The Union Theatre is a great little theatre nestling beneath some railway arches on Union Street, near to Southwark Tube station. A family run enterprise, it was established in 1998 by Sasha Regan who was just 25 at the time. With some help from the Prince’s Trust, a love of theatre and a lot of hard work, she took an old paper warehouse and turned it in to a thriving London venue that 10 years later won ‘Best Up-and-coming Theatre in the Empty Space Peter Brook awards.
The whole place has a lovely welcoming atmosphere, with a small bar that is open on performance nights, and a café with a smattering of chairs and tables at the front entrance, which is open all day for anyone that fancies dropping by.
The theatre usually manages to programme an eclectic array of productions throughout the year, and aside from new writing, has a reputation for producing rather good musicals. You might think that this in itself is an oxymoron, but last year ‘A Man Of No Importance’, a new musical that received unanimously positive reviews transferred to the Arts Theatre in the West End.
Their current offering is ‘Assassins’, Stephen Sondheim’s darkly comic cult musical featuring all the people who have ever tried to kill an American President, and runs until the 24th July.
By Jonnie Fielding
The Union Theatre is at 204 Union Street, Southwark, SE1 0LX. Box Office telephone: 020 7261 9876
Like fringe theatre? Check out the Camden Fringe.
