Theatre group finds perfect venue for tragic play

From left, production manager Emma McLean, director Emma Serlin, actress Caroline O’Hara, set designer Richard Andrzejewski, set designer Kathryn Nicholson, actor Paul Thompson, actor Alex Walmann and costume designer Kerry Fuentes

A DERELICT shoe factory hidden away behind a row of million pound homes in Primrose Hill is due to be transformed into war-ravaged Leningrad after being discovered by a theatre company director.
The former Hobbs building in Gloucester Crescent had been empty for three years. Then director Emma Serlin, 24, searching for a venue, was tipped off about the Victorian factory.
She saw the building’s potential among the broken glass and cracked plaster. Now the company has taken over the space until March, when builders will move in to convert it into offices.
In the meantime the former factory will house a performance of the World War II tragedy The Promise by Soviet playwright Aleksei Arbuzov.
Ms Serlin said: “We love having a new space to work with, but I didn’t walk in and think ‘Oh wow, a bombed-out building, perfect for Arbuzov’.
“The last play we did here was an 18th-century French romantic comedy, which says something about how versatile a really unusual venue can be.”
• The Promise runs from February 2-12. Tickets can be reserved by calling 020 7482 0589.