Hampstead Road is a treacherous mess right now. The scar of HS2 dithering and very Great British infrastructure problems scything it into narrow, congested chicanes amidst an otherwise razed landscape.

But as the busses and HGVs thunder through all that mess on the road outside, a former Victorian pub on the corner of Drummond Street has, for the last 30 years, served as an altogether more efficient means of transportation.

Offering a rare space for aspiring stage talent to take risks, fail miserably, perhaps fail a couple more times, but to grow and learn their craft along the way, Camden People’s Theatre is the kind of creative juggernaut that drives the UK’s still enviable cultural pipeline.

At the birthday bash last week, proudly cringing alumni were asked to return to perform their first shows again (ranging from barefoot carpentry to eating Marmite by the spoonful), celebrating where it all started before the bright lights of the West End or Hollywood beckoned.

As the theatre enters its fourth decade, it’s a sad fact that the state of the arts is at its most perilous since the doors first opened. While that remained the undercurrent to the night, the hell was that going to dampen the party spirit 🥳. The extended CPT family and their shared love for challenging, radical performance stuck the proverbial two fingers up at the forces that have conspired to test their limits. The show absolutely must - and will - go on.

“I think when the world is as hard as it is, that’s when you really need a sense of community,” says the CPT’s new Artistic Director, Rio Matchett. “You need to be reminded of the good of humanity, and to be invited to imagine a world that could be different. Joy, community and entertainment are really important political tools for shaping the society we want, and for artists to be able to contribute to the conversation.”

She’s boundlessly enthusiastic about all she’s inherited at CPT, grabbing the challenges and inevitable changes by the horns while doggedly fighting to preserve what has always made the place so special.

“CPT has got a real history of politics and social action - lots of activist groups have existed within this building - and I want that to continue to run through the programme,” she says. “It’s more important that ever for us to preserve the spaces where people can put on their first show. The whole industry is really challenging, and often the things that face the pinch are the new works and the experimental stuff, so we’re even more committed to doing that.”

A fringe venue in location as well as its outlook (and 63-seat capacity), just a few short minutes walk down the road the West End is stuffed with very safe musicals, movie adaptations and celeb-led bums-on-seats-bankers. So it’s chuffing brilliant that a place like CPT is a bastion of theatre with a genuine edge. Just 5 mins from Euston, it’s also possibly the most well-connected in the country.

Marking the 30th b-day is also a clarion call for support, and you can donate here, where you’ll find loads more reasons why it’s so important to do so on the page. Having said that, buying a ticket or two and seeing a show has the same impact, so make sure to do that (see poll below).

“I’m genuinely excited to continue interrogating our financial model,” says Rio. “There are big financial barriers, especially for working class artists, and I also feel that development of mid-career artists is incredibly difficult. I don’t know how we fix any of that, but it’s going to be our focus over the years ahead.

“I’m excited to bring my practice of accessible theatre to the fore, working with sign language, audio description and captioning, which can add new entertainment and colour to a lot of the work. And I’m also keen to make more work that we can take out into Camden - to the community centres, the schools and car parks. Schools have got no money so teachers can even hire a coach. It’s so logistical, so we need to take our work out to them.

“Then our Youth Theatre needs to be a holistic offer, so it’s not only the only free one in the borough, but we also give them a meal, and hold the space to spark conversations that are challenging and also fun and silly.”

Community again. And the power of people. And their radical theatre. The CPT is unapologetically Camden and we should all feel immensely proud to have it here, kicking up a storm on Hampstead Road just as hard as ever.

📊 This week’s one-click poll

Do leave us a comment after voting too, as it’s great to hear your thoughts.

Last week’s results to the question: Do you think a tourist tax could work to support cultural organisations in Camden?

Yes - Put a damn levy on the visitors anywhichway you can!
🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ 25% 

No - it's just way too hard to organise
🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️ 35%

Maybe - It's not that simple, but something needs to happen
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 40%

and some of your comments:

“Certainly feel that tourists should pay entrance fee to our free museums like they do in other countries.“

“Tax alone is not the answer. Where is it collected, who benefits, who pays? I visit Camden Town often on business. Should I pay to leave the station, cross the road or stop for a beer? The council charges rents, rates, service charge, waste collection, and on it goes. We can’t keep squeezing the juice of private sector business, it’s becoming baron. Maybe it’s time to ask where the presents taxes are being spent. Where is our money? ”

”The haves and have-nots is rife with this 'tax', yes it's another tax, we hate taxes but some are happy to heap more taxes on the travellers that have already stretched their budgets to be here. And eventually, Camden townies (I was born here and lived here for over 50 years) we become the NIMBY clan. We have spent years cultivating tourism and now wish to take them for wishing to partake in the marketing success? Odd behaviour.”

“I have been coming to Camden since I was 18 and now I'm 58 and still come every year for my anniversary (30 years now). I was born in Queens park, a stones throw from Camden, but the day I am charged to visit my hometown will be the last and sadly a broken link with my past..”

“How could you even tax this... I understand it's horrible on the weekend. Even driving is a bit of a nightmare, but how and why? Let people be and enjoy things without sapping their hard earned money. We have enough of that at the moment in London. ”

“London's infrastructure is set for - and copes with - high levels of tourism. Other city examples cited do not and largely suffer from too many tourists pricing locals of accommodation largely through airbnb et al. and local infrastructure problems. The instagram angle is over-blown - tourists still bring huge revenue into London.”

FOOD & DRINK

Bubala is the next big King’s Cross opening

Middle Eastern vegetarian champs Bubala, who already run successful restaurants in Soho and Spitalfields, have announced that their third outpost is going to be at the back of Lewis Cubitt Square in the rather fetching red brick arches of the new Cadence building.

Expect more of their highly beautiful dips, sharing platters and inventive roast veg centrepieces, along with premium cocktails, natural wines and homemade sparkling ‘gazoz’.

🍜 Our spies inform us that the inbound new restaurant taking over that swanky Belsize Village spot recently vacated in a hurry by Caldezi is another Marylebone (and Notting Hill) stalwart, contemporary Asian operator ULI.

Expect a whole host of Chinese, Thai, Malay and Singaporean cooking in a stripped back soft-toned environment when they land.

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NEWS

🍿 EXCLUSIVE: Kentish Town’s Cinema Saga - lease just signed

Having followed the epic tale of whether NW5 would ever see a cinema at the former North London Polytechnic assembly hall on Kentish Town Rd for no less than 13 years, (originally reporting on it with Kentishtowner and more recently playing an active role in the story trying to facilitate some form of community ownership with Camdenist), we now know how the story ends…

The lease has been signed on the building and work has begun on transforming the site this week. The silver screen dreamers may be disappointed, but I think it’s ultimately a good news story after seeing the place lie empty for so long. And the protracted saga may yet have a happy ending for local movie buffs coming soon, too.

Read the full exclusive story and interviews here.

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