Preview: BRICK LANE MUSIC HALL season launch
We went to Silvertown in East London earlier this week for an event at the beautiful and always welcoming Brick Lane Music Hall. It was a joy to walk in and be surrounded the red velvet, sequins and floral displays decorating the beautiful church that is this theatre’s home.
Founder Vincent Hayes MBE explained how it all started. “I just took pubs on and always wanted to run a theatre,” he said. “I set up a stage on a board resting on four crates. But you can’t charge people to come in to a pub.” Then Vincent took over a space in the old Truman Brewery in Brick Lane, at a time when it had been untouched for 30 years. “We made a 120 seater theatre, I had people from the Players Theatre come and perform, but coaches wouldn’t come down there.” Vincent was running the Lord Hood pub (where Danny La Rue often served behind the bar) when he found an abandoned church in Silvertown. “This building was derelict and on the at risk list; nobody knew where it was, but we’ve had wonderful people here in panto.” Now the area has been transformed and Vincent has some extra land next to the theatre where he plans to build a studio theatre for local young people to train in music theatre, acting and dance.
“We’ve done it all without funding,” Vincent explained. “It was Grade 1 listed, but after the work we’ve done, it’s now Grade 2*.” The war memorial outside the church has been restored by the theatre’s scenic artist. They take performances to care homes and other community venues, as Creative Producer & Resident ChoreographerJack Pallister explained.
“We also work with the Boleyn Trust to help local young people put on a musical, Singin’ in the Rain, in 2025.” This year, they also worked with young people to put on a pantomime lasting 45 minutes in five days, with the help of Tate and Lyle and the Enterprise Arts Trust. “And children will be in the panto in 2026 for the first time. It’s all expansion and innovation at Brick Lane Music Hall, with their first ever play hitting the boards next year.”
This music hall is not only rooted in the past, it is also firmly looking to the future and serving the community around it.
Chris Abbott