The Theatre at the Tabard, is 40 years old this year. Celebrations begin on the exact date it was founded 21 March, and will continue throughout the year. More about the intoxicating line-up of shows later but first, let’s introduce the venue.
THE VENUE
When Sarah & Simon took over the venue in June 2022, they had specific ambitions, which they are fulfilling. In the first six months they produced their first in house production and their first musical, in the second year they had air conditioning installed and this year they’re taking comedy drama, A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP, to off Broadway. “It always feels like we’re hitting milestones, without us realising it” says Simon.
A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP tour came about through their relationship with co-writer Tim Marriott, and his American contacts. “Tim had an idea to do a show which was told from both British and American perspectives,” says Sarah, “two dads at a wedding, one’s American, one’s English.” It’s a truly transatlantic production, Co- written by Tim and American writer Jeff Stolzer, and co-produced by in-house production company TAKE NOTE and New York based TWILIGHT.
However, the pair don’t want to carve out an international career, for them its more about offering variety, and giving audiences what they want. “Something a bit dynamic, or able to move with the times, something that piques our interest,” explains Simon, “and to be candid what sells tickets as well.” They give audiences what they want, and they exceed expectations of production values.
There’s no shortage of competition for audiences. The Tabard is right next to Turnham Green tube station, so they’ve got The Bush theatre just up the road, with the Lyric Hammersmith, the Riverside Studios, the Richmond Theatre and the Orange Tree, in the area. “There is a lot of competition for people’s money, attention and time, so we feel that we have to play at that level,” adds Simon.
“There’s been an impression of pub theatre being black box, just a chair, a table and a piece of new writing and that’s great but we’ve always thought wouldn’t it nice to push the envelope a bit in terms of set, sound & lighting.” says Simon. “It’s not just about the acting, it’s about the entire creative experience and that doesn’t have to mean a lot of money.”
“I remember a show when we just put cardboard boxes down on the floor, flattened, and bin bags on the walls “ adds Simon. “The whole set cost £50 but when you walk into the space it looked visually impressive.” Of course, at times the sets are big and expensive, especially the Tabard Christmas show, but a lot of the time they reuse and recycle things. “So, our big challenge at the moment is storage, where are we going to put all this stuff?” laughs Sarah. They are surrounded by flowers everywhere because they did THE SECRET GARDEN for their Christmas family show (2023) and they don’t want to be throwing things away.
They came in handy for A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP (which played at the Tabard earlier this year) as it’s set in a garden. The set just reused things that they’ve already got, except for the Gazebo. “Everyone has gone off to the wedding rehearsal and they’ve been put in charge of building a gazebo in the garden” explains Sarah. “That’s one of the interesting challenges, building a gazebo in front of an audience” chips in Simon with a laugh. “Anything smaller than 2.7 metres square is now a pop up, and the humour is derived from them trying to assemble it, so we had to buy a large one and as you can imagine it takes up most of the stage.”
Their primary audience is Chiswick, Ealing, Hammersmith, that West London hot spot. “We have people who come to see absolutely everything, so they’re coming back time and time again,” says Sarah. “Wouldn’t it be terribly boring if it was a black box every single time they came, we want to give them that full theatrical experience.”
“People don’t have as much disposable income at the moment but there is an appetite for it,” says Simon. “People do enjoy those shared experiences in a theatre.” A couple of years ago they were given the entire archive of the theatre, by the people who founded the theatre, so they’ve got posters and flyers going back to 1985. They know that it hasn’t always been plain sailing for the venue, with a couple of dips, the ‘lost’ years in the late 90s early 2000s. “There was very sporadic programming and the theatre had fallen into disrepair, there was ivy growing up the outside wall,” says Simon. Then of course, the tough Covid years. The rich history of the Tabard is going to be written up by a local historian, so the full story will be available in time for the birthday on 21 March.
THE ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS
The line up for the special 40th birthday celebrations is already in place for the entire year, ending with the in-house family show for Christmas, THE RAILWAY CHILDREN.
“We’ve been working busily behind the scenes putting together a programme of fund raising events, premieres and shows up to December this year” says Simon. When the Tabard was founded in 1985, it was ‘The Tabard Theatre of new writing’, so it’s very much part of their remit. They recently had a young company called Curtain Twitchers with up-and-coming new writer, but it’s also about new writing from experienced writers (such as Tim Marriott). They also have revivals of plays, with two shows coming up: A GHOST OF A CHANCE by Nick Hennegan, and HOME AT SEVEN by Seven by R C Sherriff.
Other events include Gilbert and Sullivan’s THE MIKADO, with highly experienced director, Keith Strachan. “As soon as we announced it tickets started flying out the door“ says Sarah. They don’t charge ENO kind of prices, so anyone unfamiliar with the light opera, can take a chance on it. “Better to spend £20 - £25 here rather than £150 in the bigger houses,” says Simon. “There is that intrigue from our audience; ‘how are you going to do The Mikado on a small stage with ten in the cast?’
Other special events for the anniversary include local actor Kevin McNally in Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads monologue A CHIP IN THE SUGAR (23 March) with Alan’s personal permission. ‘IN CONVERSATION WITH LESLEY NICOL of Downton Abbey fame (30 March). “She might burst into song as well, as she started out in musical theatre” says Simon, “she originated the role of Rosie in Mama Mia in the West End.” They also have celebrated actor Sian Phillips who is a regular at the theatre, appearing in WOMEN AND TROY (11 May). “She has one of the most stunning voices that you could ever listen to,” says Sarah. She’s joined by Rachel Donovan (The Crown, Call the Midwife) and they are exploring the women of Greek mythology in a spoken word performance. “Something quite special” adds Sarah.
One of the hits, that’s flying off the shelves is THE EDITH PIAF STORY (27 April) with vocalist Susan Black. “I’ve always known that there’s a big French expat community in West London,” says Simon. The first performance sold out within two days, so they’ve added an extra performance. “It’s really busy at the moment” he adds.
Kevin McNally is also brining back his TONY HANNOCK show, which he took to Edinburgh fringe and then recorded for BBC Radio 4 which has piqued interest in the show. It isn’t just an older audience that enjoys vintage comedy. Fairly recently John Hewer returned with his TOMMY COOPER tribute show which sells out every time it comes to the venue. “We brought our daughter along and she found it hilarious because of the magic tricks that go wrong,” says Sarah.
FAMILY
The Reilly’s live locally with their daughter. “It’s a juggling act but we somehow make it work” says Sarah, “one of the challenges is during the school holiday”. Happily, their daughter loves the theatre. So is this the start of a theatre dynasty? “She loves to perform, she loves to see the shows and she kind of loves the idea of taking over the theatre,” laughs Sarah, “but she’s also good at maths and science and she might go off and do something like that”.
“She was happily skating on the stage at Christmas on the set of THE SNOW QUEEN, having just come back from watching Starlight Express in the West End” says Sarah. “She loves to chat with the cast and regulars after the show, AND, she also knows where the ice cream is,” adds Simon, “so she’s very much in her element when she’s here”.
Family shows are a core part of their programming. They’ve just had a bubble art show and they do family shows throughout the year with one coming up for Halloween, IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT which is adapted from a children’s story.
Choosing their Christmas family show is a lot of fun. Sarah has a huge collection of children’s stories. “Every year we discuss which one we’re going to do, how adaptable it is, we have to consider things like the cast size and the expense of doing the show,” says Sarah. Generations of families come and all enjoy the show together. “Our parents remember reading them to us and their eyes light up when we say we’re going to do such and such a show” says Sarah. “It’s not the children who book the tickets is it,” laughs Simon. “We have families come up to us and say that it’s their Christmas tradition now to go and see the show.” It's the full experience, with front of house refreshment stall selling mulled wine, Christmas decorations and ‘God Rest You Merry Gentlemen’ carolling from the speakers.
The full line up of shows can be seen on The Tabard website and on LPT What’s On pages with more being added throughout the year.
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ARCHIVE INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTORS SARAH REILLY AND SIMON REILLY
May 2022
Married couple Simon and Sarah Reilly, of production company TAKE NOTE THEATRE, were awarded the lease to operate the theatre above the Tabard pub in June 2022. Two weeks after they took the keys they were up and running. Privately owned theatres can’t fundraise in the same way as registered charities so investment in shows and generous support from individual donors helped them to achieve this quick start.
Producers Sarah and Simon have the perfect skill set, with Sarah on fundraising, and Simon a director of marketing (previously at Hackney Empire). The theatre will concentrate on in-house shows, productions from visiting companies and one-off performances including stand-up comedy and cabaret. “The plan is to encourage people to come to the Tabard because they respect and know what we put on” says Simon.
They are already working on ‘brand loyalty’ by making certain of high productions values, but ultimately, they just “try to entertain”. The Tabard Theatre started out as a new writing venue which is still an important facet, but they’re also interested in revivals. “Maybe something we’ve enjoyed in the west end 15 or 20 years ago, or much older classics” says Simon. Recently, DOT Productions, brought Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw to the theatre, having toured National Trust venues for 3 months. Sarah, who is a trustee of Mercury Musical Developments, is (not surprisingly) also keen to bring musical theatre to the venue. However, it’s more expensive to produce and it may take longer to secure the funding.
The theatre enjoys a very loyal local audience from Chiswick, Ealing, Action and Hammersmith who aren’t interested in seeing the same thing over and over, so they are presenting a really varied programme which keeps people coming back again and again. It also attracts people from further afield, with the tube station just around the corner from the theatre. “What we want to see is a show which is stage worthy and meaningful and not something ‘we should be doing’,” explains Simon, “we want to go to the theatre to be entertained, but that’s not to say we don’t want to put on something that speaks to the values of today.”
Their first in-house show THE LAST LAUGH was the perfect synergy, an hilarious and moving satire about freedom of expression and censorship (which has been nominated for several theatre awards). By contrast their seasonal show FIVE CHILDREN AND IT, is the perfect family show, adapted from the book by E Nesbit (author of The Railway Children). Running two in-house shows consecutively, has been a huge undertaking. “We were doing the press night for The Last Laugh, whilst doing auditions for a show that opens in February and starting our first rehearsal for Five Friends and It, all within two days” says Simon with raised eyebrows. The pair run front of house, every night and Simon admits to also being the technician on shows when needed. They give a personal service from the moment people walk through the door, not bad achievement considering they also have a family to look after.
The Theatre at the Tabard may have some competition with their closest theatres, the Bush, the Lyric Hammersmith but The Tabard promises the unique experience of a studio theatre. “We’ve all had that experience of being made to feel an inconvenience to the show” says Simon, “but here, we’re trusting everyone knows how to behave and mostly they do”.
Simon and Sarah have lived near Chiswick for 10 years. “What is noticeable particularly towards where we live is the lack of professional theatre” says Sarah. “There’s Questors amateur theatre but we have to travel to Harrow, Hammersmith or Richmond … Ealing feels like cultural dark patch.” Things are changing, with the Tabard making a real difference to the culture in West London especially considering the cost of West End theatre. “Some parents cannot afford £100 to see West End shows, but still want their children to experience theatre. We put on family friendly shows that don’t break the bank” says Sarah. “For people who are less inclined to travel long distance to go to the theatre, we hear lots of comments about how much they love this space because ‘it’s right on my doorstep’.”
The Reillys are also finding that they’ve got a “real relationship with the pub downstairs”. It’s nice that the Tabard has a separate entrance in the beer garden at the front of the pub, but they have a lovely relationship with the pub. “They have a big screen by the bar showing all the things coming up at the theatre,” explains Simon, “and they do interval drinks.” The pub really benefits from the extra trade the theatre audience brings and it's not just the pub which benefits. The Tabard is also a great place for showcasing new talent as well as more established artists, whether it’s stand-up comedians or others. For example, Matt Wake who only graduated recently has been receiving accolades for his role in The Last Laugh and a couple of the actors in Five Children and It are making their professional debut. Some of the big names in theatre started out here. “It’s quite nice that we’re the first place that they have been seen” says Sarah. Big names in comedy, including Jenny Eclair and Al Murray (who lives in the local area) often try out new work at the Tabard before taking it on elsewhere.
The theatre industry has been suffering with people reluctant to come back after Covid, rising costs, electricity going through the roof, but Simon and Sarah are very upbeat about their place in the ecology of theatre, especially after there was an outcry when the Tabard closed in March. Just prior to the re-opening there was a big community fair on the green opposite the venue. “We had a stall” explains Sarah, “and so many people said, ‘we are so thrilled you are reopening’”. Of course, some central funding from government helping with heating costs wouldn’t come amiss for theatres, “but” says Simon “we don’t have it, so we don’t miss it … at the Tabard we don’t have that hanging over us.”
“We’re not putting up our ticket prices” says Sarah. “People still want to go out, but they may change their purchasing habits, they’ll maybe go with that more local opportunity.” The Tabard is small enough to soak up rising costs and as a whole they feel better placed than larger theatres. “We just don’t think everyone has appreciated that we’ve opened yet,” they add with an engaging smile.
REOPENING Report June 2022
In June 2022 Take Note Theatre was awarded the lease to operate the Theatre above the Tabard pub. The theatre originally opened in 1985 as the ‘Tabard Theatre of New Writing’. It operated as the Tabard Theatre until 2019, when it was renamed Chiswick Playhouse. In 2022, under the new management, the Tabard name will return.
Take Note Theatre was established in 2018 by Simon Reilly and Sarah Reilly, and brings together established and emerging theatre talent to bring new and classic stories to the stage.
Simon Reilly – Artistic Director
Simon was the General Manager of the Tabard Theatre from 2008 to 2019. He founded Take Note Theatre, with a focus on family entertainment and fostering early engagement in the arts, to continue producing high quality theatre for West London audiences. Notable productions include The Importance of Being Earnest (Tabard), Sherlock Holmes and The Invisible Thing (Rudolf Steiner Theatre) and Lotte Moore: A Child’s War (Linden House).
Currently Head of Production at Fourth Monkey Drama Training, Simon has worked as a theatre marketeer at the Hackney Empire and Warehouse Theatre, as well as being a freelance producer and production manager over the past 20 years.
“I’m delighted to be returning to the Tabard and to the wonderful community of Bedford Park, Turnham Green and Chiswick. We look forward to bringing the local audience a wide range of theatre, comedy and entertainment, and to developing opportunities for local young people to get involved in the arts.”
Simon Reilly, Artistic Director, Theatre at the Tabard
Sarah Reilly – Administrative Director
Sarah started her theatre career as an usher at the Leicester Haymarket Theatre and worked as a performer with Theatre in Education company “Theatre for Youth”, touring Scotland and North-East England in the early 2000s. More comfortable behind the scenes, she started working in Fundraising at the Orange Tree Theatre, alongside freelancing as a producer, and has built a fundraising career supporting small charities, theatre companies and other arts organisations to secure income from trusts and foundations, lottery funding and other sources. Sarah is also a Trustee of Mercury Musical Developments, which is dedicated to developing new musical theatre in the UK. If you’d like to talk to Sarah about fundraising consultancy support for your charity, visit her website for more information
ARCHIVE INTERVIEW WITH FRED PERRRY on RE-OPENING OF CHISWICK PLAYHOUSE POST PANDEMIC
by Heather Jeffery 1 May 2021
It’s a pleasure to chat with actor and executive director (of Chiswick Playhouse) Fred Perry about his role in Tryst and the re-opening of Chiswick Playhouse on 17 May 2021. The Playhouse opened with RECHARGED FESTIVAL providing high quality good fun entertainment to celebrate the return to live theatre. The directors were relieved to have received government funding to help with their reopening which enabled them to employ freelancers and have a confident start to reopening.
“Other theatres are waiting until September or even longer” says Perry “but we were adamant we wanted to open as soon as we could, even with social distancing”. They had to choose carefully which shows they could put on to make sure they would work with social distancing. “A full production with a big cast was impossible” explains Perry “you can’t make that economically viable.” It was so important to get it right and Perry deliberately chose the “overriding theme of escapism”.
Some of the most popular shows at the box office were the series of Sunday Soul and their evenings with celebrities including Torin Douglas, TV personality Judi Love and star of stage and screen Phyllis Logan. Other big names include well known comedians who feature on their programme all year round. Plans are continuing for producing up to four in-house shows in the coming year. The theatre is also a receiving house. They look for West End quality (with Off West End tickets prices).
There is no doubt they are keen to be a centre for top quality theatre-based work in Chiswick with big boots to fill, after the closure of 2,000 seat Chiswick Empire (back in 1959) and they are doing it admirably.
Fred Perry was chatting with Heather Jeffery, Editor of London Pub Theatres Magazine.
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A ONEOFF Special Award (February 2024) has been awarded to London Pub Theatres Magazine and Editor Heather Jeffery for providing a vital forum for highlighting the excellent work that happens in rooms in pubs, with sensitive editing, and an acute sense of the importance of tiny fringe venues to the health and development of British Theatre
London pub theatres magazine is published in Rickmansworth by London Pub Theatres Magazine Ltd ISSN 2977-6724