For 25 years, Soho Theatre on Dean Street has been a hub for new writing, LGBTQ+ voices, and experimental performance. The venue has launched award-winning plays, Edinburgh comedy hits, and TV successes like Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Fleabag. Its ‘festival programme’ model, with multiple shows per room per night, allows it to take risks, says executive director Mark Godfrey.
Waller-Bridge, who first performed Fleabag in Soho’s upstairs room, describes the theatre as “genuinely experimental” and its audience as “unshockable, game for anything”. She began her relationship with Soho in 2009, later becoming an associate artist with her DryWrite company. The theatre supported Fleabag’s West End transfer, cementing its reputation as the show’s home.
Soho Theatre is now expanding with a 1,000-seat venue in Walthamstow, north-east London. The company originated in the late 1960s as the Soho Theatre Company, later becoming Soho Poly, a pioneer of lunchtime theatre. After a homeless period in the 1990s, it found its current Dean Street home, formerly a synagogue, with funding from the national lottery.
The theatre’s philosophy emphasises plurality over a single artistic director. Comedy has become a core part of its identity since 2000, when early evening slots freed up stages for mixed-bill and standup shows. Performance artist Bryony Kimmings notes that the curators are themselves artists, fostering a creative community.
