Open House Festival

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London on Stage

Explore the city through tours that bring screen moments to life as you spot familiar filming locations. For those curious about what happens behind the scenes, guided visits to cinemas and studios reveal the craft of set design, production, and storytelling.

Drop in

Bradbury Studios - Graeae Theatre Company

community/cultural

Bradbury Studios is the newly refurbished, accessible home of the UK's flagship disabled-led theatre company, Graeae.

Guided tour

Broadway Theatre

theatre

Built in 1932 by architects Bradshaw Gass & Hope . This iconic Grade II listed venue is a unique blend of architectural elements including Art Deco, Tudor and Gothic Revival. The theatre was planned by Lewisham Metropolitan Council in the 1920s, to be an auditoria for “a variety of Civic, Social and Dramatic purposes”. It is a much loved community asset, join us for a full tour.

Bradshaw, Gass & Hope, 1932

Guided tour

Bush Theatre - Backstage Tours

theatre

Explore the Bush Theatre, West London’s home of new writing. Get a behind the scenes look at our fifty-year history, including how over 2016 we transformed our 128-year-old building into an accessible and sustainable modern theatre.

Maurice Bingham Adams, 1895

Drop in

IMPACT Community Arts Centre

community/cultural

We are a theatre company for performers and artists with learning disabilities in the West London area. We will put on an exhibition of artworks and costumes at our Community Arts Centre.

Maylands Consulting, 2012

Walking tour

In Shakespeare's footsteps

walk/tour

In 1949, American actor Sam Wanamaker came looking for Shakespeare in London and could not find much, so decided to re-build the Globe Theatre. Join Lisa who holds a MA in Shakespeare Studies from the Globe Theatre and King's College London and walk in steps of Shakespeare -- and Wanamaker nearly 400 years later.

Guided tour

Kensal House Estate Community Rooms

community/cultural

Kensal House, designed in the 1930s by Maxwell Fry and Elizabeth Denby, is a landmark in social housing. Central to this Grade-II* listed building is the community room, fostering social interaction among residents. Today, this space hosts SPID, a youth theatre that advocates housing justice through co-created art. After 5 years of refurbishment, SPID is ready to re-open its door to the community.

Maxwell Fry, 1937

Drop in

Little Angel Theatre

theatre

Little Angel Theatre was converted from a derelict temperance hall in 1961 and has been showcasing puppetry performances ever since. It is London's only purpose-built puppet theatre, due to the existence of its marionette bridge.

Unknown, 2021

Drop in

London's Roman Amphitheatre

monument, sport, miscellaneous

Regular combined guided tours of Amphitheatre and Guildhall Art Gallery at 12.15pm & 1.15pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays. Additional Open House tours on 20 and 21 September, please book via Guildhall Art Gallery listing. The capital’s only known Roman Amphitheatre

Roman , 70

Guided tour

National Youth Theatre

theatre

Public Tours tours by Architect's DSDHA and the team at National Youth Theatre of the NYT's recently redeveloped RIBA-award-winning building, which created the UK's first theatre dedicated to staging work created by young people. This project is supported by the Mayor of London.

DSDHA, 2021

Guided tour

Park Theatre

theatre

A £2.6m conversion of an office block into a state-of-the-art theatre with two auditoriums, cafe bar and education studio.

David Hughes Architects, 2012

Guided tour

Royal Academy of Music - Theatre and new Recital Hall

theatre, concert/performance space, education

The Royal Academy of Music’s Susie Sainsbury Theatre and Angela Burgess Recital Hall project created two distinct, outstanding performance spaces for Britain’s oldest conservatoire. Designed by Ritchie Studio, the project was the winner of over 20 national and international awards including the RIBA London Building of the Year.

Ritchie Studio, 2018

Guided tour

Shaftesbury Theatre

theatre

Built in a Renaissance style with high level Diocletian windows and a prominent grand cupola. In 2016 a new Fly Tower opened followed by remodelling of the auditorium in 2018 and the creation of a new basement space opened in 2022.

Bennetts Associates, 2022

Guided tour

South London Theatre

theatre

Grade II listed 1881 former fire station with prominent watch tower and original fire doors.

Robert Pearsall for the Metropolitan Board of Works, 1881

Drop in

The Questors Theatre

theatre

Originally planned in 1954, the first new theatre after the war, the Questors Playhouse opened in 1964, by which time its design had been followed by the Chichester Festival Theatre and the Crucible, Sheffield.

Norman Branson, 1964

Drop in / Other

The Space Theatre

theatre

A Grade II listed converted church in the Isle of Dogs. Formerly a Scottish Presbyterian chapel (St. Pauls) the Space is now a theatre and arts centre dedicated to new writing, emerging companies and artist development. We host all arts from classical recitals through to wrestling, are available for event hire and have a charming bar and kitchen on site.

Thomas Knightley, 1855