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Upstairs at the Gatehouse stalwarts Sean Prior, John and Katie Plews |
3,000th show must go on!
Milestone for Highgate Village theatre
HIP, hip... It’s three cheers for a celebrated Highgate Village theatre standing on the brink of a heady milestone.
The Upstairs At The Gatehouse playhouse, near Pond Square, will stage its 3,000th performance on Sunday. Appropriately, it will be a one-off special about John Betjeman, the poet laureate who lived in Highgate West Hill.
The line from the first show can be traced back to December 1997 when John Plews, his wife Katie and Sean Prior first opened up for business after turning the derelict music hall above the Gatehouse pub into a brand new theatre.
The first show was Not A Game For Boys, a play which Sheridan Morley described as “lethally good” in his review for the Daily Mail. Writers from national newspapers have kept coming, particularly for the Christmas musical, which is known locally as a must-see. This year there are plans to stage Cole Porter’s classic High Society.
Katie said: “The support from local people has been amazing. From the brave souls who right at the beginning agreed to become patrons and help us financially to the hundreds who have now become regulars at the shows, we would really like to thank them all for helping us keep the doors open.”
With no grants or subsides, the Gatehouse survives on box office receipts and donations – and actors take to the stage more for the love and experience, than for hefty wages.
A favourite spot among Highgate’s celebrity circles, patrons include Victoria Wood, Les Dennis and Jonathan Pryce.
A Sunday matinée of current musical Great Pretenders will move the count to 2,999 shows – and then in the evening the ticker hits the big 3,000 with Lance Pierson “re-living” The Best of John Betjeman.
Mr Plews said: “It’s highly appropriate that our milestone performance has a Highgate connection and although there’s no record of Betjeman appearing at the Gatehouse, we’re sure he must have stopped by during his time in Highgate.” |
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