Sir Peter Hall must be turning in his grave at news that the Rose theatre in Kingston, Surrey is threatened with closure - a decade after opening. It had long been his wish for an auditorium, whose shape was based on the Rose theatre in Elizabethan London, and Hall even put his own money into the £11m project. But now Kingston council is winding down its funding for the theatre over the next three years and will not commit to any more cash beyond that. Part of the Rose’s problem is it’s never received a penny from the Arts Council, though it does get some funding from the local university.
I have some sympathy for the Rose, but it should be more resourceful if it is to survive the council’s cut. Look across London to the Park theatre in Finsbury Park. Opened in 2013 with two small stages, it too has had no Arts Council funding, and only the very occasional one-off grant from Islington council. So it raises at least £250,000 a year via trusts, individual donations (Sir Ian McKellen has been generous) and fund-raisers like this July’s Whodunnit performances where the sale of tickets - admittedly rather higher than usual - will help fill its coffers. Guest actors as “the inspector” will include Gillian Anderson, who spent her youth in nearby Crouch End, and Damian Lewis, who lives locally.
Food might seem an unlikely subject for an exhibition. But the V&A’s recently opened Food: Bigger Than the Plate is timely in exploring how innovative individuals, communities and organisations are radically reinventing how we grow, distribute and experience food. A must for foodies, but with wider appeal too. But why the V&A? Well, the museum was built in the mid-19th century, on the site of the old Brompton Park nursery. In its early years, it even housed a food gallery, while the museum was also the first in the world to have “refreshment rooms”. In the late 1980s the V&A actually ran an advertising campaign of “an ace caff with quite a nice museum attached” except that its restaurant fare was then not great and the museum a mess.
Today, both are a delight. As it happens, this new exhibition’s sponsor is the hospitality company, BaxterStorey, which I discover also owns Benugo, the museum’s caterer. BaxterStorey assures me it had no say over the exhibition’s contents. They include some unusual items, such as terracotta pots formed from home composting, edible water capsules made from algae, a toilet made from surplus cow manure, and cultured cheese taken from human bacteria, including from the groin of Heston Blumenthal for comté.
The new controller of Radio 4 will be announced in the next week or so following the retirement of Gwyneth Williams after nine years. What a great job, and yet what a responsibility as every listener feels they own the network. Rather than listen to siren voices for more shows aimed at young people, the next incumbent should cull some of the dated so-called comedy half-hours, and seriously question the future of the smug News Quiz, Now Show, and The Unbelievable Truth. Saturday Live should also be chopped. So much better in the days of Fi Glover .
