Etcetera Theatre:
History
The Etcetera was born in 1986 when David Bidmead spotted the possibilities of a small function room above the Oxford Arms pub in on Camden High Street.
The Etcetera has become well known on the Fringe for the intimacy and versatility as a performance space and as a venue that actively supports new writing and writers.
In 1996 the Etcetera received the Guinness Ingenuity Award for Pub Theatre and also received a nomination for the Peter Brook Empty Space Award.
Since 2004 the Etcetera has been under the management of Zena Barrie and Michelle Flower for Ir’s Alright For Some Ltd.
Over the years more than 2000 productions have been staged at the Etcetera including:
- The premiere of The Six Wives of Timothy Leary by Phillip De Gouveia
- John Lenahan: Up Close
- Fringe Report Award winner The Bubonic Play
- The first performances of Tim Fountain: Sex Addict , which transferred to the Royal Court
- Edinburgh Fringe First winner What I Heard About Iraq
- The premiere of Bill Hicks: Slight Return which has gone to the went end and a world tour
- The stage version of Jonathan Safran Foer's novel Everything is Illuminated, adapted by Simon Block, which transferred to Hampstead Theatre
- Fringe Report Award winner Sandman
- Ben Moor’s Coelocanth and Dan Tetsell’s Sins of The Grandfathers, both of which were made into Radio 4 plays.
- Lizzie Roper’s Peccadillo Circus, which transferred to Trafalagar Studios.
- Warm-up gigs for comedy acts such as Simon Amstell, Russell Brand, Al Murray, Milton Jones, Mark Thomas, Robin Ince, We Are Klang, Ed Hamell, Russell Howard and Richard Herring
- Blue Jam by Chris Morris which transferred to Riverside Studio
- The premieres of The Westwoods and Between the Lines by Alan Ayckbourn and Paul Todd
- Nightmare Abbey by Eleanor Zeal, winner of an Edinburgh Fringe First and Scottish Daily Express Newcomer of the Year
- The Wild Party by Joseph Moncure March
- Porcelain by Chay Yew - Best New Play and Best Playwright 1993 Fringe Awards the show successfully transferred to the Royal Court
- My Life in Art by Andrew Cowie
- Bondage by David Hines - toured UK and Europe and became the Ken Russell film Whore
- Kafka's Dick by Alan Bennett, rewritten by him for performance at the Etcetera
- Jerry Sadowitz's Card tricks and Close-up Magic
- Her Alabaster Skin by Nick Green and A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen both of which became part of BAC's 'I Wish I'd Seen That' season
- Dutchman by Leroi Jones
The Etcetera has also been host to a number of festival seasons including:
- The Camden Fringe (2006 – 2008). Please see www.camdenfringe.org for more information.
- A regular Edinburgh Preview season in July each year.
- London's first and second One Person Play Festivals which spawned a number of hugely successful show, amongst others: Anorak of Fire, Playing Burton, Independent State, Barry Sorts it Out and After Penny.
- The Festival of European Culture which included Yes, My Fuhrer, The Galitizen Jewess and Alma Mahler
- The Together Alone Season