Cult favourite The Yard theatre to be demolished - and then triumphantly rebuilt!

The Yard is hardly your average theatre.

Knocked together by volunteers using “scaffolding bought off the black market,” according to founder and Artistic Director Jay Miller, it was only supposed to be a three-month pop-up, put together around the Olympic Park build for London 2012. Thirteen years of cultural delights later, and The Yard is finally being demolished.

But wait… it’s had huge funding to be turned into a glorious – and permanent – new version of The Yard!

This is quite some moment for Miller, who initially took the chance to create a space for new theatre not done anywhere else. “We were supposed to be a three month pop-up but I think because of the work we’ve done, which audiences seemed to like, we’ve been going ever since. We’ve had some real hits over the years that have gone onto the National, been made into TV shows, and toured the world.”

Although the work has been outstanding, and the theatre a much-loved part of the London theatre scene, the actual building was getting a bit creaky.

“The auditorium, although very beautiful, is an amphitheatre made out of scaffolding,” says Miller, “The toilets were just from a warehouse. The dressing rooms have just been a pre-fab shed outside.”

Now though, there will be a chance to spruce things up a bit, by securing a £6 and a half million to build a new theatre. “Considering we started with a £9,000 grant from the Arts Council, we’re really proud of the fact we’ve been able to get this far, and cement our place in the UK cultural ecosystem.”

The new building has been designed by architects Takero Shimazaki, and will be an exciting addition to the new East Bank scene, which is already encompassing Sadler’s Wells East and the upcoming V&A East. The new Yard should be open within a couple of years and although its new incarnation will be spectacular, the ethos of their programming will remain the same, says Miller.

“When I first started The Yard, it was really just to scratch an itch, which was that I thought what was missing was a type of theatre that was a more expressive, and bold in its aesthetic, and also owning the idea that theatres are places for live storytelling.

This was back when Netflix was just getting into its ascendancy. And more often than not, you can go to the theatre and it can feel like you're watching another TV show. But when you come to The Yard, you're really getting that live experience.”

The building foundations might be a bit different, but the spirit will definitely be the same.”

But before the new building is constructed there is the important matter of saying goodbye to the old one. The final production is Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie, and excitingly, Miller is planning to incorporate the destruction of the old Yard as part of the performances:

“We’ve already started to bring down the theatre and we’ve moved the audience configuration so we can start to tear down the walls, and have the play played out in the ruins.

I think it's one of the best play of the 20th century, it's a story about a man remembering his family and why he left them. You’re watching this guy try to remember his mother that he loved and his sister that he loved, but who was forced to leave that house. It's a beautiful universal story about our relationship with our families, but told from the perspective of someone looking back.

It's about memory and it felt like the perfect play to remember the theatre by.”

As for his own favourite memories of the place, there are quite a few.

“One that really stands out is a show called Beautiful Future, in 2017 where, at one point, every night, the audience just started to sing along with the show, and although it wasn't a karaoke musical, it was a play that metaphor on Brexit, but it’s a beautiful example of the way in which a theater can bring a community together, just in one shared moment that everyone enjoys.”

Then there was the small matter of giving breaks – and a bit of cash – to future stars:

“Also being able to give opportunities to people that have gone on to just do amazing things, like Ncuti Gatwa our Doctor Who. He did one of his first productions here and then I gave him a job behind the bar because he needed some money. He's now a Hollywood superstar.

Same with Michaela Coel, and more recently, Emma D’arcy did a show here, and she’s now on Game of Thrones.

So we're constantly giving people these opportunities that, you know, we're pretty good at identifying who’s gonna be making it big and so giving those opportunities and giving those people that platform to just be exceptional. It’s a huge amount of pride that our organisation enabled that.”

The Glass Menagerie is on until 21 April https://www.theyardtheatre.co.uk/