RIVERSIDE STUDIOS LOOKS AHEAD TO 45TH ANNIVERSARY YEAR WITH FUNDING CAMPAIGN – RALLY FOR RIVERSIDE

2023 marks the 45th Anniversary of Riverside Studios being established as an arts centre, and its 40th Anniversary as a charity. Creative Director Rachel Tackley, Executive Director Tony Lankester and the whole team at the West London venue are pleased to announce details of further shows now on sale for the spring, as well as a brand-new fundraising campaign – Rally for Riverside.

Rally for Riverside aims to raise £500k during the anniversary year to support their artistic, community and heritage programmes. To kick things off, The Winter Auction offers donors a huge range of potential ‘money can’t buy’ prizes and experiences, ranging from a personalised video message from George Mackay, a pair of Eddie Izzard’s signed trainers, a year’s-worth of cinema tickets to a private rowing lesson on the Thames.

Tony Lankester said “This anniversary falls at a critical time for Riverside and, indeed, everyone in the arts. The cost-of-living crisis, the ongoing impact of covid and the recent tranche of cuts across the sector means that we all need to rally behind the arts and, of course, for Riverside.”

Creative Director Rachel Tackley said, “The first season at Riverside Studios in January 1978 began with Peter Gill’s version of The Cherry Orchard. Peter said that he deliberately chose this as his opening production, because he thought that would be a thing people would least expect a ‘community arts centre’ to do. Our anniversary year is going to see us, 45 years later, continuing to push the envelope, stretch expectations and take you by surprise!”

With the recently announced hit musical WINNIE THE POOH taking centre stage in the Spring of the anniversary year (Friday 17 March – Sunday 21 May), Riverside are pleased to announce that other shows on sale now include CIRQUE BERZERK (Thursday 9 February – Sunday 11 March), WE DIDN’T COME TO HELL FOR THE CROISSANTS (Tuesday 17 January – Sunday 5 February), SWEAT (Tuesday 28 February – Wednesday 8 March) and with more to follow.

Presented by Rockefeller Productions, in partnership with ROYO, and in association with Disney Theatrical Productions, WINNIE THE POOH comes to Riverside Studios after record-breaking premieres in New York and Chicago. Told with stunning life-sized puppetry through the eyes of the characters we all know and love, WINNE THE POOH features the Sherman Brothers’ classic Grammy Award-winning music with further songs by the beloved A.A. Milne.

Presented by Zippos, CIRQUE BERSERK is Britain’s biggest and boldest theatre-circus spectacular. Combining beautiful contemporary circus artistry with hair-raising, death-defying stunts, all designed specially for staging in a theatre, the show is guaranteed to thrill audiences from 5 to 95!

The cult hit WE DIDN’T COME TO HELL FOR THE CROISSANTS has been performed hundreds of times around the world. In it seven stories by seven renowned South African writers are consummately told and illustrated, running the gamut from orgiastic sex to death to cats with trust funds and everything in between.
Inspired by real stories of Migrants living in the UK from Romania, Slovakia, the Czech republic, Iran, Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan, Cameroon and Sudan, SWEAT / NĂDUȘEALĂ is an exercise in solidarity and resistance.