:00:10. > :00:11.We have to work our way up to it of course.
:00:12. > :00:13.Each step forward, each stage bigger.
:00:14. > :00:23.There's a sense of greatness in the air.
:00:24. > :00:44.Arguably, the most famous, creative square mile anywhere in the world.
:00:45. > :00:51.But theatre, the lifeblood of the area, appears suddenly under threat.
:00:52. > :00:53.Places like the Astoria were pulled down, no-one
:00:54. > :00:58.They just don't get it, they're, they're, they're a shower!
:00:59. > :01:01.There's not going to be any reason for people to come here anymore.
:01:02. > :01:05.This rush to gentrify it, to maximize profits would be
:01:06. > :01:10.This is a hub for not only for actors, but for the whole creative
:01:11. > :01:14.Amidst this battle to Save Soho, On Stage follows
:01:15. > :01:26.On that first night, is there going to be anyone there to react to it?
:01:27. > :01:34.It's suddenly, going , swhh, it's gone.
:01:35. > :01:59.Soho's a village and people don't realize what
:02:00. > :02:09.And it's a creative place, it really is a creative place.
:02:10. > :02:15.It's bounded on all sides by theatres.
:02:16. > :02:19.So we're here on the south-east corner where the Palace Theatre is.
:02:20. > :02:23.So if you walk down here, smiling at you over here, is The Criterion.
:02:24. > :02:26.Then you run up, all the way up Regent Street
:02:27. > :02:31.And here will be a wonderful new theatre.
:02:32. > :02:34.So theatres, theatres, theatres and theatres.
:02:35. > :02:42.It has a great and unbelievable history, you know, for a village.
:02:43. > :02:45.Soho may lay claim to be the most important theatrical neighborhood
:02:46. > :02:54.But not just because of the big West End theatres that form its borders.
:02:55. > :02:57.In the warren of streets leading out from their stage doors,
:02:58. > :03:03.performance spaces of all types are found - music, burlesque, comedy,
:03:04. > :03:13.As artistic director of The Soho Theatre, Steve Marmion's
:03:14. > :03:19.currently masterminding a new Irish-UK co-production.
:03:20. > :03:21.Soho Theatre isn't in the middle of London,
:03:22. > :03:25.There's something about Soho that has that spirit to
:03:26. > :03:28.it, it's incredibly international, it's incredibly non-exclusive
:03:29. > :03:34.and welcoming and it's a little bit slutty too.
:03:35. > :03:36.Soho Theatre's a theatre that exists to find new audiences,
:03:37. > :03:43.Our audience is young and sexy and living in a place where they
:03:44. > :04:04.are bothered most about the future, not about the past.
:04:05. > :04:08.Thank you for coming down. We are three companies coming together.
:04:09. > :04:10.Welcome. Death of a Comedian is
:04:11. > :04:13.about a man trying to be a comic and trying to make a living doing
:04:14. > :04:28.something he thinks he loves. I am an agent, maybe you have heard
:04:29. > :04:35.of me. It should always say your name on stage.
:04:36. > :04:36.In metaphorical terms, it's
:04:37. > :04:39.about the compromises you have to make to get that idea into reality.
:04:40. > :04:42.And then, at the end, is that idea still what you want?
:04:43. > :04:45.I'm trying to think of something that explains myself to you.
:04:46. > :04:49.I leave the past for others to deal with.
:04:50. > :04:51.How that affects you is that there is no point
:04:52. > :05:00.The historic central London district of Soho has always attracted
:05:01. > :05:03.controversy and pioneered creativity.
:05:04. > :05:06.In the 1860s, Dean Street was a slum home for
:05:07. > :05:16.Frith Street was where Logie Baird invented Television in the 1920s
:05:17. > :05:21.and the 2i's coffee bar on Old Compton became the birthplace
:05:22. > :05:26.I spent a lot of hours, I think, at the 2i's Coffee Bar.
:05:27. > :05:30.It was the home of the hand jive because there was
:05:31. > :05:34.It is a unique place, I just hope they don't ruin it
:05:35. > :05:42.People will say, "Oh were you really a Windmill Girl, wow."
:05:43. > :05:50.Of course, at the time, we didn't know it was, but it was.
:05:51. > :05:54.It was a theatre, it was not a club, therefore it was under strict
:05:55. > :05:59.theatre licensing laws, so nothing should be seen, the Lord Chamberlain
:06:00. > :06:06.If you're in the nude, if it moved, it was rude.
:06:07. > :06:09.The only person in the nude who could move was
:06:10. > :06:16.The big reveal at the end, when the principal dancer raised her
:06:17. > :06:22.It was naughty, it was a naughty little theatre wasn't it?
:06:23. > :06:30.In the 1970s, this office building plague was going across London.
:06:31. > :06:34.It had applied for a third of the Soho territory
:06:35. > :06:39.You know, if you go to Kettners now, that whole block was going to go.
:06:40. > :06:46.Unfortunately, now of course, we've gone full-circle 40 years plus.
:06:47. > :06:48.London simply wouldn't be London without Soho.
:06:49. > :06:51.Soho's unique blend of raffishness with a hint of wickedness,
:06:52. > :06:55.its artistic freedom of expression, its place as a centre for the gay,
:06:56. > :07:02.All this gives London an extraordinary gift.
:07:03. > :07:06.And the metropolis would be so much less of
:07:07. > :07:10.a place without somewhere like Soho, with its raffish, bohemian charm.
:07:11. > :07:12.The recently-formed Save Soho Campaign, backed by stars
:07:13. > :07:16.like Stephen Fry and Benedict Cumberbatch, and with close links to
:07:17. > :07:20.the Soho Theatre, claim the unique, artistic- nurturing character of the
:07:21. > :07:25.whole area is under grave threat from property developers, central
:07:26. > :07:33.government and the homogenenizing impact of high street globalization.
:07:34. > :07:37.Their spokesman is local musician, Tim Arnold.
:07:38. > :07:39.It's my village and I've been able to work
:07:40. > :07:42.in this village and I can't really anymore as a performer, because
:07:43. > :07:51.When you walk into Soho, finally, for the first time as a budding
:07:52. > :07:55.performer that gives a young performer the encouragement and
:07:56. > :08:00.belief in themselves to know they've arrived in a district that has
:08:01. > :08:04.produced all the people that they would want to be, you know,
:08:05. > :08:10.Now, I doubt very much what I've just described comes up
:08:11. > :08:19.What I think the biggest threat to this area is, is if it ends up
:08:20. > :08:27.appearing architecturally and spiritually like somewhere else
:08:28. > :08:35.With such support and ongoing creative activity, just
:08:36. > :08:46.Now you have this new race and my name for it is Corporate Man.
:08:47. > :08:50.And I meet him and I talk to him and he doesn't know what you're
:08:51. > :08:54.He just sees everything in square footage,
:08:55. > :08:58.And then he'll go and do the same thing somewhere
:08:59. > :09:03.What we're worried about is the smaller grass roots venues
:09:04. > :09:06.and artists who perhaps are just finding their feet and how we ensure
:09:07. > :09:12.That they're not moving off to Berlin or Paris or New York,
:09:13. > :09:18.Because they're such a big part of why London is successful.
:09:19. > :09:31.I don't think you should ever set a place in aspic and I think
:09:32. > :09:36.So, I don't want to put any kind of, sort of blanket, heritage
:09:37. > :09:42.My anxiety about the present government is that they just don't
:09:43. > :09:45.get it, they're a shower, they don't understand that you need that
:09:46. > :09:55.If it all becomes lots of spanking great big offices, we might have
:09:56. > :09:59.gained another few thousand square feet of office space,
:10:00. > :10:06.It tends to attract creative office space, so I think if you're just
:10:07. > :10:08.saying it's a few thousand square feet of office space, you're not
:10:09. > :10:12.reflecting the fact that the people who work in those offices may also
:10:13. > :10:15.be people who take an active part in the life of Soho.
:10:16. > :10:17.If London were to lose that kind of slightly naughty, slightly edgy,
:10:18. > :10:22.slightly exorbitant patch, then I think it would die a little.
:10:23. > :10:31.Meanwhile, as rehearsals progress at the Soho Theatre, Death of a
:10:32. > :10:44.Comedian's central theme emerges as a metaphor for the Save Soho debate.
:10:45. > :10:48.You need to make yourself better without losing sight of who you are.
:10:49. > :10:50.That's what I'm waiting on you to do.
:10:51. > :10:57.On stage, Steve the comedian's career journey
:10:58. > :11:01.has begun to reflect that of the neighborhood surrounding the theatre
:11:02. > :11:06.- as they both face what the future commercial price of past and present
:11:07. > :11:15.There are questions, important questions.
:11:16. > :11:18.I'm the man that gave you what you wanted because you told me
:11:19. > :11:24.Now it looks like that might be happening you
:11:25. > :11:34.I would suggest you're looking for morality, where none exists.
:11:35. > :11:36.The recent, controversial closure of Madame Jo Jo's in Brewer Street
:11:37. > :11:43.ignited the debate about Soho's creative future.
:11:44. > :11:52.I think that was probably the straw that broke the camel's back.
:11:53. > :12:12.I'm Ruby with Jones, I'm the Queen of Queerlesque.
:12:13. > :12:14.I'm a performer, I've always been someone who knew
:12:15. > :12:21.I even tried not doing it for a while and I just realised this
:12:22. > :12:27.You know, you could say to people who didn't know anything
:12:28. > :12:30.about burlesque or didn't know anything about drag, "Oh,
:12:31. > :12:39.There's very few places around London where you can say that, where
:12:40. > :12:42.The closure of JoJo's, I think, has affected young performers,
:12:43. > :12:49.I think that was what was really special, actually, about Madame Jo
:12:50. > :12:53.People could try things, people could play.
:12:54. > :13:01.To bring something in now, into Soho, or to make a performance
:13:02. > :13:04.debut in Soho, I can't even say where you would do that now.
:13:05. > :13:11.It used to be that safe place for people of all kinds to go.
:13:12. > :13:14.Madame JoJo's really was like a real mecca for people who were different.
:13:15. > :13:17.Now, almost the majority of my friends, I would say, we don't
:13:18. > :13:22.Being here now, I just, I really realise how much I miss it,
:13:23. > :13:26.how special this place was and how sad I am that I didn't do more and
:13:27. > :13:36.At the other end of the spectrum, some theatre owners are battling
:13:37. > :13:43.Nimax Theatres boss and former actress Nica Burns
:13:44. > :13:46.already runs a string of West End theatres - 3 of which border Soho.
:13:47. > :14:04.It'll be the first new, major theatre for London in decades.
:14:05. > :14:16.I will be already looking at the front to sign of the theatre. It is
:14:17. > :14:22.the first time I have imagined it. Now, here is where the new Theatre
:14:23. > :14:26.starts. Right here, all the way along here and down the back of the
:14:27. > :14:30.church. There would be a little piazza just in front of the church,
:14:31. > :14:36.so you can enjoy that beautiful circle and then there would be a
:14:37. > :14:40.path around the edge where we can have tables out in the summer. This
:14:41. > :14:44.is going to be a massive improvement.
:14:45. > :14:47.This top of Tottenham Court Road and this end of Oxford Street was
:14:48. > :14:51.It was always, sort of, neglected really and it's going to
:14:52. > :14:53.be completely rejuvenated and I think it's going to be a fantastic
:14:54. > :15:00.But to make her new theatre happen, Nica's having to work with major
:15:01. > :15:05.People call us a developer, but we're not really a developer,
:15:06. > :15:10.We own about five and a half million square feet in
:15:11. > :15:13.Central London, something over ?4 billion but those are just numbers.
:15:14. > :15:19.It's an alliance of two very different worlds.
:15:20. > :15:30.Why did you put that in there? I would like some more space for my
:15:31. > :15:31.theatre. We would love to. There is a lot going under the ground beneath
:15:32. > :15:34.there. You know you don't want to meet
:15:35. > :15:36.suits all the time, you want to meet interesting people,
:15:37. > :15:39.so Nica is a lovely person, she's a challenge, but that's great,
:15:40. > :15:42.I mean we need to be tested. Who wants to have a boring life just
:15:43. > :15:50.building the same sort of things? You have come out across your
:15:51. > :15:51.station and that is your building designed to suit you.
:15:52. > :15:52.The brief was to create something really interesting.
:15:53. > :15:56.Some offices, some retail and some public realm, a new square, and a
:15:57. > :15:58.theatre, but obviously above a very complicated railway interchange.
:15:59. > :16:00.You've got Crossrail, you've got the Northern Line,
:16:01. > :16:19.This is what is the big issue. There is a big issue. Even before your
:16:20. > :16:26.time, we have had to look at... No vibrations and no sound of the
:16:27. > :16:34.trains. Silence. The only way to resolve it is to do a box within a
:16:35. > :16:40.box. That is your theatre. It is a cartoon at the moment. The most
:16:41. > :16:42.important interface is probably that one. What happens when these fans go
:16:43. > :16:46.wrong? As property developers, how do
:16:47. > :16:49.Derwent feel about the allegations go to Canary Wharf if you want to
:16:50. > :16:59.meet suits, or go to other parts. But, I think if you want, you know,
:17:00. > :17:02.you want to keep the vibrancy going and you want to
:17:03. > :17:04.keep interesting people. So,
:17:05. > :17:06.I don't want it to become corporate, but you do need regeneration,
:17:07. > :17:09.you need some wealth being brought into it because, you know,
:17:10. > :17:11.things cost money, so, you know, So, I think it's getting
:17:12. > :17:15.the balance right. But I don't really see it becoming
:17:16. > :17:18.too corporate and I hope it doesn't - you want to keep that rich history
:17:19. > :17:32.and that rich tapestry. It is quite an opportunity for us,
:17:33. > :17:35.this theatre. We don't build many and we have to get it right.
:17:36. > :17:38.I just feel as if I have, I've just had the most privileged
:17:39. > :17:41.experience to be able to build a new theatre and hopefully to set
:17:42. > :17:46.it sail on a long and illustrious career, far beyond myself.
:17:47. > :17:52.The type of things that go on at tech rehearsals can be anything
:17:53. > :17:55.from troubleshooting the tiniest little problem through
:17:56. > :17:58.to solving a big theatrical effect that we're looking to solve.
:17:59. > :18:01.So, one of the more major things, there's a big pyrotechnic,
:18:02. > :18:10.And now it's a process of going through and really just
:18:11. > :18:14.You know, you've got Ben our lighting designer, then you've
:18:15. > :18:18.got Tracey our DSM working with Wan who is doing the sound.
:18:19. > :18:20.So, they're just trying to get all the different elements working
:18:21. > :18:31.In what continues to develop as a fitting parallel
:18:32. > :18:36.for what is going on outside the Soho Theatre's walls, the
:18:37. > :18:39.comedian's agent, Doug, puts forward the case in support of change
:18:40. > :18:49.What's the point in any of this if we don't allow someone we love
:18:50. > :18:51.We all struggle with that, I understand.
:18:52. > :18:55.We see something we like, so we want it to stay the same.
:18:56. > :19:00.You either stay in the background and watch that happen, or you leave.
:19:01. > :19:03.If Soho stayed the same, this theatre would have never been built.
:19:04. > :19:06.This theatre was built 15 years ago and it, prior to that,
:19:07. > :19:10.Well, in the 30s, the Jewish community moved out of Soho, so
:19:11. > :19:13.there wasn't a need for a synagogue in the same way in this area and
:19:14. > :19:21.And to argue that change is negative, I think,
:19:22. > :19:27.It feels dangerous actually, that's what I think.
:19:28. > :19:31.He's talking about the possibility of big changes.
:19:32. > :19:34.Talk like that always feels, well, not dangerous but, you know scary.
:19:35. > :19:36.You're not listening, not change is scary.
:19:37. > :19:38.I am an adult, I have changed along the way.
:19:39. > :19:50.Howard Raymond is the late Porn King of Soho, Paul Raymond's son.
:19:51. > :19:54.My father was the biggest owner of theatres in London.
:19:55. > :19:58.When he died, I mean, I think the headline in the Evening Standard
:19:59. > :20:03.Well, it's a much better title than theatre impresario.
:20:04. > :20:06.Today, Howard is one of the biggest property owners in the area and has
:20:07. > :20:15.The only fear I have for Soho is the speed at which it's changing.
:20:16. > :20:20.In its history, it's never moved at the speed it's moving now.
:20:21. > :20:23.At the moment in Soho we are just finishing off a small conversion
:20:24. > :20:27.And we've had 130 enquiries for that space.
:20:28. > :20:32.I mean it's staggering the amount of enquiries we've had on that,
:20:33. > :20:41.It's just quite staggering that so many people even now, you know,
:20:42. > :20:46.want to come into the West End you know or, i.e.
:20:47. > :20:50.We're not saying no development or anything like that
:20:51. > :20:53.and it would be wrong for me as a developer to do that, I mean
:20:54. > :20:59.And let's just look at each and every application.
:21:00. > :21:02.Otherwise it's going to be glass turrets everywhere, you might
:21:03. > :21:16.With the big players and emotive themes involved,
:21:17. > :21:21.the debate continues daily right across the neighborhood.
:21:22. > :21:25.Hobbit and Sherlock star, Martin Freeman, visits his long-term
:21:26. > :21:39.Soho is somewhere I come to most
:21:40. > :21:43.Most of my social life is spent here.
:21:44. > :21:45.You know, my agent's around the corner.
:21:46. > :21:48.This is a hub for, not only actors, but for the whole creative
:21:49. > :21:53.I mean you see people from my world, Mark's world and what I like
:21:54. > :22:05.about this is the way that those worlds elide.
:22:06. > :22:10.I saw a really nice bottle green. It was a lighter and brighter green
:22:11. > :22:12.than that. Sometimes, yeah,
:22:13. > :22:14.it is a great tragedy when these wonderful buildings are
:22:15. > :22:16.pulled down and whatever. And things are changing and a lot
:22:17. > :22:20.of the soul is being taken out of the centre of town,
:22:21. > :22:22.but the people are still here. A year ago, two years ago,
:22:23. > :22:25.I sort of initially started to get a little bit upset about what
:22:26. > :22:29.seemed to be happening in the area and then I thought, actually,
:22:30. > :22:31.well nothing's going to change. You've got to be positive
:22:32. > :22:33.and embrace it. And that's exactly what I've done,
:22:34. > :22:35.particularly over And you know, all the gentrification
:22:36. > :22:40.or whatever they're calling it now and people being very negative about
:22:41. > :22:44.it, you have to - you know - move forward and I think there are a lot
:22:45. > :22:47.of people that maybe haven't got much else to latch onto,
:22:48. > :22:50.so then they use it It's a bit of a, what I call
:22:51. > :22:59.a bit of a Bob Geldof gee-up. I've got its boundary lines
:23:00. > :23:06.in feet and heads. Dust its alleys
:23:07. > :23:09.so often with footfall. Old Compton Street's
:23:10. > :23:20.east-west arterial routes. Piccadilly at south-western corner,
:23:21. > :23:24.like frontiers of a concrete living Soho as I reinvent its milieu
:23:25. > :23:46.and fascination. Music: Mike Payne - The Black Angel
:23:47. > :23:50.of Camden Instrumental. Meanwhile, rehearsals for Death
:23:51. > :23:56.of a Comedian are complete. At the Soho Theatre,
:23:57. > :23:58.press preview night looms - and artistic director Steve is
:23:59. > :24:04.getting ready for the occasion. Because I'm an artistic director
:24:05. > :24:07.as well as the play's director, And to do that,
:24:08. > :24:12.you need to be quite confident and you need to be on top of your game
:24:13. > :24:15.when actually you're at your most vulnerable and you're most nervous
:24:16. > :24:18.'cos everyone's about to come and Anything you can do to make yours
:24:19. > :24:23.elf feel a bit more confident I guess - like the war paint,
:24:24. > :24:29.I get me hair cut sometimes. I get very nervous
:24:30. > :24:32.on press night to the point that I So, I will welcome all
:24:33. > :24:39.the guests and my assistant will let And that isn't a poncey,
:24:40. > :24:44.theatre tradition. If something goes wrong,
:24:45. > :24:49.then people turn and look at you, It only takes ten people behaving
:24:50. > :24:55.differently in that house and that's a big enough chunk of the
:24:56. > :24:58.audience to affect the performance. It's just three hours till
:24:59. > :25:01.the press arrive. I don't know what on earth made me
:25:02. > :25:05.think that anyone should come Do you know, that's how I feel
:25:06. > :25:09.right before a press night. It's a ridiculously arrogant thing
:25:10. > :25:12.to do to invite all these people Back at the giant Nimax Theatres
:25:13. > :25:19.Group, Chief Executive, Nica has JK Rowling will bring the world's
:25:20. > :25:29.first-ever stage adaption of It will bring people to
:25:30. > :25:35.the theatre who've never gone You know, you've got people from all
:25:36. > :25:41.over the world - China excited - all the continents going, "I've got
:25:42. > :25:44.to get to London to see this." And I'm hoping that as more
:25:45. > :25:49.and more new people discover theatre by coming to the show, they'll
:25:50. > :25:52.actually go into Soho and spend an afternoon or beforehand or they come
:25:53. > :25:55.to matinee to the evening just to discover some of the wonderful
:25:56. > :25:59.things that you'll find. As Soho braces itself
:26:00. > :26:02.for Potter-Mania, Death of A Comedian at the Soho
:26:03. > :26:07.Theatre has survived press night The final act sees
:26:08. > :26:15.the formerly cutting-edge comic radically change his set and entire
:26:16. > :26:22.persona to deliver global success. But he fears he's sold his soul
:26:23. > :26:27.in the process. Could the same thing really
:26:28. > :26:31.happen to theatre in Soho? Or is clinging onto the area's
:26:32. > :26:34.renowned creative credibility You're going to get something you're
:26:35. > :26:42.never going to change, it's going to My greatest hope is that, you know,
:26:43. > :26:46.we can sort this out I mean it's a bit like saving
:26:47. > :26:51.the tiger, it's a bit late Having less places like
:26:52. > :26:55.Madame Jo Jo's doesn't help the security of people who are
:26:56. > :26:59.doing things like I do. It makes it even harder,
:27:00. > :27:03.because we're kind If it was saving me then I'd be
:27:04. > :27:09.saying Save Soho, but I don't Nobody really still knows what
:27:10. > :27:14.Save Soho was trying to save. And I can tell you what it is
:27:15. > :27:17.in one word. A city is an organism
:27:18. > :27:24.and I don't think you can say, well, we've got a plan to make this,
:27:25. > :27:27.to ensure that this stays exactly as is, I don't think anyone would
:27:28. > :27:34.want it to stay exactly as it is. I think they see the value
:27:35. > :27:37.of developers being allowed to do whatever they want rather than
:27:38. > :27:40.the value of the community. Everything that is quaint
:27:41. > :27:42.and interesting and edgy is disappearing and that would leave us
:27:43. > :27:49.a rather antiseptic London. A lot is talked now
:27:50. > :27:52.about those parts of Soho, you know, being lost now and going
:27:53. > :27:55.and that's true and that's a shame. But, the story's not over yet
:27:56. > :27:59.- do you know what I mean? While it's curtain up again at the
:28:00. > :28:18.Soho Theatre, can the unique area around it, the heartland of British
:28:19. > :28:24.theatre really change forever? And if so, what will the future Soho
:28:25. > :29:07.look like? Hello, I'm here with
:29:08. > :29:09.your 90 second update. Russia should be banned
:29:10. > :29:10.from athletics competitions The call from the
:29:11. > :29:13.World Anti-Doping Agency. In a devastating report it says
:29:14. > :29:15.London 2012 was sabotaged by cheats and attacks the governing
:29:16. > :29:19.body for being too lax. They believe the world's climate is
:29:20. > :29:28.entering unchartered territory David Cameron says he is deadly
:29:29. > :29:33.serious about leaving the European Union,
:29:34. > :29:35.if he can't get a better deal. He got heckled during
:29:36. > :29:39.his speech to business leaders. Robert Fidler built this mock Tudor
:29:40. > :29:42.castle without planning permission, kept it hidden behind bails
:29:43. > :29:45.of straw for years and refused to Today a judge told
:29:46. > :29:49.the Surrey farmer he'd be jailed A shock for diners at a Mississippi
:29:50. > :29:54.restaurant. A huge hole swallowed up cars parked
:29:55. > :29:58.outside while they were