Cirque & Cameron Converge on Leicester Square???
Date: 24 March 2003
Might award-winning Canadian theatrical circus company, Cirque du Soleil, find a new London home in Leicester Square? Westminster Council is reportedly drawing up plans to make the square the "jewel in the crown" of British entertainment and, as such, have approached big name theatre bodies - including Cirque and theatre owner and impresario Cameron Mackintosh - about getting involved in the area's reconstruction. Leicester Square already houses numerous cinemas and is the setting for most of the country's major film premieres but, despite its location in the heart of theatreland and the presence of the Society of London Theatres' TKTS booth, there are no theatres on the main square. Like much of the West End, the square is also seen by many as dirty, down-at-heel and unsafe. Some of the regeneration possibilities mooted to upgrade its environs include changing the layout of the central garden, expanding al fresco dining, opening a casino/hotel and an open-air theatre as well as creating a London base for Cirque du Soleil. The circus troupe visit London annually, often performing at the Royal Albert Hall, and they previously had plans to build a permanent home in the capital on the site of the derelict Battersea Power Station, where they've previously played to capacity crowds in their "Grand Chapiteau" big top. The Battersea plans were abandoned in December 2001.
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