Arcola Theatre, a registered charity, was founded by Mehmet Ergen, the present artistic director, in September 2000 when he converted a textile factory on the borders of Stoke Newington/Dalston into one of London's largest and most adaptable fringe venues.
In just five years it has become one of the country's most renowned fringe theatres with a distinct and powerful identity both within in the local community and British theatre.
Despite being one of London's most deprived areas, Hackney has the highest concentration of artists living anywhere in Europe. Prior to the foundation of the Arcola Theatre, the area had no theatre that produced plays on a daily basis. The Arcola now provides a venue which allows this creative energy the space and support to develop. Arcola Theatre consistently creates and presents theatre of a high quality with a social and political relevance, not only to a wider audience but also to the multi-cultural local community in which we are actively involved. As part of this involvement we run The Arcola Youth Theatre, Arcola Writers Group, Arcola 60+ running free drama classes for people over 60 living in Hackney and Arcola Ala-Turka our Turkish and Kurdish Theatre Group.
Since it's foundation Arcola Theatre has won the Peter Brook Empty Space Award two years in a row and was given the Time Out Live Award twice for Inventive Programming on a Shoestring in 2003 and Favourite Fringe Venue in 2005. A large number of its productions have been selected as Time Out Critics Choice. It has gained a reputation for staging work by some of the best actors, writers and directors including productions by William Gaskill, Dominic Droomgoole, Max Stafford-Clark, David Farr, Bonnie Greer, Adam Rapp, Sam Shepherd, Eric Schossler, Helena Kaut-Howson and Kathryn Hunter.
