Reply to comment

Published: 22 April 2010
by JOSH LOEB

IT is a story of rags to riches – or, to be more precise, anti-establishment squat to a multi-million-pound, state-of-the-art theatre.

The New Diorama Theatre, quite possibly the world’s newest performing arts space, unofficially opened two weeks ago. But the playhouse, which was constructed as part of British Land’s Regent’s Place development – a collection of shiny office blocks and shops near Euston – has a long and fascinating history that incorporates a Georgian “Palace of Light” and the stage that launched the career of The Pogues, and also hosted Derek Jarman and Elvis Costello.

The original Diorama, in the Crown Estate in Regent’s Park, began life as an early cinema in 1830 when an illuminated picture show was brought from Paris. In the 1970s, the building was an artists’ squat, which became a cause celebre when the squatters were threatened with eviction. They won the backing of film star Dirk Bogarde.  

Though the building still has “Diorama” engraved across it, it now houses the headquarters of The Prince’s Trust. The artists were forced out in the early 1990s and given accommodation by Camden Council in a building that became known as the Diorama Arts Centre. And when British Land knocked this down in the mid-1990s, the multi-billion-pound company promised to create a new performance space as part of their plans. 

The results finally opened to the public earlier this month when the curtain went up for the first performance of Love, Question Mark, described in this newspaper as a dark, comical investigation into human sexuality.   

Roland Muldoon, former chief executive of the Hackney Empire, remembers performing at the old Diorama in the 1980s and said the venue acted as a hub for politically-aware poets, writers and arty types.

“It was extraordinary,” he said. “We were right in the middle of the Thatcherite era and bang in the middle of London was this squat packed with alternative types.

“It was this throbbing, vibrating, echoing building in the middle of Regent’s Park. We had no licence and we were rocking on into the middle of the night, but the police wouldn’t raid because it was Crown property. It was like cocking a snook at the whole system. No wonder they wanted to get rid of us.”

The building held many political events, including benefit gigs for striking miners and anti-nuclear protests.

Poet Benjamin Zephaniah participated in the unsuccessful campaign to keep it open. 

He said: “There were some damn good gigs that were on there. It was an odd space, tucked away, but it was a real meeting place. Some people were doing really oddball things, others were doing poetry and there was serious stuff too.” 

In 1981, the Crown Estate pushed forward with plans to evict the artists, who Fred Burgess, a surveyor for the estate, called “unsatisfactory”, but it took almost 10 years before the Diorama finally closed.

The New Diorama, an 80-seat venue, is headed-up by Quicksilver, a children’s theatre company.

Programming manager David Byrne paid tribute to the tradition of the theatre, saying: “Diorama arts has always been a supporter of groups of people who come together to make great theatre and this is a tradition we are continuing. The New Diorama is somewhere where artists can come together in the same tradition but in a modern environment.”

An official opening will take place in September, with a series of shows by outside theatre companies planned until then.

Photos: Top: The new Diorama premises
Bottom: A performance a the original Diorama Theatre in the 1980s