Mermaid surfaces

Press, 13 May 1981, Page 21

Mermaid surfaces

From

KEN COATES

in London

After being closed for nearly three years, London’s famous Mermaid Theatre will be re-opened on July 7. Built inside the remains of a nineteenth century warehouse destroyed by fire bombs in 1940, the theatre was earmarked for demolition and redevelopment by 1966, “at the very latest.”

Against all predictions, it took firm root and the City of London Corporation allowed it to continue at a pepper-corn rent for a further 12 years.

An ingenious proposal allowing the Mermaid Theatre Trust at Puddle Dock, Blackfriars, to retain the theatre and providing for it to be enlarged and improved, was accepted, and the old Mermaid was closed for redevelopment in September, 1978. The facelift has included 110 extra seats in wings on either side of the existing auditorium, a stage twice as big as formerly, air-condi-tioning, civilised backstage

amenities for actors and staff, and a greatly enlarged restaurant, cafeteria, and bars;

In addition, a small, 250seat children's theatre for the Mermaid’s famous Molecule Club, has also been incorporated. A high-level walkway leads from Blackfriars

Station directly into the theatre foyer, and there is parking space for 300 cars under the adjoining telecommunications building. The theatre’s riverside restaurant overlooking the Thames has always been a feature of the Mermaid, and the trust says it will be back in business serving “authentic British food to the highest possible standards.” The artistic policy will remain wide-ranging and flexible, each production . scheduled to run for six weeks. Some will be staged twice-nightly, as they did in

the Mermaid’s early years', with audiences booking either for dinner and the show, or the show first, then dinner. First houses will be at reduced prices, starting at 6 p.m. for the benefit of cityworkers.

Productions will include the rollicking musical, “Lock Up Your Daughters,” with which the Mermaid first opened its doors in May, 1959. Since then it has been played in the West End, and in practically every country in the world. “Treasure Island,” another old favourite which became a standard Christmas production at the Mermaid, will open on December 17, and on July 7, the opening production will be “Eastward Ho,” first produced by the Mermaid in 1964. It offers a unique picture of the City of London in the ; seventeenth century.