Address:
115 Upper Street
Islington, London N1
Tube Stops:
Angel--Northern Line (walk up Upper Street)
Islington/Highbury--Victoria Line and BT (Walk down Upper Street)
Phone:
020 7226 1916
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Address: 115 Upper Street Islington, London N1 Tube Stops: Angel--Northern Line (walk up Upper Street) Islington/Highbury--Victoria Line and BT (Walk down Upper Street) Phone: 020 7226 1916
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| Performance Schedule: | Evening performances, weekend matinees and often lunchtime shows. |
| Ticket Info:
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Evening tickets generally cost from £10 to £18 with concessions (lower priced tickets) available for children, senior citizens/OAPs and sometime members of performing arts communities. Lunchtime shows cost much less (£5 to £10). |
What's Playing:
"On Raglan Road", by Tom O'Brien, March 28th to April 9th (Lunchtime Production). A play about poet Patrick Kavanagh's focus on Hilda Moriarty.
"Sophie Tucker's One Night Stand", by Chris Burgess, March 15th to April 30th. The show tells about the life of the "last of the Red Hot Mamas" through her music.
"Raod to Nirvana", by Arthur Kopit, May 2nd to May 28th. The story of a movie producer who after failing, becomes a drug dealer and focuses his hopes for the future on a star name Nirvana.
A PubTheatre.com Favorite
The King's Head has a long history of great theatre including strong cabaret style productions and musicals as well as a variety of serious plays, some of which have moved on to the West End. The King's Head is also one of the few pub theatres that have a great relationship between the theatre and the pub. It is a wonderful place to spend an evening.
Description:
The King's Head Theatre's heritage goes back to the mid 1500's and the time of Shakespeare. It was also the first dinner theatre in the United Kingdom. But the current incarnation the theatre goes back to the mid 1970's when it was founded by Dan Crawford (who is still the Artistic Director).
Click Here For More Pictures of the King's Head Theatre.
The building where the King's Head Pub and Theatre are located itself is rather historic and has been around since the mid 1800's. The backroom where the King's Head Theatre is located has been everything from a boxing ring and pool hall to its current incarnation as a theatre. Various elements of the theatre including the seats, velvet curtains and theatre lamps have been recycled from other famous venues including the Theatre Royal Haymarket, Lyric Shaftesbury and Scala Theatre.
The King's Head Theatre does both old and new works. Over the years it has been an important venue for the new works of Steven Berkoff and Andrew Davies and has been an important home for UK productions of plays by Harold Pinter, Athol Fugard, Terence Rattigan and even Noel Coward. The King's Head is the home to musicals, dramas and comedies.
Production values are always excellent and the King's Head regularly gets excellent actors many with experience in the West End or at the National Theatre or Royal Shakespeare Company. Designers also usually have strong credentials either in London or elsewhere in the UK.
The seating in the theatre includes both typical theatre seats and tables where you can often get a pre-theatre dinner at a very reasonable price. There are seats both directly in front of the stage and to the left of the stage but generally you can see the shallow stage pretty well from nearly every seat in the house. If you sit at one of the tables down front you need to be aware of who sits in front of you, but usually can still see well looking down the length of the table.
One of the most fun visits I ever had to the King's Head Theatre was a staged reading of a musical (that was seeking backers). It was really incredible to be sitting that close to the singers, musicians and all the action. A huge change from the typical huge musicals you run into in the West End or on Broadway, but the intimacy worked wonders.
The pub itself is a fun place to hang out. The crowd is pretty mixed in terms of age. They regularly have music on a small stage. The pub also features old fashioned ale pumps (it takes a strong arm for the bartender to pull you a pint) and a Victorian cash register (till).
The King's Head Theatre has regularly been in tough financial waters whether it is in need of funding for renovations or because of cuts in Arts Council Grants. Fairly regularly there will be an announcement before or after the show seeking support (either letters to the government or change tossed in a bucket). The cause is well worth it.
The King's Head's web site can be found at http://www.kingsheadtheatre.org/index.html