When You Realise your Feet are Better than the Internet....

LONDON SITE-VISITS

I have had such a marvellous time conducting my site visits in London today. I have gorged on stunning and unusual venues all day and have had so much fun doing so. Having lived in London for a bit, I feel like I am often blind to its beauty (although not as blind as some) so today was a perfect excuse to have a proper explore and go on a bit of an adventure (what I like to call VENUE QUEST).

Oblivious to the power of my own feet’s exploration, last night I made an itinerary that planned every hour of the day to a tee. I was so meticulous, spending lots of time researching the routes, printing them out, checking my A to Z (because my phone is not clever enough for internet). Needless to say, I didn’t actually look at my itinerary once, underestimating how much I remembered about finding my way around.

My original Itinerary looked like this:

London Site-Visit Itinerary

8.45am- Leave the house- cycle to station.

9.18am- Get train to London- do work on train.

11.20am- Arrive at Waterloo Station

Travel to LSO St. Luke’s:

LSO St Luke's
UBS and LSO Music Education Centre
161 Old Street
London EC1V 9NG

The nearest Underground station is Old Street, on the Northern line (Bank branch). Take Exit 7 when leaving the station and walk straight ahead of you - the spire of LSO St Luke's will be visible. LSO St Luke's is on the right hand side of the street.

STAGE DOOR.

12.00pm- Tour round St. Luke’s.

Travel to The Wapping Project:

The Boiler House Wapping Hydraulic Power Station
Wapping Wall
Wapping
E1W 3SG

Get Northern Line from Old St to BANK, get DLR to Shadwell. Walk from there. See map.

1.15pm- Look around the Wapping Project.

Travel to St. Pauls

Go back the way you came, walk from Bank.

2:30-3:30- Look round St. Pauls

Travel to the Freemason’s Hall:

Freemasons’ Hall
60 Great Queen Street
London
WC2B 5AZ

4.00pm- Tour round Freemason’s Hall.

6.00pm-7.00pm- Tour round Wilton’s

7.30pm- Meet friends at Southbank for dinner.

10.35pm- Catch train back to Bournemouth- do work on train.

12.21am- Arrive at Bournemouth Station

Things to bring: Laptop, Camera, notebook, diary, pens, tapemeasure, A to Z, Vouchers for restaurant, confirmation codes.

I had three main appointments that I needed to keep today: 12:00- I was booked in to explore St. Luke’s, 16:00- the last tour of the day at the Masonic Lodge, 18:00- I was booked in on a tour of Wilton’s. Other than that, I was free to use my day as constructively as I saw fit, and as it turns out, this often meant letting my eyes boss my feet about without any of the rest of my interfering.

When I arrived at St. Luke’s I was firstly struck by the location, there were lots of beautiful buildings in this part of London (Old Street) but by the looks of it they had all been gutted and modernised inside. I loved the exterior of St Luke’s, yes it looked like a church, but it didn’t look like a British church, it wasn’t gothic, it wasn’t dark, it wasn’t plagued by depictions of Christ or biblical stained glass. It was perfect. I was therefore underwhelmed when I arrived at the stage door to be ushered into an area that felt a bit like the foyer of a primary school- not a bit like the exterior, However, I was soon shown into the main room, and I immediately recognised the aesthetics I had seen on the internet. If I’m perfectly honest, I think I was a bit flustered because my camera had chosen this moment not to work properly, and I felt like I should be as quick as possible because the kind man showing me around had mentioned that there was something scheduled in the  main hall very soon and I didn’t want to be an inconvenience, especially as I had let it slip that I was only viewing the venue for hypothetical purposes. Because of my flustered-ness and my poorly behaved camera, I didn’t get as much pictorial and video evidence as I would have liked and I didn’t get as good a feel for the space as I would have liked, but I also think that this was maybe because I wasn’t in love with it. I found out it was never used for theatre, only for music- perhaps this is because of the lack of a backstage area that was easily accessible. Also the auditorium was much squarer and less deep than I thought from the photos, there really wouldn’t be as much staging space as I would like. Moreover, even though I’m sure it would look transformed under different lighting, the interior really reflected nothing of what I loved about the exterior. The hall was quite modern, and apart from a few sparing Romanesque columns and the lovely windows, there wasn’t a huge amount of character about the place. This lack on interest on my part concerned me slightly as this was the venue I had as the front-runner- thinking this would be the place I would most likely pick. I did regret my lack of interest when I was shown the two FOH entrances which were absolutely perfect in every way- black and white deco tiles floors, stone columns, geometric shapes- all beautiful and exactly right, but alas, the foyers were NOT big enough to be transformed into a performance space. 

I left this venue in much less time than I was intending to spend there, and I felt a bit deflated about how ambivalent I felt about using it. I enquired about getting ground plans, but I wouldn’t hold out much hope as the best I could get was the name of the architects to contact- I guess if you’re solely a musical venue, you don’t need to worry about ground plans for sets quite so much.

Disobeying my itinerary, I decided not to head straight to the Wapping project and instead checked out some of the local architecture. I had seen some interesting buildings on my walk for the tube and I felt they needed further investigation. Most of these investigations were fruitless- falling into 2 categories: dangerous and derelict, or soulless on the inside. However, I saw some interesting shapes on the skyline and so kept on walking.

The next few hours were made-up entirely of me following the skyline- I’d see a building I liked in the distance, would walk there as the crow flies, and then once I’d got there I would see another in the distance and I’d walk there etc. This went on for quite some time. One of the most promising places I visited in these travels was Shoreditch Town Hall, which is incidentally trying to market itself more and more as a site-specific performance venue. I spoke to a very helpful lady there, and she gave me a brochure, but I didn’t get to have a proper look inside, and by the looks of the brochure, it wouldn’t have been right anyway.

My search ended in Hoxton where I finally decided to make my way towards the Wapping Project, arranging to meet my friend and fellow adventurer Dolly, when I got there. Instead of going straight to the venue, when I arrived in Shadwell, I had a look around, following the skyline as I did in Shoreditch. This was far less fruitful than it was before- architecture around the docklands seems to have been recently revamped and modernised. Interestingly, I kept on seeing signposts for Wilton’s – I had no idea it was this close. I let myself in to a beautiful church, but alas, like all the venues, its interior let down the beautiful impression made by the façade. I ate lunch by this church, sitting on the newly developed docklands, watching the river and eating my packed-lunch, it was such a beautiful moment in a really beautiful day. I reckoned I could see a building that looked suspiciously like it could be the Wapping Project from where I was stationed, so again, without consulting my carefully planned route or map, I explored over to  the building I could see at the other end of the dock.

I really loved the Wapping Project, and I am determined to come back here to eat dinner at some point, as the restaurant was just incredible (but expensive). It was just the most amazing building, with all these massive hydraulic machines everywhere, giving the whole venue a futuristic yet dated industrial feel which my friend said reminded her of Blade Runner. I looked around freely as there was this wonderfully Lynchian multimedia exhibition on called Suspense. The main room was very atmospheric, but it was so so dark (due to the films from the installation being played) that it almost had the opposite effect to St. Luke’s- St. Luke’s was so plagued by natural light that I found it hard to imagine it as a theatrical venue, whereas the Wapping project was so devoid of any sort of light-source that it was very hard to get a proper feel for the room. I got good atmospheric vibes from this venue. Yes, the audience would have to be small, as would the staging area, but the ceilings were lovely and high, and the ageing brickwork set-off the scene beautifully. The thing is, although it was my favourite place I’d found so far, it really didn’t have the aesthetic I was looking for. Although it had that ‘decaying’ feeling going on, it was still lots and lots of very British Brickwork. If I wanted to set Salome here, I feel like I’d need to change my design concept slightly, propelling the context into some sort of sci-fi, Steampunk, ageless industrial future- and as much as that sounds great, I would really like to try and keep it in ‘bible-times’, as so few modern productions have attempted to keep the play in its original context.

In the end, I decided it was a definite maybe.

After enjoying a coffee in this amazing building, we made our way to Holborn in order to get to the Masonic Lodge in time for their 4.00 tour. I had high hopes for the lodge, as the building had EXACTLY the right aesthetic, however in the pictures I had seen online, the ceilings were fairly low and the ‘Main Hall’ was pretty naff.

I was disappointed to find when we got there, that despite my careful planning, and checking of the website to make sure there were no events conflicting with our tour, we were turned-away because there was some very exclusive fashion event going on. It seemed so strange to be standing in the Foyer of  the Masonic Lodge, being surrounded by outrageous St. Martin’s types and clueless fashionistas, who were treading the temple floors like the building had been made for them. We managed to wangle a pass to go and look in the museum, library, and gift shop, but were under strict instructions and a watchful eye so that we didn’t try and ingratiate ourselves into the fashion-elite…. Like we’d want to!

I was pretty gutted that we didn’t get to look around properly, as the corridors and foyers seemed so promising, however, in the museum I was reminded of the photos I had seen on the internet, and convinced myself that any of the spaces large enough for a performance seemed to be plagued by naff décor and a lack of character compared to the rest of the venue. The museum was really interesting (alas, a ‘no photos’ rule was in place), and we saw some amazing artefacts. I also had a chat to one of the members of staff to see if they could recommend me anywhere else in the country that had a similar sort of aesthetic, but they were too keen to big-up their own venue and all the could do for me was give me the details of their events dept.

We were too annoyed (and exhausted) to go straight back to Wapping/Shadwell, having come all the way into central just to see the lodge, only to be turned away, so we explored some more buildings, gate-crashed a posh hotel, and then travelled to Leicester Sq. to check-out a suggestion I had received from my friend’s father of the Notre Dame church in Leicester St. It took us a while to find it (I think this was down to us using Dolly’s smartphone to locate it, instead of my trusty A to Z), and to be perfectly honest, it wasn’t really worth the effort. It was o.k. It had a bit of a weird vibe… it was open to the public with the tagline of offering some peace and tranquility (something I much appreciated in arguably one of the most stressful, tourist-ridden areas in London) but the man on the door was not really in keeping with the spirit of things, he seemed pissed-off that we weren’t donating any money, and despite the fact that I signed the guestbook, he kept on pressuring me to write more- it was just a bit strange, felt like he was trying to sell the church-experience, which I think is a bit immoral, even as a non-Christian.

The venue itself was ok… I wasn’t overly sold on the décor, but the structure had some potential. However, it would mean performing in the round, and having just overcome that set-challenge for Much Ado, I am very keen to shy-away from that obstruction during this project, for the sake of my portfolio if nothing else…

After some hazy directions, and some very rushed rush-hour traveling, we eventually found ourselves at dusk at Wilton’s just in time for the tour.

I mean this when I say that this is one of the most amazing places I have ever set-foot in in my entire life. I loved everything about this place. EVERYTHING. Please, I implore you, go and visit. It has a lovely local crowd of bohemian funsters, and they have live bands every Monday. None of this remotely does the venue justice, but I do not exaggerate when I say that this place is one of the most incredible places I’ve visited in London. Distraught that I almost missed this in my search, and even more upset that I didn’t know of this magical place during my residency just down the road in New Cross Gate, I am officially in love with Wilton’s Music Hall. The exterior, like the interior, was beautifully flaking and decayed, producing the most stunning effect, highlighted by the reams of fairy lights bridging a canopy over the narrow lane. You step inside to be greeted by a beautifully rustic bar (The Mahogany Bar) which was serving wonderful home-made snacks and food, FOR FREE, and reasonably priced drinks at the bar. Everywhere you look, you are greeted by a stunning sight of natural decay, but in the most beautiful way. I was in love, I was in awe, and I immediately wished I was a millionaire so that I could give it al the love and financial support that it needs to stay open.

I have to say though, at this point, as much as I was totally head-over-heels with the venue, to the point where I would happily spend every evening of the rest of my life there, I really wasn’t convinced that it was right for Salome. It was too rustic, too bricky, not grand enough: although it had grasped that sense I have been trying to capture of ‘decaying opulence’, it hadn’t quite got it in the right way- it felt less like a derelict palace, more like a falling-down mill or something like that. It was cosy, I think that was my problem, it was cosy.

However, I embarked on the tour with an open-mind, and was ashamedly shocked to see how many people were joining us (at had misguidedly thought it might just be me and Dollly, given that the venue is such a hidden gem), but there were a good 20 odd people embarking on the tour. It was such an interesting tour, and I savoured every word- how it used to be a music hall, then a music-hall/brothel, how there were complaints that the Sailors of San Francisco had heard of the questionable goings-on of the ‘Mahogany Bar’ but not of the elegance of St. Paul’s Cathedral, of how it became a Christian Mission for many years, of how Oscar Wilde himself had described one of their stunning gaslights in a most positive and poetic fashion. Everything I heard about the venue, made me love it even more, but I was still sceptical, having yet to see the auditorium.

When booking my trip to London, I had had to make a decision and a compromise. It was either, go on Monday, and be able to look round St. Luke’s, and go on a tour of Wiltons, but be unable to go in the auditorium due to the get-in of their new show of The Great Gatsby, OR go later on in the week, not have access at all to St. Lukes, but be able to go and SEE Great Gatsby. In the end, I am sure I made the right decision (I am returning in March to see Gatsby here), as despite what the website lead us to believe, we spent most of the tour sitting comfortably in the gallery of the stunning auditorium.

It was at this point that I changed my mind about the venue. I could see Salome here, the stage was very narrow, but much higher and deeper than I’d initially thought, and the surrounding architecture and décor is just stunning, ageing and unique. It probably helped that the set for Gatsby (that I was forbidden from taking photos of) was of a similar aesthetic to my desired world for Salome, but after hearing the Oscar Wilde quote, and being told of how they have had plays and operas and circus performers and all things under the sun performed in this space, it seemed more and more likely that this would be a stunning venue for Salome.

Because the aesthetic is so far removed from what I initially planned, I think I need to sleep on it, comparing the prospect of doing it there, to the two alternatives: delaying work further in order to find somewhere more befitting (that might not even exist) OR doing Salome in a conventional theatre (passing Wyndhams today made me remember that traditional theatre spaces are far from being soulless). 

So I’m going to have a think about it, I can’t tell if my apprehension is because the venue just isn’t quite right, or whether it’s that natural; art-student feeling of not wanting to commit, because there’s no going back.

What is nice about Wilton’s is that the prospect of actually performing it there seemed entirely plausible, and if I’m stuck in a rut post-graduation, with no relevant work, and  a lack of creative-projects in my life, this seems like a perfect starting-block to get my teeth into- I just love the venue so much, and in the words of my friend who accompanied me there: ‘I will be so disappointed in you if you never put on a show here’.

In conclusion, whether I’ve found my venue for Salome or not, I have had the most enlightening day in London, having my eyes opened to the stunning and unusual architecture gracing every street. I feel like I have been spoilt, like I have seen too many wonderful places in one day, like every memory I have of the day so far is picture-perfect, unique, and downright stunning. I have fallen in love with Wiltons, and I urge you to check this venue out for yourselves- you will not find anywhere else like it, I guarantee you. Either way, whether I decide to use any of these venues or not, I should not be scared to abandon the site-specific idea, due to the concept of having ‘wasted so much time looking for venues’ because I’m absolutely positive that this experience of expanding my knowledge of the urban-geography of London will prove invaluable in my future career.