London’s Turbine Theatre to close after five years

The Turbine Theatre in London’s Battersea Power Station is to close after five years, blaming a theatre landscape “without serious investment and philanthropy”.

The 92-seat venue launched shows like My Son’s A Queer (But What Can You Do?) and Gwyneth Paltrow comedy musical I Wish You Well, both of which transferred to the West End.

Artistic director Paul Taylor-Mills said: “To say I’m proud of what we have achieved with The Turbine Theatre is an understatement.”

The announcement came days after arts union Equity said it had “serious concerns” about how the venue employed actors and crew.

In a statement on Monday, Taylor-Mills wrote: “Just over six years ago l walked into an empty railway arch at The Battersea Power Station. It was leaking, there was no dressing room, no bar – a few fold out chairs.

“With an equal mixture of excitement and fear we created a theatre.”

He added: “As the landscape of making theatre shifts, without serious investment and philanthropy, a 92 seat space just can’t work and it’s time for me to focus my efforts elsewhere.

“The Turbine Theatre has been an absolute labour of love. It shouldn’t have worked. But it did and I’m so incredibly proud of the lives it’s changed and the dreams it’s made come true.”

The venue will close after its Christmas production, which will run until 22 December.

Last week, Equity’s newsletter asked people who have recently worked there or are due to do so to get in touch, and said they “may have been denied important rights that could be of significant monetary value”.

An Equity spokesperson said: “A number of Equity members have come forward with concerns which the union is providing support on.

“We hope we can resolve the issues of concern constructively with the Turbine Theatre and Paul Taylor-Mills, and we are in contact with them to that end.”

Taylor-Mills owns the companies that run the Turbine, and is also artistic director of another London venue, The Other Palace.

He has not responded to Equity’s comments.