What's Playing:

"The Marriage of Figaro", by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, March 30th and 31st, April 1st, 2nd, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th.  Mozart's classic comedy operetta about love and deception.

"School for Scandal", by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, April 12th to May 6th.  Sheridan's classic restoration comedy produced by Traffic of the Stage.

Description:

Upstairs at the Gatehouse’s artistic policy is to encourage young and new producers, directors, musical directors, choreographers, set designers, costume designers, make up artists, lighting designers, sound designers and stage managers.  They give preference to theatre companies who want to stage commercial revivals.

Of all the inns and pubs in Highgate, The Gatehouse is probably the oldest. Its nineteenth century owners claimed that there had been a licensed building on the site since 1337, although nothing can be proven as licensing by justices did not commence until 1552 when there were five inns licensed in Highgate although none of them were actually named. The earliest mention of The Gatehouse in the licensing records is 1670 when an Edward Cutler made an application to the borough of St. Pancras.

One curious fact about The Gatehouse was that the borough boundary between Middlesex and London ran through the building. When the hall was used as a courtroom, a rope divided the sessions to make sure prisoners didn’t escape to another authority’s area. The boundary problem continued as the names changed, most recently with Camden and Haringey sharing the building. In 1993 the border was moved a few feet to allow one licensing authority overall control and The Gatehouse is now the last pub.

From its days next to the toll gate through its use as a meeting house. The Gatehouse has had a chequered history. Byron, Cruikshank and Dickens all used its services and the Highgate Literary and Scientific Institution’s inaugural meeting took place in the pub on 16th January, 1839. At the turn of the last century, The Gatehouse was famous all over London for its “shilling ordinaries”, gigantic lunches which filled many a Victorian stomach. In 1905 the building was renovated in the mock Tudor style that remains today.

The auditorium that now houses the theatre was opened in 1895 as “a place suitable for Balls, Cinderellas and Concerts” and its various uses have included a Music Hall, a Cinema, Masonic Lodge and a venue for amateur dramatics. In the sixties a jazz and folk club featured amongst others, the Crouch End All Stars and, on one famous occasion, Paul Simon (of Simon and Garfunkel fame).

It took over a hundred years to turn the Highgate Hall (as it was called in 1895) into the village’s first theatrical auditorium. We hope the Victorian residents would have approved.

Information about Upstairs at the Gatehouse provided by Kate Plews, Ovation Productions.
 

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