Hall Wants to Make New Music at Hampstead???

Speaking to Whatsontage.com theatregoers at our Club outing to Enlightenment at the Hampstead Theatre last night (11 October 2010) Edward Hall, the venue’s new artistic director, revealed he wants to stage a new musical in the North London theatre. Hall, who is the son of RSC founder and former National Theatre director Peter Hall, and is well known for running all-male Shakespeare company Propeller, said he would ensure that the Hampstead remained a venue for new writing, and somewhere writers and directors felt comfortable bringing work for development. As well as talking passionately about the his inaugural season, which includes productions written and directed by Nina Raine, Athol Fugard and Mike Leigh, Hall went on to reveal he is in talks with British and American producers about programming a new musical for the theatre’s mainstage. Whilst committed to the idea and very enthusiastic about the acoustic of the Hampstead’s auditorium, Hall admitted that the venue’s maximum capacity of 325 restricted the economic potential of musicals, which he said were inherently expensive and complex projects.