Another Delay for Trafalgar Studio 2???

What’s happening over at Trafalgar Studios? When the Ambassador Theatre Group launched the new West End complex last summer (See News, 7 Apr 2004), the clue was in the plural title: there were meant to be two studios carved out of the then 650-seat Whitehall Theatre. The larger, 400-seat auditorium has been happily housing productions – including the RSC’s Othello and the musicals Sweeney Todd and Simply Heavenly - since last June. But what became of the 100-seater? At the time of the press launch, the smaller space, which was to be dedicated to new work, was said to be on target for a September/October 2004 opening. Then, last month, we heard through the grapevine that Trafalgar Studio 2 would at last open at the beginning of this October (ie as early as this week) and would be programmed with transfers of Edinburgh Festival hits, starting with the award-winning revival of Edward Albee’s 1960 one-act two-hander, The Zoo Story (See The Goss, 30 Aug 2005). Since then, The Zoo Story has apparently fallen through because Albee plans to pen a prequel and so has withheld the London performance rights. Despite advertising the opening of the space on venue hoardings and regular chasing for press information, we’ve still had no official confirmation either way. So we’ll continue to wait and see. At least, we’ve got the upcoming opening of Owen McCafferty’s Shoot the Crow, with a crack cast including Cold Feet’s James Nesbitt and double Olivier Award winner Conleth Hill, opening soon in Studio 1 to content ourselves with.

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