A tale of two buildings: Brixton House theatre and the Hondo Tower
“People ask what it is,” says Gbolahan Obisesan, artistic director of Brixton House theatre, “and then they’re pleased that it’s not an office block.” A passerby does just that, as I stand outside the building’s dark metallic exterior. Such reactions are symptomatic of the current politics of development in Brixton, where some residents see new buildings as the means by which new money pushes out uses essential to established communities. The theatre, though, offers a way round such issues – it proposes a way of investing in the area that, in theory, could benefit everyone.
Brixton House is the reincarnation of , Ovalhouse, known for its pioneering fringe productions since the 1960s; a place that nurtured talents including Tamsin Greig, Pierce Brosnan, David Hare and Salman Rushdie, and an early supporter of gay, lesbian and women’s theatre. Ovalhouse strove to connect community,
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