Arcola pitches pop-up tent for theatre, live art and music

Arcoal Tent is a pop-up, mixed arts temporary venue hosting professional and community events by Arcola Theatre and a wide range of local arts and community organisations. Photograph: Arcola Theatre

The Arcola Theatre has pitched a 10-metre big-top tent beside its new home in Dalston.

From Friday 5 August the temporary venue will host a wide variety of acts. Approximately one third of the events will be Arcola Theatre productions (including theatre, musicals, and opera), one third will be put on by visiting professional artists (theatre, live art, visual arts, live music, and circus) and one third will be community activities (activities for young people, choirs, gatherings, and social events).

The renowned experimental theatre hopes that over the next few years the project will evolve into a permanent extension of its new premises on Ashwin Street.

The principal motivation behind the tent is space: Arcola cannot fit enough seats in its existing building to bring the best theatre companies from around the UK. The capacity of the new structure, which can seat up to 400 for concerts and 300 for theatrical productions, will enable it to increase its capacity significantly.

The tent has been installed by a professional tent company with toilets and a secure noise blocking boundary. It will be open between two and seven days per week with the same professional management team as the main theatre.

Dr Ben Todd, Executive Director of the theatre, explains the idea behind the new venture: “The vision for the tent is to create a larger and less conventional space which will allow us to create new opportunities for music, circus, live art, cabaret and even burlesque as well as providing the additional seating capacity to allow us to stage larger (more expensive) theatre and particularly music theatre productions which we cannot in our new premises.

“Arcola Tent is very much an addition to our new home, rather than a replacement, and is on one of the sites we hope to convert to a 300+ seat main house theatre as part of our long-term development plans”.

More information about Arcola Tent. Contact: tent@arcolatheatre.com or 020 7503 1645.