After a five-year redevelopment the iconic Riverside Studios have a brand-new building as part of a residential development led by London developers Mount Anvil and A2 Dominion.
Hammersmith’s historic arts centre with cutting-edge facilities is due to open in three phases, with the doors to the new multi-million-pound building now open to the public for the first time. The opening starts a process of bringing the same spirit back to the contemporary London arts scene, and is expected to re-ignite the same passion and excitement that was at the heart of the original building.
The new Riverside Studios boasts multiple performance, rehearsal and broadcast spaces which will each contribute to its ongoing story by presenting exhibitions, independent film and theatre from both established and emerging voices. The cultural hub continues a proud tradition that started when it first opened as a film studio in the 1930s, then as one of the original BBC TV Studios in the 1950s, where after it developed a worldwide reputation for presenting innovative art and became a home for some of the leading names in the theatre, television and film industries.
For the first time in its 86-year history, the public will be able to take advantage of its unique position on the Thames beside Hammersmith Bridge, with all the building’s public facilities now enjoying magnificent views of the river. The new public walkway also allows the public to walk beside it from Hammersmith Bridge to Putney.
Opening this week in phase one will be Studio 8 Café and Bar and adjacent coffee shop alongside Sam’s Riverside, a new high-end brasserie by Sam Harrison. It will be shortly followed by the flagship television studio, Studio 1, run by Riverside TV Studios Ltd that will begin producing broadcasts for local and international audiences almost immediately.
Tickets go on sale today for the world premiere of Persona, on 23 January 2020, a unique theatrical adaptation of Ingmar Bergman’s iconic film of the same name, marking phase two and the opening of Studio 3, one of the brand-new theatres to open at Riverside Studios. A psychological thriller, this new translation of Persona is adapted and directed by Paul Schoolman and stars Alice Krige and Nobuhle Ketelo, accompanied by renowned US musician William Close playing his signature Earth Harp with an original score.
Following Persona will be Love, Loss & Chianti (25 February – 16th May) starring Robert Bathurst and Rebecca Johnson, in a two-part evening pairing the critically acclaimed A Scattering with The Song of Lunch by Costa Book Prize award-winner Christopher Reid. The production is complemented by celebrated cartoonist Charles Peattie’s striking, beautiful and witty animations. From 18 – 24 May, after her sell-out Tour De Force Liza Pulman Sings Streisand, Studio 3 presents Liza’s brand new show, The Heart Of It. Alongside her band, Liza rediscovers and reimagines timeless classics and lost gems by Randy Newman, Stevie Wonder, Michel Le Grand, Judy Collins and a host of others. An evening designed to both break your heart and make it sing.
Opening in January will also be Riverside’s state of the art cinemas. The centre boasts two screens and visitors will enjoy a world-class digital cinematic experience, with films selected by renowned curator Jason Wood, Artistic Director of Film and Culture at HOME in Manchester and Rachel Hayward, Head of Film at HOME. The film programme will be announced in December, but Wood has promised a broad mix of first-run films, mixed with the best in independent cinema and a range of festivals and seasons that will remain true to the much loved film offering and reputation of the old cinema.
March 2020 will see the final public areas in the building open, in phase three. Studio 2 is a flexible performance space with up to 500 seats, and Studio 5 is a rehearsal room that can also host community events and workshops. The programme for Studio 2 will be announced soon and will feature work selected and produced by Emily Dobbs who, since her early days working behind the bar at the old Riverside, has gone on to become an acclaimed producer, most recently having presented Revolver in the West End. She will work on a year-long season of theatre at Riverside.
Continuing Riverside Studios’ legacy of presenting and embracing art in all its forms, a new exhibition Riverside@Riverside will open on 21 November and run until January, presented by the Riverside Artists Group celebrating their return to the iconic building.
Apart from having the space to present both intimate and large-scale productions, Riverside’s new building is distinctive in that all the performance areas are digitally enabled and connected to a central control room, making it possible to either record or transmit live work from the building to a global audience while still serving the local community as a valuable public resource, achieving its fundamental ambition of making the arts accessible to all.
Artistic Director William Burdett-Coutts said today: “To see Riverside Studios reopen its doors to the public is the culmination of a dream. Whilst the old building held an extremely fond place in the hearts of people across the arts, television and film worlds it had all the benefits and problems of a “found space”. Essentially it began life as a Victorian factory and through a number of different incarnations played a part in all these different worlds. Today the new building combines all these interests into a fantastic new public facility which can realise the potential for this incredible site in London. The artists that have passed through the building are legendary and we look forward to welcoming many more in future and making this a place the public feel they can enjoy and cherish.”
