First Full-scale London Theatre Opening in 80 years
Mark Bibby Jackson Posted on 5th Oct 2017 
The first full-scale theatre to be built in London in 80 years is The Bridge, a brand-new 900-seat adaptable theatre space founded by the London Theatre Company near London Bridge.
Focusing on new writing and adaptations of classic plays, showcasing productions with ambitious staging formats and new technology, scheduled productions so far include Young Marx (18 October – 31 December), Julius Caesar (20 January – 15 April 2018) and Nightfall (28 April – 3 June 2018). Monday evenings (and some Friday lunchtimes) are set aside for a series of eclectic one-off events such as intimate gigs and live recordings of new podcasts.
Reuniting the creative team behind the smash hit One Man, Two Guvnors, Young Marx, the opening production at The Bridge, runs from 18 October (opening night Thursday 26 October) until 31 December 2017. This is the world premiere of Young Marx, a new comedy by Richard Bean and Clive Coleman, directed by Nicholas Hytner and starring Rory Kinnear as Marx.
Young Marx is set in 1850, and Europe’s most feared terrorist is hiding in Dean Street, Soho. Broke, restless and horny, the thirty-two-year-old revolutionary is a frothing combination of intellectual brilliance, invective, satiric wit, and child-like emotional illiteracy. Creditors, spies, rival revolutionary factions and prospective seducers of his beautiful wife all circle like vultures. His writing blocked, his marriage dying, his friend Engels in despair at his wasted genius, his only hope is a job on the railway. But there’s still no one in the capital who can show you a better night on the town than Karl Heinrich Marx.
Young Marx will be broadcast on National Theatre Live on 7 December.
London Theatre Company’s new Bridge Theatre is situated on the river by Tower Bridge and City Hall. Tickets are priced from £15 to £65 with a limited number of premium seats available. A special allocation of £15 seats will be held for Young Bridge, a free scheme for those under 26. The Bridge auditorium is a collaboration between Haworth Tompkins, LTC and Tait Stage Technologies – winner of two Queen’s Awards for Export. It is made of precision-engineered steel with oak finishes in a modular construction – a first of its kind – which also incorporates the air conditioning, house lights, power and data.
For more information visit: bridgetheatre.co.uk
