On December 1, Britain's first purpose-built theatre for children was opened and I was lucky enough to MC a kind of curtain-raiser show. It was a way of saying to all the money-bags who had helped finance the place and I was introducing John Hegley, Adrian Mitchell, Jan Blake, and Amina Khayyam. The artistic director is Tony Graham and he finished off the occasion.
It's taken 45 years to get to this point, the Unicorn having started out as a roadshow inspired by a kids theatre fanatic, Caryl Jenner. They were housed for many years in a the Arts Theatre, just off Charing Cross Road, and then, while this new theatre was being built, in a temporary outfit called the Pleasance, in Islington.
I got a bit of a rise out of Tony in the compere-ing about this time in the Pleasance, because you could never find the place. It was stuck somewhere between two factories on an industrial estate near Pentonville Prison!
Anyway, great occasion, wonderful place - and the theatre itself beautifully designed, with all the audience really near to the stage. Get down there quick, quick, quick!
It's on Tooley Street, which is very close to London Bridge Station. If you know where the London Dungeon is, then all you have to do is carry on walking down Tooley Street for about another fifty yards and there it is, on the other side of the road.
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