Battersea Arts Centre
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| Address | Lavender Hill Wandsworth, London |
|---|---|
| Owner | BAC Trust |
| Designation | Grade II* listed |
| Type | Producing house |
| Capacity | 500 Grand Hall 140 Lower Hall |
| Production | The Masque of the Red Death |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1980 |
| Architect | EW Mountford |
| Website | |
| www.bac.org.uk | |
The Battersea Arts Centre (often abbreviated to "BAC") is a performance space near Clapham Junction in Battersea, in the London Borough of Wandsworth that specialises in music and theatre productions.
History
BAC operates a "scratch" methodology as part of its "ladder of development" for new work, where performances are shown at various stages of development to an outside audience, whose input and criticism guides the further evolution of the work.
Founded in 1980 in a Grade II* listed building which originally opened in 1893 as Battersea Town Hall and converted to a community arts centre in 1974, the building was designed in 1891, by E. W. Mountford. It currently receives grants towards the building's operating costs from Arts Council England and the London Borough of Wandsworth among others.
In 1901 a large pipe organ was installed in the Grand Hall. This was an unusual instrument designed by Robert Hope-Jones, a pioneering (and at the time controversial) organ builder who invented many aspects of the modern pipe organ. His ideas went on to form the basis of the Wurlitzer Theatre organ in the 1920s and 30s. The BAC pipe organ has been unusable for years but work has now started to restore it.
David Jubb has been the organisation's artistic director since 2004. In 2008 he was joined by David Micklem with whom he shares the Joint Artistic Directorship of BAC.
Past Productions
Productions which were developed or started here have included
- Punchdrunk Theatre Company's promenade performance of "The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe ran through most of the building from September 2007 to April 2008.
- Richard Thomas's early work as Kombat Opera including, Tourette's Diva, leading to the development of Jerry Springer - The Opera, which premièred here in 2002, before transferring to the National Theatre.
- Jackson's Way - the winner of the 2004 Perrier Award in Edinburgh. A one man show which both mocks the world motivational speaking and embraces it through encouraging 'pointless actions'.
Companies and artists performing at BAC have included
- Punchdrunk
- 1927
- Neil Harbisson
- Mark Thomas
- Jeremy Hardy
- Ontroerend Goed
- Little Bulb Theatre
- David Hoyle
- Subject to_ Change
- Cartoon de Salvo
- Ra-Ra Zoo
- Gecko
- Blind Summit
- Proto-type Theater
- Kneehigh Theatre
- Shunt
- Will Adamsdale
- Stewart Lee
- Frantic Assembly
- Theatre de Complicite
- Told By An Idiot
- Ridiculusmus
- Meadlew Rayken
- David Glass Ensemble
- Mark Bowden
- Matt Fraser
- Patter
- Filter theatre
- Starving Artists (feat. Mark Pinkosh)
- Liquid Theatre
- Kaos
- Kazuko Hohki
- The Plague (English punk rock band)
Ghosts and Paranormal Activity
BAC is reputedly haunted. Early in the 20th century, in its previous function as a town hall, it housed a judge notorious for his harsh sentences, who himself was later sentenced for fraud in the same court he previously headed. He is said to still haunt the upper levels of the building. E.W. Mountford the architect of the Old Town Hall also designed Battersea Library on Lavender Hill. The two buildings are said to have a paranormal connection. This has taken the form of certain incidents happening simultaneously at the two different sites.
