Rotherhithe Playhouse offers access to culture to those in need

The Rotherhithe Playhouse will be taking up permanent residence in ‘The Hithe’ offering access to culture to those who wouldn’t normally be able to afford it.

The playhouse aims to democratise access to the theatre at a local level through Pay What You Can tickets and free tickets for under 14 year olds and anyone accessing a food bank.

Founded by Phil Willmott in 2020, the Rotherhithe Playhouse started during the pandemic by creating Covid-safe work in pop-up theatre places.

It has produced classic plays in unusual settings such as Hamlet on the sandbanks of the Thames, and Great Expectations in the gardens of Rotherhithe’s Victorian former mortuary.

Mr Willmott said: “As a kid, theatre was really important to me.

I didn’t go to a particularly good school so I would take myself off on Saturday afternoons to see plays and musicals at Bristol Old Vic.

It was how I learnt about the world.

“When Covid closed all the theatres, I realised there was a real danger of a whole generation of kids never being taken to the theatre, who will have never seen the plays they are studying.

“I felt the longer the pandemic went on, the more people would get out of the habit of going to the theatre, so an entire art form could die away.”

Their programme currently includes All’s Well That Ends Well and the children’s play, Telling Tails from Ukraine.

Shakespeare’s comedy All’s Well That Ends Well, directed by Phil Wilmott from October 25 to November 6, tells the story of Helena, a doctor’s daughter who falls hopelessly in love with Bertram and is granted his hand in marriage by a grateful King of France against the young man’s wishes.

Telling Tails from Ukraine will be taking place during half term – October 28 to November 6 and explores European folk tales through the eyes of the fantastical beasts present.

Picture: The Hithe / Picture: Phil Willmott