Kings Head Theatre to present BARSTOOLS TO BROADWAY to celebrate 50 year anniversary

The Kings Head Theatre will present Barstools to Broadway during February 2022 to celebrate the successes of the world-renowned pub theatre’s first 50 years, and it looks forward to the next 50 years in a new purpose built 220-seat Islington theatre, due to open in late 2022. 

Over the course of a week from 14 – 19 February, KTH50 Barstools to Broadway will see readings of five plays that started their lives in the Upper Street theatre, many for the first time since their original productions, with creative teams with links to the playwrights and original shows. Full creative teams and casting will be announced in the new year.

The celebration will kick off on 14 February with an event at the V&A in South Kensington, including a reading of Timberlake Wertenbaker’s The Third. Timberlake Wertenbaker was part of a generation of female playwrights whose early shows, such as The Third (1980), were staged as part of the King’s Head Theatre’s lunchtime theatre program. Ten years after, Wertenbaker’s Our Country’s Good opened on Broadway.

The first of the plays to be read at the Upper Street venue will be Artist Descending a Staircase by Tom Stoppard, directed by Tim Luscombe, on 15 February. Artist Descending a Staircase (1988) began life as a radio play but Dan Crawford saw an opportunity to bring it to the stage. It also marked the return of Tim Luscombe to the venue, after working with them on a production of Noel Coward’s Easy Virtue, that had transferred to the West End.

On 16 February, Stephen Jeffreys’ Like Dolls or Angels will be directed by Annabel Arden. Like Dolls or Angels (1977) transferred to the King’s Head Theatre after a successful run at the National Student Drama Festival. This marked Stephen Jeffrey’s first professional production.

Bryony Lavery’s Grandmother’s Steps will play 17 February. Lavery’s second play, Grandmother’s Steps (1977), was also a lunchtime production. 

The celebration climaxes on 18 February at 7pm with Victoria Wood’s Good Fun. 

Co-Artistic Director Mark Ravenhill said: “It’s been fascinating to rummage in the Kings Head archives. This week of readings is a fantastic celebration of some of our best work with audiences who have fond memories of the original productions and to others who were too young to enjoy them first time around.  It’s a great way to begin the process of saying goodbye to our beloved but knackered pub theatre as we prepare for our move next door to a purpose built 220 seat theatre, a space for the next generation of theatre makers who I’m hoping will have the same cultural impact as the playwrights we’re celebrating in Kings Head 50’.

For more information and to book tickets, please click here.