The end of this month sees 50th anniversary celebrations for the Soho Poly Theatre, which moved operations to a basement in Riding House Street W1 in 1972. It closed there in 1990, but there's a long legacy of radical lunchtime theatre, and the University of Westminster is raising funds to restore the ground floor and basement as a (still tiny - 50 seat) performance space.
David Edgar wrote Backshot for the Poly in 1973, later televised as 'Sanctuary' by Scottish TV. In the same year, Edgar's 'Baby Love' transferred from the Leeds Playhouse, and made it to BBC's Play for Today in 1974.
Howard Brenton's "The Saliva Milkshake" based on Under Western Eyes by Joseph Conrad, was first performed there in 1975, and made it on to BBC 2 in 1977.
Barrie Keefe's most famous play, Gotcha, first produced at the Soho Poly in May 1976, also went on to became his best-known work for television in April 1977 when it formed part of a Play for Today double-bill that included Brian Clark’s play Campion’s Interview in which a headmaster takes the opportunity of a job interview to complain about political interference in education.
Hanif Kureishi's second play, The King and Me, premiered there in 1980.
Do you think the University might approach BBC Studios for a modicum of sponsorship ? Will we ever see a one-act play on the BBC again ?
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