0:00:03 > 0:00:04Welcome to the Roundhouse.
0:00:04 > 0:00:08This is our foyer. Box office over there.
0:00:08 > 0:00:11Cloakrooms, cafe. Follow me up to the Main Space.
0:00:13 > 0:00:16So here we are at the entrance to the Main Space.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19Just on my left-hand side here's a history of the Roundhouse,
0:00:19 > 0:00:22from all the great performances
0:00:22 > 0:00:25to the days going back to an engine maintenance shed.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28Over the other end, we have bars,
0:00:28 > 0:00:30generally a place where the audience can mingle
0:00:30 > 0:00:33and wait until they go and see the show.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17- NEWSREEL:- 'Providing the music, a group which features
0:01:17 > 0:01:20'a range of unusual sound effects, the Pink Floyd.'
0:01:23 > 0:01:28It was a place that you went when you needed a place to go to.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37Mad happenings of different natures and type
0:01:37 > 0:01:39of one thing or another would take place.
0:01:45 > 0:01:47A place for mavericks, it was for outsiders.
0:01:47 > 0:01:52It was for, really, pioneers of theatre, it was for revolutionaries.
0:01:54 > 0:01:58One of those places where any attempt to impose a logic and order
0:01:58 > 0:02:02and reason on it is doomed to failure.
0:02:04 > 0:02:11# One pill makes you larger and one pill makes you small
0:02:11 > 0:02:16# And the ones that mother gives you
0:02:16 > 0:02:21# Don't do anything at all
0:02:21 > 0:02:24# Go ask Alice
0:02:24 > 0:02:28# When she's ten feet tall
0:02:30 > 0:02:34# And if you go chasing rabbits
0:02:34 > 0:02:38# And you know you're going to fall... #
0:02:38 > 0:02:41Perhaps this is the nearest view that you'll get
0:02:41 > 0:02:42of the outside of the Roundhouse.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45Most of the other views are obscured by high-rise flats
0:02:45 > 0:02:48and filthy hoardings and ruined cars.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51But it gives you some idea of the shape of the building.
0:02:51 > 0:02:55It reminds me of a slowly subsiding Albert Hall,
0:02:55 > 0:02:58or a bullring, or a grubby pantheon.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07What I've sort of learned is the Roundhouse has a resistance
0:03:07 > 0:03:10to being managed and to being changed.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19When I got to the Roundhouse, it was in danger, yet again,
0:03:19 > 0:03:23as it was kind of, you know, every Tuesday and Thursday, of closing.
0:03:32 > 0:03:37I can never drive past the Roundhouse without feeling
0:03:37 > 0:03:41a little proprietorial about it. I mean, yeah, we did that.
0:03:43 > 0:03:47London's Roundhouse also began life as an experimental project,
0:03:47 > 0:03:51when playwright Arnold Wesker turned a Victorian engine shed
0:03:51 > 0:03:52into a '60s theatre space.
0:03:52 > 0:03:56Since audience is our great concern,
0:03:56 > 0:04:00we'll have a special department of at least three strong,
0:04:00 > 0:04:05but we'll make sure people in the area, and even outside London,
0:04:05 > 0:04:09know of all the facilities that can be used.
0:04:09 > 0:04:14And if they use these facilities, then we hope,
0:04:14 > 0:04:17we're pretty certain, in fact, this will create an atmosphere,
0:04:17 > 0:04:20the kind of atmosphere that will make the whole of the Roundhouse
0:04:20 > 0:04:21hum from morning till night.
0:04:21 > 0:04:26Who knows whether a project as radical and as ambitious
0:04:26 > 0:04:29as this will ever get off the ground?
0:04:29 > 0:04:33One does it on the basis of personal enthusiasm and belief.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07# Gonna have a funky good time
0:05:07 > 0:05:09# A-ha
0:05:09 > 0:05:12# We're gonna have a funky good time... #
0:05:12 > 0:05:13I can't hear ya.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16# We're gonna have a funky good time
0:05:16 > 0:05:18# We're gonna have a funky good time... #
0:05:18 > 0:05:20Take a bow.
0:05:20 > 0:05:25# We're gonna take you higher... #
0:05:25 > 0:05:27Say it again, say it again, say it again.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30- # Gonna take you higher - High
0:05:31 > 0:05:33# Higher
0:05:35 > 0:05:39- # Gonna have a funky good time - Yeah
0:05:39 > 0:05:42# Gonna have a funky good time A-huh
0:05:42 > 0:05:46# Gonna have a funky good time All right
0:05:46 > 0:05:49# Gonna have a funky good time
0:05:49 > 0:05:55# Gonna take you higher
0:05:57 > 0:06:03- # Gonna take you higher - Higher. #
0:06:06 > 0:06:08I feel good.
0:06:08 > 0:06:10Everybody feel good!
0:06:10 > 0:06:12CHEERING
0:07:00 > 0:07:02# Don't have any more, Mrs Moore
0:07:04 > 0:07:06# Mrs Moore, please don't have any more
0:07:09 > 0:07:14# The more you have, the more you want, they say
0:07:14 > 0:07:19# And enough is as good as a feast any day
0:07:19 > 0:07:24# If you have any more, Mrs Moore
0:07:24 > 0:07:29# You'll have to take the house next door
0:07:29 > 0:07:31# They're all right when they're here
0:07:31 > 0:07:34# But take my advice
0:07:34 > 0:07:39# Don't have any more, Mrs Moore... #
0:07:43 > 0:07:47Gilbey's decided to sell their estates in Camden.
0:07:47 > 0:07:51They were bought by a garment and property tycoon, Louis Mintz.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54The Roundhouse came as part of the estates.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57Mintz had no immediate plans for the giant shed,
0:07:57 > 0:08:00and it came to Wesker's attention that it was empty.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02Mintz was a self-made man
0:08:02 > 0:08:05from the same poor East End background as Wesker.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09He was a socialist, and was sympathetic to Wesker's plans.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12Wesker approach Mintz, who offered him a lease
0:08:12 > 0:08:15on the building to be the home of Centre 42,
0:08:15 > 0:08:18the name Wesker had given to his project.
0:08:18 > 0:08:21Mintz remained on the board of a newly-formed trust.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23Without that act of generosity,
0:08:23 > 0:08:26the story of the Roundhouse may never have happened.
0:08:26 > 0:08:30So Wesker had a building, now he had to find the funds.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39We went to look at it and my immediate response was,
0:08:39 > 0:08:43no, this is not what we had in mind.
0:08:43 > 0:08:48I suppose we had in mind some sort of vast, rectangular building.
0:08:48 > 0:08:50And this round...
0:08:50 > 0:08:52And it was quite...
0:08:52 > 0:08:54And we went away.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57I think 24 hours later, it hit me.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00And I thought, that's crazy to have turned down,
0:09:00 > 0:09:02this is a wonderful place.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05How are you going to turn it into a theatre and an arts centre?
0:09:05 > 0:09:08Well, roughly it will be divided into two areas.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11This is a model, an early-stage model -
0:09:11 > 0:09:14remember we didn't have enough money to go into detailed plans.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16But roughly there will be two areas.
0:09:16 > 0:09:18One in the centre of these pillars,
0:09:18 > 0:09:21which will be the theatre concert hall area,
0:09:21 > 0:09:23and there'll be a wall around the pillars,
0:09:23 > 0:09:25which will give you another area on the outside.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51- NEWSREEL:- What price Jerusalem?
0:09:51 > 0:09:54For Arnold Wesker, the founder of Centre 42,
0:09:54 > 0:09:56the price is already high.
0:09:56 > 0:09:58He's devoted six years of his life -
0:09:58 > 0:10:01time, his critics argue, which should have been spent
0:10:01 > 0:10:03exclusively on improving his craft as a playwright -
0:10:03 > 0:10:08on creating an organisation to break down the old stubborn barriers
0:10:08 > 0:10:10between the artist and the community.
0:10:10 > 0:10:16The organisation takes its title from Resolution 42, which Wesker
0:10:16 > 0:10:20and his friends forced through the 1960 Trades Union Congress.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23This called on Congress to ensure a greater participation
0:10:23 > 0:10:26by the trade union movement in all cultural activities.
0:10:26 > 0:10:30It was passed against the recommendation of the General Council.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33Perhaps this explains the disappointing response by the movement.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36The attitude of George Woodcock,
0:10:36 > 0:10:39the TUC's general secretary, towards Centre 42 is crucial.
0:10:39 > 0:10:43It's a good idea, I think it will eventually succeed,
0:10:43 > 0:10:46but it's having a certain amount of teething problems.
0:10:46 > 0:10:48Perhaps those who are running it -
0:10:48 > 0:10:51and this may be the fault of a separate organisation -
0:10:51 > 0:10:53don't always understand the trade unions,
0:10:53 > 0:10:55which are very conservative bodies.
0:10:55 > 0:10:59And there is a tendency for them to be ambitious,
0:10:59 > 0:11:01too expensive, at any rate.
0:11:01 > 0:11:04The unions are very careful of their money and they look with
0:11:04 > 0:11:07a bit of suspicion on Centre 42 because of its extravagance.
0:11:07 > 0:11:12And then there is, naturally coming from trade unionists,
0:11:12 > 0:11:16a suspicion that they are a bit highfalutin, precious, that...
0:11:16 > 0:11:19This is a natural reaction of unions, though they...
0:11:19 > 0:11:21even those interested in art,
0:11:21 > 0:11:25they don't really become very modern about it.
0:11:25 > 0:11:29Their idea of what constitutes the kind of art that working people want
0:11:29 > 0:11:33is perhaps earlier this century than - what's the word I want?
0:11:33 > 0:11:35Avant-garde.
0:11:35 > 0:11:39Now, five years have passed since we started campaigning for 42.
0:11:39 > 0:11:43It was three years ago that we were first shown this extraordinary building
0:11:43 > 0:11:47and 18 months ago since we launched the campaign to raise funds.
0:11:47 > 0:11:52From here, in front of Harold Wilson, Lord Harewood, Jennie Lee,
0:11:52 > 0:11:56James Callaghan and the whole paraphernalia of the state.
0:11:56 > 0:11:58It seems to be considered in this country
0:11:58 > 0:12:03an admirable thing to make the artist sweat and lose all joy
0:12:03 > 0:12:05before he's given what he wants,
0:12:05 > 0:12:09as though the job of being an artist were not sweat enough.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12And when he says, only my work is important,
0:12:12 > 0:12:15and he does nothing else and stays at homecoming he is attacked
0:12:15 > 0:12:18for being haughty. But when he steps outside
0:12:18 > 0:12:21and tries to do something more, he's attacked for being presumptuous.
0:12:21 > 0:12:27The price he has to pay for any Jerusalem is high.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30The state, the community, on the other hand, pays little.
0:12:30 > 0:12:33It stands back and does nothing.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37And cynicism is inevitable.
0:12:37 > 0:12:39Now, when a state
0:12:39 > 0:12:42makes its artists cynics,
0:12:42 > 0:12:45I think that's unforgivable.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54Providing the music, a group which features a range of unusual
0:12:54 > 0:12:57sound effects, The Pink Floyd.
0:12:57 > 0:13:00BAND PLAYS FREEFORM INSTRUMENTAL
0:13:42 > 0:13:45Well, it was purely accidental at first.
0:13:45 > 0:13:49- Fantastic, the best thing.- We were launching an underground newspaper,
0:13:49 > 0:13:52International Times, in October '66
0:13:52 > 0:13:56and we literally just wanted a place for a launch party.
0:13:56 > 0:14:00And the company that published the underground paper
0:14:00 > 0:14:02was called Love Books Ltd.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05And the accountant for that company, Michael Henshaw,
0:14:05 > 0:14:08was also the accountant for Centre 42,
0:14:08 > 0:14:11and also personally Arnold Wesker's accountant.
0:14:11 > 0:14:14So Michael actually had the keys.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17So he said, "It's OK, I know a place.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20"No-one's using it.
0:14:20 > 0:14:22So he probably did call Arnold, and as far as I understand,
0:14:22 > 0:14:26Arnold thought it was just like a little cocktail party
0:14:26 > 0:14:29to launch a book or magazine, or such a thing,
0:14:29 > 0:14:31but in fact, 3,000 people came here.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34And Arnold didn't.
0:14:34 > 0:14:37I mean, it was purely accidental.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40I'd never even been in the place before. I mean, I'd seen it
0:14:40 > 0:14:44from the road and it hadn't been used for years.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47PINK FLOYD INSTRUMENTAL CONTINUES
0:15:09 > 0:15:11We had a fancy-dress competition.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15Marianne Faithfull won that, cos she wore the...
0:15:15 > 0:15:19It was for the shortest and barest, and she came as a nun.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23Paul was dressed as an arrow, Paul McCartney
0:15:23 > 0:15:26and Tony O'Neill was there with Monica Vitti.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29He was filming... Blow Up, could it have been?
0:15:29 > 0:15:32I mean, it was a very '60s, very '60s...
0:15:32 > 0:15:34Of course, Pink Floyd giving their first major concert.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38When you actually came to the Roundhouse for that first event,
0:15:38 > 0:15:40the launch of the International Times,
0:15:40 > 0:15:42what was the Roundhouse actually like? I've heard rumours
0:15:42 > 0:15:45that it was rat infested, dirty and the power supply was
0:15:45 > 0:15:50- batteries from cars and things like that?- Yeah, well, in terms of power,
0:15:50 > 0:15:51it was a problem for the bands
0:15:51 > 0:15:53because it was just wired as a warehouse.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57This is '66 and we were talking about little underground bands -
0:15:57 > 0:16:00they didn't have generators or anything -
0:16:00 > 0:16:04so we literally used whatever was here. The place was filthy.
0:16:04 > 0:16:08I mean, the dirt on the floor must have been a foot thick
0:16:08 > 0:16:10and there were bits of twisted metal sticking up -
0:16:10 > 0:16:14not the actual railway part,
0:16:14 > 0:16:17but the rails had been taken out, but the housing I guess for buffers
0:16:17 > 0:16:20or things like that, what other construction they had in here.
0:16:20 > 0:16:22I mean, it was really quite dangerous.
0:16:22 > 0:16:24There were two toilets,
0:16:24 > 0:16:26neither of which had a seat
0:16:26 > 0:16:29and they very quickly -
0:16:29 > 0:16:32with 3,000 people, they very quickly overflowed
0:16:32 > 0:16:36and a huge lake came outside.
0:16:36 > 0:16:40We had to take the doors off and use them as duck boards and we had a
0:16:40 > 0:16:44couple of roadies standing in front so no-one would look at the ladies.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47You know, so... I mean, it was very, very primitive.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53The whole place was... Well, it had been used as Gilbey's Gin
0:16:53 > 0:16:56as a bonded warehouse, so it had an enormous balcony
0:16:56 > 0:16:59running all the way round. Which was apparently unsafe,
0:16:59 > 0:17:01so we did try and stop people getting up there,
0:17:01 > 0:17:03but of course some people did.
0:17:03 > 0:17:08And we had one doctor, who was also a publisher - Stuart Montgomery.
0:17:08 > 0:17:13But at least we had, just in case somebody had a bad trip or something.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16People were still trying to get in at 2.00, 2.30 in the morning.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19- No!- At the top, at least in the beginning,
0:17:19 > 0:17:21we were handing out sugar cubes.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23But there was actually no acid in them,
0:17:23 > 0:17:27but some people took it, they used it as an excuse to really trip out.
0:18:02 > 0:18:06MUSIC: Astronomy Domine by Pink Floyd
0:18:23 > 0:18:26# The light between the blue you once knew
0:18:27 > 0:18:34# Floating down the sound resounds around the icy waters underground
0:18:38 > 0:18:44# Jupiter and Saturn, Oberon, Miranda and Titania
0:18:46 > 0:18:51# Neptune, Titan, stars can frighten
0:18:51 > 0:18:54# Wooooooo... #
0:18:58 > 0:19:02What we do now is all about working with young people and putting on
0:19:02 > 0:19:03shows that are kind of...
0:19:03 > 0:19:06I was going to ask you that - how much of the old, as it were,
0:19:06 > 0:19:08tradition, have you kept up?
0:19:08 > 0:19:11It's absolutely the heart and core of who we are,
0:19:11 > 0:19:15it's about enabling young people to, through their creativity,
0:19:15 > 0:19:17to find a way forward in life.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20So it's about questioning, it's about looking at things,
0:19:20 > 0:19:22it's about how you write something, how you think about something.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25So the things that are really popular with young people here
0:19:25 > 0:19:30are spoken-word poetry - links back. That really kind of came out of
0:19:30 > 0:19:33those amazing Attila the Stockbrokers and all those kinds of things.
0:19:33 > 0:19:35- Right, right, yeah. - Music, of course.
0:19:35 > 0:19:41Music is the international kind of communication and
0:19:41 > 0:19:44Circus, which is an art form where you don't have to have a language,
0:19:44 > 0:19:47- except physical language. - Right, right, yeah.
0:19:47 > 0:19:49And we do a lot of radio and broadcasting,
0:19:49 > 0:19:52so it's engaging people in the kind of new digital platforms as well.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02This is a Congress On The Dialectics Of Liberation which Ginsberg's at.
0:20:02 > 0:20:04Everyone sitting here,
0:20:04 > 0:20:07just telling everyone how the ship is going down, it's sinking.
0:20:07 > 0:20:11There's nothing we can do. There is no autonomy today.
0:20:11 > 0:20:13He has this autonomy, he has his own way of
0:20:13 > 0:20:16acting out what has to be acted out
0:20:16 > 0:20:18and it's quite different from everyone else.
0:20:18 > 0:20:23Now, his bit is he's gone to India mainly
0:20:23 > 0:20:27and what he talks about is psycho politics, that's the main thing.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30He's not so much a poet any more, he's a psycho politician.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33I mean, not everything was great, but in other cases, you know,
0:20:33 > 0:20:37that was something like the Dialectics Of Liberation Conference
0:20:37 > 0:20:40which was held here, which also really helped to establish
0:20:40 > 0:20:43this place as a centre for countercultural ideas.
0:20:43 > 0:20:45Their civilisation, as they call it,
0:20:45 > 0:20:48stems from the fact that they oppressed other peoples
0:20:48 > 0:20:51and the oppression of other people allowed them a certain luxury
0:20:51 > 0:20:54at the expense of those other people.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57The Black Power movement has been the catalyst
0:20:57 > 0:21:00for the bringing together of these young bloods.
0:21:00 > 0:21:02The real revolutionary proletariat, ready to fight
0:21:02 > 0:21:07by any means necessary for the liberation of our people.
0:21:07 > 0:21:09APPLAUSE
0:21:12 > 0:21:16Carmichael, you see, tried to pour shit all over the hippies
0:21:16 > 0:21:19the other day. He said, "Yeah, yeah, they're OK.
0:21:19 > 0:21:21"If they want to go out and stand and throw flowers in front
0:21:21 > 0:21:24"of the police whilst they're gunning us down, that's fine by me."
0:21:24 > 0:21:27And Ginsberg said, "Precisely, OK, we'll go and do that."
0:21:27 > 0:21:31..studies. He doesn't rap, he studies and keeps his mouth shut.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34Study, children, study.
0:21:34 > 0:21:36Study, study.
0:21:36 > 0:21:39Study. The gorilla must study.
0:21:39 > 0:21:43Stokely Carmichael, who came in the latter part of the '60s
0:21:43 > 0:21:45when he came to the Roundhouse
0:21:45 > 0:21:48to take part in an international conference, he was responsible
0:21:48 > 0:21:51also for bringing about the Black Power concert
0:21:51 > 0:21:55and the Black Power movement, which came into being.
0:21:55 > 0:21:57And their influences at that time,
0:21:57 > 0:22:00with all the American brothers who were coming over,
0:22:00 > 0:22:04helped to solidify what we were trying to do in the '60s.
0:22:04 > 0:22:08You have killed more people in two world wars
0:22:08 > 0:22:10than people have died from natural diseases.
0:22:10 > 0:22:12Are you civilised?
0:22:12 > 0:22:14You bunch of warmongering barbarians.
0:22:18 > 0:22:21I am somebody.
0:22:23 > 0:22:25I am somebody.
0:22:25 > 0:22:27We want Black Power.
0:22:27 > 0:22:31We want Black Power. We want Black Power.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35- We want Black Power. - I am somebody.
0:22:35 > 0:22:39- # Say it loud! - I'm black and I'm proud
0:22:39 > 0:22:40# Say it loud... #
0:22:40 > 0:22:43I think the idea of Black Power is very much a transcendence
0:22:43 > 0:22:46of the situation of violence. It's a production of
0:22:46 > 0:22:49a counter-violent situation, by which the white person would be
0:22:49 > 0:22:52helped to escape from the situation whereby he unknowingly,
0:22:52 > 0:22:56or unrecognisingly, inflicts violence on the black people.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59So it's a way of transcending the situation of violence
0:22:59 > 0:23:01through a dialectic counter-violence.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04Right, I'd like to introduce tonight's speakers to you.
0:23:04 > 0:23:10On my left, Ronald Laing, well-known psychoanalyst and writer.
0:23:10 > 0:23:14On my right, Stokely Carmichael, leader of Black Power,
0:23:14 > 0:23:16ex-chairman of SNCC.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19- CHEERING - Hell, yeah!
0:23:19 > 0:23:24Next to Stokely is Allen Ginsberg, poet, who will open the meeting.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27On the extreme right is Emmett Grogan
0:23:27 > 0:23:32from a free autonomous group in San Francisco called the Diggers.
0:23:35 > 0:23:37I'll leave you to their mercy.
0:23:37 > 0:23:41'Allen Ginsberg at that time seemed like
0:23:41 > 0:23:45'a kind of old Testament prophet, like a kind of rock and roll figure.'
0:23:45 > 0:23:47He was bearded, charismatic.
0:23:47 > 0:23:49He wore this red shirt that had been
0:23:49 > 0:23:52hand-painted by Paul McCartney,
0:23:52 > 0:23:56and he was a poet in the sort of Blakeian sense,
0:23:56 > 0:24:00in the grand sense that poetry would change the world.
0:24:00 > 0:24:02And he was also an immaculate politician.
0:24:02 > 0:24:07He was superb at making contacts and mediating deals.
0:24:07 > 0:24:09So I think in the Roundhouse,
0:24:09 > 0:24:12the great moment arrives when he's sitting on this stage
0:24:12 > 0:24:16with Stokely Carmichael, who is doing a real Black Power rant.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19He's denouncing them as middle-class meddlers,
0:24:19 > 0:24:22sort of masturbating with the culture, all these people.
0:24:22 > 0:24:24They're all saying, "Yes, yes, yes, we are."
0:24:24 > 0:24:29And there is Emmett Grogan there, who's a Digger from San Francisco,
0:24:29 > 0:24:32and also a film-maker, anarchist-dyed,
0:24:32 > 0:24:35and he's very knotted into himself and snarling.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38And between these two is Ginsberg,
0:24:38 > 0:24:40who's trying to say there has to be another way.
0:24:40 > 0:24:45We have very small community groups
0:24:45 > 0:24:50in San Francisco and in New York beginning to leave the money wheel
0:24:50 > 0:24:54and also beginning to leave the hallucination wheel of the media.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57Beginning to form small co-operatives,
0:24:57 > 0:24:59tribal units, societies of their own.
0:24:59 > 0:25:02Beginning to share money or do without money
0:25:02 > 0:25:05and then beginning to move in on authority
0:25:05 > 0:25:09with those weapons which have been called flower power.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12Mr Ginsberg, I don't know much about the hippie movement,
0:25:12 > 0:25:14but I would like to beg to differ with you.
0:25:14 > 0:25:18I think the reason most of the hippies do that is because
0:25:18 > 0:25:20they're confused little kids who have run away from home
0:25:20 > 0:25:23and will return to their culture within a year or two.
0:25:23 > 0:25:25CHEERING
0:25:25 > 0:25:26There's no culture to return to.
0:25:26 > 0:25:30Before I can find my individual self, I must find by group culture.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34- Obviously.- But we don't have a viable group culture,
0:25:34 > 0:25:36so we're in the same boat in that sense.
0:25:36 > 0:25:39# Please
0:25:44 > 0:25:49# Open your eyes... #
0:25:49 > 0:25:52"Please, open your eyes,
0:25:52 > 0:25:54"Please, try to realise,
0:25:54 > 0:25:58"I found out today we're going wrong."
0:25:58 > 0:26:02# Try
0:26:07 > 0:26:12# To realise
0:26:21 > 0:26:28# I found out today
0:26:29 > 0:26:34# We're going wrong
0:26:41 > 0:26:47# We're going wrong
0:26:55 > 0:27:00# Please
0:27:04 > 0:27:09# Open your mind... #
0:27:19 > 0:27:22There was one occasion I remember a young couple
0:27:22 > 0:27:25living in Notting Hill were busted by the police for dope.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28And the police said, you know,
0:27:28 > 0:27:30we're going to close down the Roundhouse
0:27:30 > 0:27:32and everything that it stands for.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35They were going to do these drug busts.
0:27:35 > 0:27:39To the police it was a centre of dope smoking and everything.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42- Crime and inequity. - Debauchery, yes.- Yes.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45They really did feel threatened by it somehow.
0:27:45 > 0:27:47So the post-war generation,
0:27:47 > 0:27:50it was a sense of something completely different
0:27:50 > 0:27:53- to what their parents had?- Yes, yes.
0:27:55 > 0:27:59I felt, you know, part of a community while I was in here.
0:27:59 > 0:28:04The sort of bands that I liked were playing here and just...
0:28:04 > 0:28:06There wasn't anywhere else to go, really.
0:28:06 > 0:28:09I couldn't tell you very much about the majority of the concerts,
0:28:09 > 0:28:11whatever they were that I came to hear,
0:28:11 > 0:28:14it was just the sense of being here that was important.
0:28:14 > 0:28:16I probably heard some terrific bands,
0:28:16 > 0:28:18or could probably hear when terrific bands were playing
0:28:18 > 0:28:20but I can't remember very much about it.
0:28:20 > 0:28:22It was just nice, you'd bump into people that you knew
0:28:22 > 0:28:26and you could smoke a little dope and lie on the floor,
0:28:26 > 0:28:29and, in a most ideologically unsound way,
0:28:29 > 0:28:32pursue luckless young women until their patience gave out and so on.
0:28:32 > 0:28:35That's what you came here for, essentially.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38It was pretty much that. I imagined it, or something along the lines,
0:28:38 > 0:28:40without having ever having in my life been in
0:28:40 > 0:28:42anything that could be described as a Persian market.
0:28:42 > 0:28:46But I used to imagine that was roughly the sort of spirit of it.
0:28:46 > 0:28:49There are only a small number of people who use cannabis
0:28:49 > 0:28:52who are likely to be harmed by it.
0:28:52 > 0:28:55And this happens because there is occasionally found
0:28:55 > 0:29:00an idiosyncrasy to cannabis, which leads on to a short-lived madness,
0:29:00 > 0:29:01a spell of madness,
0:29:01 > 0:29:05which luckily clears up very quickly with the proper treatment.
0:29:05 > 0:29:10# When logic and proportion
0:29:10 > 0:29:14# Have fallen sloppy dead
0:29:14 > 0:29:17# And the White Knight is talking backwards
0:29:17 > 0:29:22# And the Red Queen's off with her head
0:29:22 > 0:29:28# Remember what the dormouse said
0:29:30 > 0:29:35# Feed your head
0:29:35 > 0:29:41# Feed your head. #
0:29:41 > 0:29:43CHEERING
0:29:48 > 0:29:52From the mid-'60s onwards, you have what would have to be called
0:29:52 > 0:29:56an LSD consciousness, permeates the whole of
0:29:56 > 0:30:00the counter-culture side of British society.
0:30:00 > 0:30:05And you get it in the songs of the Pink Floyd, of Jimi Hendrix,
0:30:05 > 0:30:13of Marc Bolan - all these bands incorporate LSD-inspired imagery.
0:30:24 > 0:30:26The messages are multiplying.
0:30:32 > 0:30:36Even if LSD disappeared, and all the beards and all the hair disappeared,
0:30:36 > 0:30:39I think the awareness would spread
0:30:39 > 0:30:42because the actual heavy-metal conditions are at a dead-end.
0:30:45 > 0:30:48PERCUSSION MUSIC
0:32:05 > 0:32:09When Arnold Wesker opened it in 1963, as Centre 42,
0:32:09 > 0:32:12an appeal was launched for £500,000.
0:32:12 > 0:32:14This failed, though,
0:32:14 > 0:32:17and the Roundhouse soon became the home of pop concerts.
0:32:17 > 0:32:20Since then, though, the variety of activities and spectacles -
0:32:20 > 0:32:23ranging from children's paintings to the first performance
0:32:23 > 0:32:26of Oh Calcutta - is greatly increased
0:32:26 > 0:32:29under the management of Wesker's original partner, George Hoskins.
0:32:31 > 0:32:34What was your ideal programme for a year?
0:32:34 > 0:32:37The ideal programme... We, in fact, drew up ideal programmes -
0:32:37 > 0:32:40that is when Wesker was still interested,
0:32:40 > 0:32:43before he got discouraged by the length of time it was all taking.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46The ideal programme then was that you would have a vast range
0:32:46 > 0:32:49of activities. You'd have theatre right in the centre,
0:32:49 > 0:32:53but all round it, you would have anything you could imagine.
0:32:53 > 0:32:56For example, children's activities, you'd have social centre,
0:32:56 > 0:32:59you'd have exhibitions, you'd make sure that people had to
0:32:59 > 0:33:02walk through the exhibition to get to the theatre and so on.
0:33:02 > 0:33:04And you'd have workshops,
0:33:04 > 0:33:08much on the lines they have down at the lock down there,
0:33:08 > 0:33:13where artists, potters, painters, designers would have a place.
0:33:13 > 0:33:16The whole thing would become a thriving community centre of
0:33:16 > 0:33:20every kind of artistic activity that you can imagine there.
0:33:20 > 0:33:24I wanted to forget everything which was written for human voice,
0:33:24 > 0:33:27whether it's singing or whether it's speaking
0:33:27 > 0:33:30or other noises and sounds,
0:33:30 > 0:33:33and to see what possibilities are here.
0:33:33 > 0:33:35Also, involving...
0:33:37 > 0:33:39- Bredding or breathing is called? - Breathing.
0:33:39 > 0:33:42..also involving the breathing possibilities.
0:33:42 > 0:33:45Really take the human body as a sound source.
0:33:45 > 0:33:47What he's able to do,
0:33:47 > 0:33:52and always to push it until the edge of the possibilities.
0:35:10 > 0:35:13LAUGHTER
0:35:22 > 0:35:25APPLAUSE
0:35:32 > 0:35:35I think we've all felt this urge for a long time now
0:35:35 > 0:35:37to get out of the regular theatre buildings because they're
0:35:37 > 0:35:41old-fashioned in a bad way, they don't serve their purpose today.
0:35:41 > 0:35:43Peter, it was in 1968 that you first brought
0:35:43 > 0:35:45your experimental work on the Tempest here.
0:35:45 > 0:35:48How did you find the building in the first place when you first came
0:35:48 > 0:35:51to do the Tempest here? What was it that you found attractive?
0:35:51 > 0:35:53Oh, it was Arnold Wesker who found the building.
0:35:53 > 0:35:56He was the one who had this strong feeling
0:35:56 > 0:35:59that it could be used marvellously as a theatre.
0:35:59 > 0:36:01When I first came into it,
0:36:01 > 0:36:06I remember being really thrilled by the fact that here was a space,
0:36:06 > 0:36:08just an undefined space.
0:36:08 > 0:36:11Undefined space means, of course, anything can happen,
0:36:11 > 0:36:14the space takes on its own definition depending on
0:36:14 > 0:36:16what you do inside it, but it wasn't a cold space.
0:36:16 > 0:36:19It wasn't a clinical space,
0:36:19 > 0:36:24it was a space with its own beauty, its own feeling of life.
0:36:24 > 0:36:28And that seemed to me to be perfect conditions for making theatre in.
0:36:33 > 0:36:36When I got to the Roundhouse, it was in danger, yet again,
0:36:36 > 0:36:40as it was kind of, you know, every Tuesday and Thursday, of closing.
0:36:40 > 0:36:44There was a considerable debt
0:36:44 > 0:36:47that had to be got rid of in some way,
0:36:47 > 0:36:49and it wasn't functioning properly.
0:36:49 > 0:36:54And the first thing I did was arrange with John Curd,
0:36:54 > 0:36:57who was the rock promoter at the Roundhouse,
0:36:57 > 0:37:00to do 40 rock concerts on the trot.
0:37:00 > 0:37:02We paid off all our debt.
0:37:02 > 0:37:04# He's in love with rock'n'roll Whoa
0:37:04 > 0:37:06# He's in love with gettin' stoned Whoa
0:37:06 > 0:37:08# He's in love with Janie Jones Whoa
0:37:08 > 0:37:11# He don't like his boring job, no... #
0:37:15 > 0:37:19# In the city there's a thousand things I want to say to you
0:37:21 > 0:37:24# But whenever I approach you You make me look a fool... #
0:37:24 > 0:37:28# Bind me, tie me Chain me to the wall
0:37:28 > 0:37:31# I want to be a slave to you all
0:37:31 > 0:37:33# Oh, bondage, up yours!
0:37:33 > 0:37:35# Oh, bondage... #
0:37:35 > 0:37:38I was just talking about all forms of bondage, you know, repression,
0:37:38 > 0:37:42everything else. Sexual bondage stems from that, so it's all part
0:37:42 > 0:37:45of the same thing, really. It all depends which way you interpret it.
0:37:45 > 0:37:47So as much to do with social bondage as sexual bondage?
0:37:47 > 0:37:49Yeah, it's to do with all bondage.
0:37:49 > 0:37:51And it's bondage because it hasn't been played -
0:37:51 > 0:37:53that proves it as well.
0:37:53 > 0:37:57The event creates the venue, I think.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00I think that's certainly my ultimate recollection of the Roundhouse.
0:38:00 > 0:38:04It was transformed by what was happening there.
0:38:06 > 0:38:09I seem to remember it was very difficult to get into.
0:38:09 > 0:38:11I seem to remember the toilets were completely inadequate
0:38:11 > 0:38:14and overflowing and you had to have planks,
0:38:14 > 0:38:17so it was like a rock festival indoors,
0:38:17 > 0:38:20which is fabulous, and I suppose it's very right for the times.
0:38:20 > 0:38:22It was a place that you went
0:38:22 > 0:38:25when you needed a place to go to.
0:38:25 > 0:38:29And that in itself was actually something rather wonderful
0:38:29 > 0:38:34because at various points, particularly in early 1977,
0:38:34 > 0:38:37there were very few places that you could go to
0:38:37 > 0:38:40in order to see the groups that you wanted to see.
0:38:44 > 0:38:46What's the latest problem?
0:38:46 > 0:38:51Well, I want to bring in the Glasgow Citizens before the end of the year.
0:38:51 > 0:38:53It's a difficult time to bring them,
0:38:53 > 0:38:57the last two months or the last two weeks of the financial year.
0:38:57 > 0:39:01And we have a problem. We've talked about it a great deal,
0:39:01 > 0:39:05we've come to a very good contractual agreement for all of us,
0:39:05 > 0:39:07we have one sticking point,
0:39:07 > 0:39:09and that is the price of the seats.
0:39:09 > 0:39:13As you know, the Citizens would like to have a policy,
0:39:13 > 0:39:16and already have in Glasgow,
0:39:16 > 0:39:19that the theatre is accessible to everybody.
0:39:19 > 0:39:22- They charge very little for their seats...- Yeah.
0:39:22 > 0:39:25..and we started talking turkey at 50p a seat.
0:39:25 > 0:39:27HE GASPS
0:39:27 > 0:39:30We have 580 seats.
0:39:30 > 0:39:35And if we charged 50p for all of them, we would leave ourselves...
0:39:35 > 0:39:40- That's ridiculous.- Well, if we sell out, we'll need about £18,000.
0:39:40 > 0:39:42But not at 50p a head.
0:39:42 > 0:39:44I mean, that's fine for Glasgow,
0:39:44 > 0:39:49but we're putting the My Fair Lady seats up to £10 on a Saturday night
0:39:49 > 0:39:52because the public now just will pay that.
0:39:52 > 0:39:55You know, Covent Garden's top is £21.
0:39:55 > 0:39:59I'm asking you for 10% of the Covent Garden top, £2.
0:39:59 > 0:40:02- You are asking me to charge £2? - I think it ought to be.
0:40:02 > 0:40:06In the past two years the policy which we pursue,
0:40:06 > 0:40:09and which had the approval of subsidising bodies,
0:40:09 > 0:40:12has become increasingly difficult because of the needs
0:40:12 > 0:40:14of the theatres we bring in.
0:40:18 > 0:40:22We have a cash-flow problem far greater than we've had previously,
0:40:22 > 0:40:25or certainly in the time that I've been here.
0:40:25 > 0:40:28We're up to the top of our overdraft limit.
0:40:28 > 0:40:31By the end of next week, paying salaries will be a problem.
0:40:31 > 0:40:35If it closes, then it's not for me to say whether London needs it,
0:40:35 > 0:40:38but I don't think anyone else can provide what we provide.
0:40:38 > 0:40:39Our auditorium is very special
0:40:39 > 0:40:42and there are certain shows that can ONLY come in here.
0:41:26 > 0:41:30The kind of art working people want is perhaps earlier this century
0:41:30 > 0:41:33than... What's the word I want? Avant-garde.
0:41:44 > 0:41:50I think being in debt is one of the most oppressive aspects of 42.
0:41:50 > 0:41:53One person in particular, who has guaranteed
0:41:53 > 0:41:58the bulk of our overdraft, whom I have nightmares about.
0:42:03 > 0:42:07And the GLC also leaves the legacy of the Roundhouse.
0:42:07 > 0:42:11When it opens, it will be the best-equipped and most prestigious
0:42:11 > 0:42:13arts centre in Europe.
0:42:17 > 0:42:19Finally, I suppose,
0:42:19 > 0:42:23the sneers and derision and hostility,
0:42:23 > 0:42:29the idea of 42 has excited, have sunk home.
0:42:29 > 0:42:35Perhaps some of the joy is taken out of the whole project.
0:42:39 > 0:42:42Who do you blame the financial difficulties on, whose fault is it?
0:42:42 > 0:42:45I don't blame the difficulties on anybody.
0:42:47 > 0:42:50So the whole thing will become a thriving community centre
0:42:50 > 0:42:53of every kind of artistic activity that you can imagine there.
0:43:20 > 0:43:22# You and the girls on your street
0:43:22 > 0:43:25# Love to play with Polly Cos she's so sweet
0:43:25 > 0:43:27- # Polly Pocket - Polly Pocket
0:43:27 > 0:43:28- # Polly Pocket - Polly Pocket. #
0:43:28 > 0:43:33Polly Pocket play cases, each sold separately. New from Mattel.
0:43:33 > 0:43:35I was a toymaker,
0:43:35 > 0:43:39and a guy that we worked with
0:43:39 > 0:43:42came in one day who was an inventor and such.
0:43:42 > 0:43:46He came in and, as a sort of afterthought,
0:43:46 > 0:43:48he produced a little wooden box
0:43:48 > 0:43:52and he said, "I don't know whether this is of any interest at all."
0:43:52 > 0:43:57He said, "I made it for my daughter six years ago and, you know,
0:43:57 > 0:43:59"but I've always rather liked it."
0:43:59 > 0:44:02And when I saw it, I didn't know what to say.
0:44:02 > 0:44:06It was a tiny little doll about 1.5cm tall,
0:44:06 > 0:44:09painted, perfectly decorated.
0:44:09 > 0:44:14# Polly Pocket's so small, you can take her anywhere. #
0:44:14 > 0:44:18They were a beautifully engineered little doll,
0:44:18 > 0:44:23which bent at the waist and whose arms could move and various things.
0:44:23 > 0:44:28And one of the people in the room said,
0:44:28 > 0:44:31"That's Polly Pocket," so we adopted the name.
0:44:31 > 0:44:35And it was one of the most -
0:44:35 > 0:44:39it was THE most successful toy I've ever been involved with.
0:44:39 > 0:44:42We were the second largest,
0:44:42 > 0:44:45well below, of course, Barbie, the girls' toy.
0:44:45 > 0:44:48They sold several hundred million dollars of it.
0:44:48 > 0:44:53You could really say Polly Pocket is the reason we could do all this.
0:45:46 > 0:45:49Hello, you are listening to Roundhouse Radio
0:45:49 > 0:45:51and my name is Noa Logan.
0:45:51 > 0:45:54We have an extra special show for you today.
0:45:54 > 0:45:58We're celebrating both of our birthdays, our 50th and our tenth.
0:45:58 > 0:46:03So, stick with me and we'll be bringing you the best creative
0:46:03 > 0:46:05experimentation that we have going on
0:46:05 > 0:46:08in this incredibly special building.
0:46:16 > 0:46:20Earlier this year, we sent a team of young artists abroad to learn,
0:46:20 > 0:46:24grow and collaborate with other international artists,
0:46:24 > 0:46:27as the start of our En Masse Project.
0:46:27 > 0:46:29We are going to bring all of those artists back,
0:46:29 > 0:46:31alongside the Roundhouse Choir, Wax Lyrical,
0:46:31 > 0:46:34The Poetry Collective and the William Ellis Big Band,
0:46:34 > 0:46:37alongside the fantastic Jamie Cullum.
0:46:42 > 0:46:45So, here at the Roundhouse we shouldn't have favourites,
0:46:45 > 0:46:50but if I did, it would be the Last Word Festival.
0:46:50 > 0:46:54Just over two weeks of the best in spoken word and poetry.
0:46:54 > 0:46:57If you think you hate spoken word, trust me, you don't,
0:46:57 > 0:47:01you just haven't found something that you like quite yet.
0:47:01 > 0:47:03A letter to you.
0:47:03 > 0:47:06Perpetually blagging your way through life.
0:47:06 > 0:47:08You, who feel like a fraud.
0:47:08 > 0:47:11A misconceived mishmash of half-baked beliefs,
0:47:11 > 0:47:14cut-and-paste archetypes, breathe easy.
0:47:14 > 0:47:17You must all play this game of identity Jenga.
0:47:17 > 0:47:21To the young black girl stood in the furthest corner of the dance floor,
0:47:21 > 0:47:23whose heart marches to the urgent bark
0:47:23 > 0:47:27of Joe Strummer and David Bowie, who doesn't know how to Dutty Wine,
0:47:27 > 0:47:29whose behind is as flat as an extended palm
0:47:29 > 0:47:32who feels more at home in the screaming mouth of a mosh pit
0:47:32 > 0:47:34than a dance-hall rave.
0:47:34 > 0:47:36To the boy who's been known to kiss boys
0:47:36 > 0:47:39and the girl who's been known to kiss girls,
0:47:39 > 0:47:42may your public caress of your lover's shoulder be
0:47:42 > 0:47:46an everyday gesture of affection, not a wilful act of defiance.
0:47:46 > 0:47:50To the boy in the pink tutu and the girl in the Superman costume
0:47:50 > 0:47:54and the he-she, almost not quite delicious, anarchist in-betweeners
0:47:54 > 0:47:57who refuse our pronouns and prerequisites
0:47:57 > 0:48:01so we know what it is to choke on the trapped air of ignorance.
0:48:01 > 0:48:05To the 16-stone man who has no time for the condescending thumbs-up
0:48:05 > 0:48:10swung his way as he bites into an apple or runs round his local park.
0:48:10 > 0:48:12To the hipster
0:48:12 > 0:48:15too afraid to tell her friends how much she loves One Direction.
0:48:15 > 0:48:18No, not ironically,
0:48:18 > 0:48:21with a profoundly intense, and unending passion.
0:48:21 > 0:48:24To the feminist who's read the beauty myth three times
0:48:24 > 0:48:28yet still lusts after xylophone ribs and guillotine cheekbones,
0:48:28 > 0:48:31who loves hip-hop with a full heart and gritted teeth.
0:48:32 > 0:48:36To the people who have at least 16 different responses to the question,
0:48:36 > 0:48:38where are you from?
0:48:38 > 0:48:41Whose guts double Dutch as their eyes hover over the ethnicity box
0:48:41 > 0:48:44on a medical form, the stomachs that bloat with
0:48:44 > 0:48:47the oceans their parents crissed and crossed,
0:48:47 > 0:48:50the accents that lilt and swell like an orgy of castanets
0:48:50 > 0:48:53nibbling at sitars and African drums.
0:48:53 > 0:48:57Here's to the people that belong everywhere and nowhere.
0:48:57 > 0:49:01The tongues parched and gasping as a land of exile.
0:49:01 > 0:49:05Here's to the 40-, 50-, 60-year-old people still working it out,
0:49:05 > 0:49:09who rip off the hands of the ticking clock and eat them like breadsticks.
0:49:09 > 0:49:12Here's to taking your own sweet time.
0:49:12 > 0:49:15Here's to the ways of being and seeing and living and loving
0:49:15 > 0:49:19that our feeble language has yet to find a battle-cry for.
0:49:19 > 0:49:22Here's for the civil war raging inside all of us.
0:49:22 > 0:49:26The gristle of contradictions we pluck from our teeth
0:49:26 > 0:49:29and the small truths we nestle safely under our tongues.
0:49:29 > 0:49:33Here's to falling and failing and flying all at once.
0:49:33 > 0:49:36Here's to identity Jenga.
0:49:36 > 0:49:41Even the tallest and most formidable of towers
0:49:41 > 0:49:44was once just a pile of bricks.
0:49:46 > 0:49:48So, are you an amazing film-maker?
0:49:48 > 0:49:52Or do you have a brilliant idea for a film somewhere in your brain?
0:49:52 > 0:49:55If so, we have some money for you to make it happen.
0:49:55 > 0:49:59Not me personally, but the Roundhouse online film fund.
0:49:59 > 0:50:02So, if you want to get the best out of your idea
0:50:02 > 0:50:05and you want the correct support to make it happen,
0:50:05 > 0:50:07why don't you apply online?
0:50:18 > 0:50:24"So, what do you go for in a girl?"
0:50:24 > 0:50:27he crows, lifting the lager to his lips.
0:50:27 > 0:50:30He gestures where his mate sits, then downs his glass.
0:50:30 > 0:50:33"He prefers tits.
0:50:33 > 0:50:36"I prefer arse.
0:50:36 > 0:50:39"What do you go for in a girl?"
0:50:40 > 0:50:42Well, I feel quite uncomfortable,
0:50:42 > 0:50:44the air left the room a long time ago.
0:50:44 > 0:50:46All eyes are on me...
0:50:46 > 0:50:50If you must know, I'd like a girl who
0:50:50 > 0:50:53reads.
0:50:53 > 0:50:56Yes, reads. I'm not trying to call you a chauvinist
0:50:56 > 0:50:58because I know that you're not alone in this,
0:50:58 > 0:50:59but I'd like a girl who reads,
0:50:59 > 0:51:02who needs the written word and who uses the added vocabulary
0:51:02 > 0:51:05she gleans from novels and poetry to hold lively conversation
0:51:05 > 0:51:09in a range of social situations. I want a girl who reads,
0:51:09 > 0:51:14whose heart bleeds at the works of Graham Greene or even Heat magazine,
0:51:14 > 0:51:17who ties back her hair while she's reading Jane Eyre,
0:51:17 > 0:51:18and who goes cover to cover
0:51:18 > 0:51:21with each Waterstones three-for-two offer,
0:51:21 > 0:51:24but I want a girl who doesn't stop there. I want a girl who reads.
0:51:24 > 0:51:26A girl who feeds her addiction for fiction
0:51:26 > 0:51:28with unusual poems and plays.
0:51:28 > 0:51:31That she hunts out in crooked book shops for days and days and days.
0:51:31 > 0:51:33She'll sit addicted at breakfast,
0:51:33 > 0:51:35soaking up the back of the cornflakes box
0:51:35 > 0:51:39and the info she gets from what she reads makes her a total fox.
0:51:39 > 0:51:42Because she's interesting and she's unique.
0:51:42 > 0:51:45And her theories make me go weak at the knees.
0:51:52 > 0:51:56This idea was originally the idea that young people,
0:51:56 > 0:51:59particularly in London,
0:51:59 > 0:52:02we know have a lot of energy
0:52:02 > 0:52:04and a sense of commitment and at the moment
0:52:04 > 0:52:07particularly they're feeling disenfranchised.
0:52:07 > 0:52:10They were bewildered, I think, by what's happening in politics
0:52:10 > 0:52:13in the sense they can vote for something but it doesn't matter,
0:52:13 > 0:52:15or it doesn't count.
0:52:15 > 0:52:17And somehow if you turn that into a positive,
0:52:17 > 0:52:21and that we get them all together, but not in a whingeing way,
0:52:21 > 0:52:25but to say "OK, here's your floor, come up with some ideas."
0:52:25 > 0:52:28Our idea was to come up with this manifesto at the end
0:52:28 > 0:52:31of what we can do just to make things better,
0:52:31 > 0:52:33to make their world better.
0:52:33 > 0:52:36So it's addressing their concerns, isn't it? It tends to be housing,
0:52:36 > 0:52:39it tends to be... I think you came up with your three Ps?
0:52:39 > 0:52:40Yes, we had a meeting,
0:52:40 > 0:52:43a couple of us had a meeting with a group of three young people
0:52:43 > 0:52:45from the Roundhouse last night.
0:52:45 > 0:52:50They've come up with politics, power, pay and performance,
0:52:50 > 0:52:51- the four Ps.- Very good.
0:52:51 > 0:52:55So we ought to look at those as the stimulating themes
0:52:55 > 0:52:58for the day, for the event in January.
0:52:58 > 0:53:03So it should be fun, we don't want it to be like a conference.
0:53:03 > 0:53:06The performance element is going to be a key part of that.
0:53:06 > 0:53:09We're creating a crowdsourced history of the Roundhouse
0:53:09 > 0:53:12that will form a digital timeline
0:53:12 > 0:53:14of the events over the past 50 years.
0:53:14 > 0:53:17We're collecting stories from everyone -
0:53:17 > 0:53:19so from members of the public,
0:53:19 > 0:53:22from artists that we've worked with, members of the local community.
0:53:22 > 0:53:28And that story will form a digital history of the Roundhouse.
0:53:28 > 0:53:32There has been someone that has sort of...
0:53:32 > 0:53:34been kind of living in the area,
0:53:34 > 0:53:38cos community is an important part of this, as well, since 1995
0:53:38 > 0:53:42and has been able to see the Roundhouse from his kitchen window
0:53:42 > 0:53:45and he charts his... the way he's grown-up
0:53:45 > 0:53:49as the way the sort of Roundhouse has grown, as well.
0:53:49 > 0:53:53Someone's dad actually played here about 40 years ago.
0:53:53 > 0:53:55So just lots of different kind of connections.
0:53:55 > 0:53:59All the people that have sent memories through sort of feel
0:53:59 > 0:54:01this very personal connection to the Roundhouse,
0:54:01 > 0:54:02which is really great to see.
0:54:02 > 0:54:04Strangely, the Roundhouse,
0:54:04 > 0:54:07it's the roundness that actually makes it a very intimate space,
0:54:07 > 0:54:10so the artists are never very far away from the audience
0:54:10 > 0:54:13and the audience are never very far away from the artists.
0:54:13 > 0:54:17I think nine times out of ten, if there's a gig going on,
0:54:17 > 0:54:21the artist, the musician at some point will stop and look at it
0:54:21 > 0:54:24and go, "This is the most amazing place I've ever performed in."
0:54:24 > 0:54:26HE RAPS: Kids on the road start young these days
0:54:26 > 0:54:28Walk street with a knife these days No fun these days
0:54:28 > 0:54:30Do dirt, end up on the run these days
0:54:30 > 0:54:32Whole lot of pain, suffering, and badness, whole lot of madness
0:54:32 > 0:54:34Too many grieving mothers and sadness
0:54:34 > 0:54:36It ain't safe in the manor no more
0:54:36 > 0:54:38Take one fool step and you could get bored
0:54:38 > 0:54:39Kids caught up in the hype and the nonsense
0:54:39 > 0:54:41Do what they hear in the songs and the TV
0:54:41 > 0:54:43Picking up dust, makin' up fuss for the sake of money
0:54:43 > 0:54:45Cos it look so easy
0:54:45 > 0:54:46They don't understand, they can't comprehend
0:54:46 > 0:54:48Cos they're too caught up trying to rep their ends
0:54:48 > 0:54:51For the reputation, and pass it on to the next generation.
0:54:51 > 0:54:54Can't tek no more of it No, no, no, no, no
0:54:54 > 0:54:56- Can't tek no more of it.- Hey!
0:55:00 > 0:55:02# I've been through it all
0:55:06 > 0:55:10# So I understand, I'll understand if you go
0:55:10 > 0:55:13# O-o-o-o-oh
0:55:14 > 0:55:18# So make your mark
0:55:18 > 0:55:21# For your friends to see
0:55:22 > 0:55:27# But when... When you need company
0:55:29 > 0:55:33# Don't go to strangers
0:55:33 > 0:55:40# My darling, come to me. #
0:55:51 > 0:55:53It's a really special reason
0:55:53 > 0:55:56why the Roundhouse is here and why people come here -
0:55:56 > 0:55:58it's that we're on the railway side on one side
0:55:58 > 0:55:59and the road side on the other
0:55:59 > 0:56:03and there's wealthy, there's poor, there's business, there's industry
0:56:03 > 0:56:06and we're at this kind of little island right in the middle.
0:56:06 > 0:56:10People talk about places being on ley lines, um...
0:56:10 > 0:56:12I don't know if that's true at all,
0:56:12 > 0:56:15but there's certainly a feeling about this little island
0:56:15 > 0:56:17and it does its own thing in its own place.
0:56:19 > 0:56:22Well, I think it was Thelma Holt who said to me once -
0:56:22 > 0:56:25she said, "I love what you're going to do with it,
0:56:25 > 0:56:30"but I'm not in the least worried because the Roundhouse has a habit
0:56:30 > 0:56:32"of spitting out the things it doesn't like."
0:56:34 > 0:56:38Well, you know, the only thing I can say is that 50 years on,
0:56:38 > 0:56:39or whatever it is,
0:56:39 > 0:56:43the Roundhouse is starting to make its wishes understood.
0:56:45 > 0:56:50# When you were young and your heart was an open book
0:56:52 > 0:56:56# You used to say live and let live
0:56:56 > 0:56:59# You know you did, you know you did, you know you did
0:56:59 > 0:57:04# But this ever-changin' world in which we live in
0:57:04 > 0:57:08# Makes you give in and cry
0:57:10 > 0:57:13# Say live and let die
0:57:15 > 0:57:18# Live and let die
0:57:18 > 0:57:22# Live and let die
0:57:22 > 0:57:24# Live and let die... #
0:57:48 > 0:57:49..It's suddenly serious...
0:57:50 > 0:57:53- No.- Is this stale?
0:57:53 > 0:57:55PEOPLE CHATTER
0:57:55 > 0:57:56PEOPLE LAUGH
0:57:56 > 0:57:58Whoa!
0:57:58 > 0:58:00LAUGHTER
0:58:00 > 0:58:02Whoa!
0:58:02 > 0:58:06APPLAUSE AND LAUGHTER