performance spaces' - 17Percent
Photographer: Ricardo Correia
Previous shows include: 5-star-reviewed in-house productions of The Black Eye Club (Phil Charles), dirty butterfly (debbie tucker green), Low Level Panic (by Clare McIntyre) and Miss Julie (by August Strindberg, adapted by Tessa Hart) presented by the Bread & Roses Theatre Company; acclaimed 4-star-reviewed premiers of new plays White Feathers (by Suzy Gill), presented by Blue Ash Theatre Company, and Cooked (by Christopher Adams), presented by ScotchBonnet Theatre; a 5-star-reviewed new take on Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray (by John Foster) presented by Doppelganger Production; 5-star-reviewed Muscovado (by Matilda Ibini) which went on to tour the UK presented by BurntOut Theatre; the 5-star reviewed premier of The Princess Monologues as well as the ground-breaking One Billion Rising and UNHEARD Festivals presented by Goblin Baby Theatre Co.; yearly sold-out V-Day benefit productions of The Vagina Monologues (by Eve Ensler); the premier of a brand-new translation of Federico García Lorca's Blood Wedding (by Fay Lomas) presented by Dreamcatcher Theatre; and the London premier of Romeo & Rosaline (by Sharon Jennings) presented by award-winning theatre company Fentiman; a 5-star-reviewed revival of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) presented by Burn Bright Theatre; as well as many more as the theatre has worked with over 100 companies at this stage!
'exploring London’s fantastic fringe theatre scene is a rewarding experience, and at a fraction of cost of the big well-known productions. The Bread & Roses Theatre works well as a venue and made for the perfect setting' - LondonTheatre1
 Managing Director Rebecca Pryle & Executive Director Tessa Hart
In 2015 The theatre's team also went on to launch the Clapham Fringe Festival as well as The Bread & Roses Playwriting Award and The Bread & Roses Emerging Companies Award.
On September 21st 2015 The Bread & Roses Theatre was announced as a recipient of the 2015 ICWP 50/50 Applause Award and also listed on TimeOut as one of their readers' six favourite small-scale theatres in London. The theatre also received the ICWP 50/50 Applause Awards in 2016 and 2017. In 2018 the venue and pub together were commended by the Time & Leisure Food & Culture Awards as one of the most innovative art projects and in 2019 it was picked by TravelMag as one of the best 8 pub theatres in London. |
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The Pub
The Bread & Roses Pub is owned by the Battersea and Wandsworth Trades Union Council. This is a lay run local trade union body which is the South West London arm of the national TUC. BWTUC, trading through its Workers Beer Company fundraising arm, has been running bars at festivals throughout the UK and Ireland for over 27 years. It trades at Glastonbury, Reading, Leeds, Latitude, Proms in Hyde Park, Tolpuddle Festival and many more including the free Olympics Live Sites event in Victoria Park throughout the Olympics in 2012. The Bread and Roses in Clapham is the Company's first pub and is a great place for live music, comedy and theatre.
To find out more about the pub and its history go to www.breadandrosespub.com. |
The Theatre
The in-house Bread & Roses Theatre Company (BRTC), founded in summer 2012, has been running regular new writing night The Platform since October that year, in what was initially nothing more than the upstairs function room at The Bread & Roses Pub. Following these first regular theatre performances at the venue other companies and groups started enquiring about the space and putting up scratch performances and showcases. Hence the idea of creating a permanent pub theatre at the venue was born.
After some major refurbishing work of the space and the investment in lights and stages - all sponsored by the fabulous Bread & Roses Pub - the theatre was then officially launched in November 2014 under the management of the BRTC. Since the launch the theatre has immediately been able to build up a busy and diverse quality programme, which is going from strength to strength. See a list of all past shows here. |
Why 'Bread & Roses'?
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Bread and Roses was a song written during a strike of women textile workers in Lawrence Massachusetts, USA in 1912. Twenty seven thousand women went on strike and marched for eleven weeks to improve their working conditions.
Their banners called for bread and roses and a poet among them, James Oppenheim, wrote these words, which went on to become a famous song for women trade unionists everywhere and is still sung by delegates to the ICTU Women's Conference at the conclusion of the conference. The pub is named in recognition of their struggle and the theatre and in-house theatre company consequently decided to adopt the same name. |
As we come marching, marching in the beauty of the day,
A million darkened kitchens, a thousand mill lofts gray, Are touched with all the radiance that a sudden sun discloses, For the people hear us singing: "Bread and roses! Bread and roses!" As we come marching, marching, we battle too for men, For they are women's children, and we mother them again. Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes; Hearts starve as well as bodies; give us bread, but give us roses! As we come marching, marching, unnumbered women dead Go crying through our singing their ancient cry for bread. Small art and love and beauty their drudging spirits knew. Yes, it is bread we fight for—but we fight for roses, too! As we come marching, marching, we bring the greater days. The rising of the women means the rising of the race. No more the drudge and idler—ten that toil where one reposes, But a sharing of life's glories: Bread and roses! Bread and roses! |
Examples of The Bread & Roses Theatre covered in the press and media
In June 2016 The Bread & Roses Theatre was featured as pub theatre of the month by the London Pub Theatres Magazine.
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Our Edinburgh Fringe Previews (July 2015), Clapham Fringe (September 2015) and One Billion Rising Festival (February 2016) were all covered by television channel London Live.
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The Stage, the world's longest-running publication for the performing arts industry, featured our launch in October 2014!
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Female Arts published an interview with the venue's co-managers Tessa Hart & Rebecca Pryle.
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After another interview with the theatre's co-managers the SW Londoner also published an article about our launch.
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MANAGEMENT
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REBECCA PRYLE | Managing DirectorRebecca Pryle is an actress and creative producer. She graduated with a BA Hons in Drama before training as an actress at the Maggie Flanigan Studio in New York on a two year Meisner Conservatory program. After completing her training she returned home to London where she went on to co-found The Bread and Roses Theatre and Company as well as the Improv group 4Play, which has performed around the country, including performances at the Glastonbury Festival. Furthermore, she has worked in short films and voice-overs.
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VELENZIA SPEARPOINT | Artistic DirectorActor/Director/Producer Velenzia Spearpoint has over 10 years experience on the London fringe theatre scene. She is co-founder of all-female theatre company Get Over It Productions. Alongside this, Velenzia is an Associate Producer at Off The Cliff Theatre and consistently works with several other theatre companies across London. She has been working as Associate Producer at The Bread & Roses Theatre since 2016 and became its Artistic Director in April 2018.
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TESSA HART | Executive DirectorTessa Hart is a culture maker & cultural manager who has worked in the performing arts for over a decade, primarily in the UK and Germany. Besides being a co-founder & Executive Director of The Bread & Roses Theatre, she also served as its Artistic Director from 2014 to 2018, when she stepped down to focus on her work in Berlin. She is currently also the Artistic Director of Goblin Baby Co and Associate Festival Director of the Performing Arts Festival Berlin. She holds an MFA Acting International (East 15 Acting School) & a BA Theatre Studies (Free University of Berlin). www.tessahart.com
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ROMAN BERRY | Production & Marketing ManagerRoman Berry is a director, movement director and theatre maker. He trained in Australia: Center for Performing Arts (Dance); Flinders University Drama Center (Theatre). Career Highlights inlcude Cameron Mackintosh’s Australian Premiere of Miss Saigon; Harry Miller’s Pageant: The Musical. He was the Artistic Director II Commonwealth Youth Games Ceremony (Australia) and is also a facilitator for Body and Mind, Wellness Workshops (J4DWUK). He is currently the Artistic Director for Divergent Theatre Collective.
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ASSOCIATES
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ELLA GAMBLE | Associate ProducerElla Gamble has produced plays for VAULT Festival, Prague Fringe and Bloomsbury Festival as well as being the co-founder and producer of the performance collective all good artists are dead. She holds a BA in Acting from East 15 Acting School and graduated with an MA in Text and Performance from Birkbeck University and RADA in 2017.
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HANNAH DUFFY | Artistic Associate & Co-FounderHannah Duffy is an actress who graduated from the Manchester School of Theatre in 2016 where she received a BA(Hons) in Acting. Since then she has appeared in various commercials and short films, as well as our in-house new writing night The Platform. Hannah also helps to host the Bread & Roses Playwrights Circle, as well as stage managing some of the company's shows. Furthermore, she is on the 2017/2018 Writers Lab programme at the Soho Theatre.
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SASSY CLYDE | Artistic AssociateSassy Clyde trained in Performing Arts at Bath Spa University and East 15 Acting School, taught by some of the same practitioners who tutored her parents 30 years previously. Since graduating in 2007, she has involved herself with many theatre companies across London, producing and collaborating on dozens of projects. She also works the stand-up comedy circuit and has taken solo and sketch comedy shows to the Edinburgh, Camden and Brighton Fringes.
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CHUMA EMEMBOLU | Associate DesignerChuma Emembolu is a Lighting/Sound/Video Designer and a director. He training at the RSC as a designer and has had over ten years of experience designing shows for theatre in the Rep and Fringe. As one of the original directors of Aequitas theatre company he has designed shows around the London fringe circuit. Chuma is a professional member of the Association of Lighting Designers and Equity. An expert programmer working on Avolites, EOS, grand, strand lighting desks and QLab he continues to create innovative, intriguing and unique designs on every show
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ANGUS CHISHOLM | Associate TechnicianA former software developer and trained actor, Angus Chisholm has been a venue technician at The Bread & Roses Theatre since May 2016.
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ALISA JAMES | Cabaret ProducerAlisa James is a designer, performer, producer and director. She holds a BA (Hons) in Theatre Design for Performance from Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design. She trained at the Acting Conservatory, William Esper Studio, and was an Artist in Residence, as a theatre director, at The Muse Brooklyn Circus Studio and Performance Space. She has also produced ten cabaret shows including Burly Underland, Return to Underland, Jazz in Underland, Scary Tales, Flamingo Night and Magic.
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Gwenan Bain | Associate Emerging DirectorGwenan has a Degree in Theatre from Guildford School of Acting, and also studied Musical Theatre at the Bodywork Company in Cambridge, where she worked as an assistant on two of her final year productions. Gwenan has worked as an actor, and has also been interning with Director’s Cut Theatre. Alongside her work as an actor, Gwenan works as a Duty Manager at Wilton’s Music Hall. She is thrilled to be offered this opportunity, and cannot wait to see what the year has in store!
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FAQ for TheatregoersCan I cancel and get a refund for my booking?
As per our terms and conditions specified below and at the time of placing your booking, all ticket purchases are non-refundable.
Can I change the date of my booking?
Whilst technically speaking all ticket purchases are non-amendable, if we have availability, we will always try and change your booking to another date for the same production, free of charge! Please not that any such requests should be directed per email to info@breadandrosestheatre.co.uk!
Can I call The Bread & Roses Pub for Theatre Queries?
It's quickest to email info@breadandrosestheatre.co.uk as the pub is a separate business.
Are there any booking fees?
You will never be charged any booking fees.
Can I book via telephone?
Yes, please call 02080503025. If no one answers leave your name and number and we will call you back.
Can I book tickets by calling the Bread & Roses pub?
It's best to call the theatre on 02080503025.
Can I book the space for other events?
Yes, but please note, we only manage the theatre programming, for rehearsal space and function room booking enquiries contact the Bread & Roses Pub directly: 020 7498 1779 or by email at info@breadandrosespub.com.
Can I reserve tickets to pay for on the door?
No, but there are no booking fees for online and YPlan bookings, so you pay the same price online as on the door.
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FAQ for TheatremakersCan I hire the theatre for my own production?
We don't offer theatre hire as such but even better, we offer box-office splits and select productions for our programming through an application process. You can find out how to put a proposal forward for our consideration in the 'Bring a Show' section on our website.
Why do you offer box office splits instead of hire fees?
We want to help theatremakers provide fairer opportunities for everyone involved as well as build up a theatre programming that is not led by someone's finances but instead the artistic quality of the project and producing company.
Besides the box office splits are there any other fees to pay?
No, we genuinely charge no deposits, nor a minimum amount to make per night, nor fines for not bringing in enough people. Instead we trust our companies to do their best to promote the show and deliver a quality production as well as to be professional and honest.
What is you seating capacity/layout/technical equipment?
All answers to this and more are found in our 'Bring a Show' section.
Can I come and view the space before applying?
Yes, of course! Please email us at info@breadandrosestheatre.co.uk to arrange a time.
Can I email you all my questions instead of reading details on the website and in the marketing pack?
We expect companies to check out the 'Bring a Show' section before emailing us their questions, about 90% of questions we get asked about using the space are answered there. As we are a tiny team, we make all the info on using the theatre available online to make your lives and ours easier. If you have a good look through it all you can find out if our venue is suitable for you in the first place. After that feel free to send us your proposal or get in touch with any additional questions!
Can I book the theatre as rehearsal space?
Yes, but please note, we only manage the theatre programming, for rehearsal space and function room booking enquiries contact the Bread & Roses Pub directly: 020 7498 1779 or by email at info@breadandrosespub.com.
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Still questions left? No problem, just email info@breadandrosestheatre.co.uk.
