SCRUM Theatre takes up residence in Hammersmith Council's old archives to create a new cooperative arts centre.
A new multi-disciplinary arts centre, SCRUM Studios, will open in Hammersmith offering training programmes and subsidised creative spaces for theatre makers. Artist collective SCRUM Theatre, is a charity formed by a collective of theatre-makers who transform disused buildings and turn them into pop-up arts hubs, seeking to create a more sustainable culture for UK artists at a time of crisis in the industry. Taking up a two-year residence in the Lilla Huset building on Talgarth Road, which was formerly home to Hammersmith and Fulham Council’s archives, SCRUM Studios includes: three rehearsal rooms; a playwright’s centre; a self-tape studio; a work room for scenic designers, prop makers and costumiers; and a large warehouse space that will be transformed into a performance venue.
From early 2025, SCRUM Theatre plan to begin construction on a modular theatre in the old archive space, in which they will produce their first production in the new venue, Twelfth Night with further plans to tour the show to regions underserved by arts funding with an integrated education programme. Later in the autumn, SCRUM will be hosting their second series of workshops for performance makers, as well as a programme designed for local schools and will also be collaborating on a project with visual artist Murugiah and Compass Collective, a charity that works with refugee youth, to create a mural that will hang in the community space of the building.
SCRUM Studios will open on Thursday 19th September with a celebratory launch event featuring live music, food and drinks with patron Adrian Lester cutting the ribbon. Guests will be introduced to the team and trustees from SCRUM before the building is activated with different experiences which guests can move between including poetry readings, live music, and performances by makers who have developed work in the studios, costume design activities, creation of a community mural, playwrighting activities, and a screening of SCRUM’s new podcast. The evening will culminate with a sneak peak of SCRUM’s upcoming production of Twelfth Night.
Launch Event: Thursday 19th September, 6pm – 9pm
SCRUM Studios, 191 Talgarth Road, Hammersmith W6 8BJ
Further Information: SCRUM Theatre