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 FRIARGATE THEATRE became the Riding Lights Theatre Company's first permanent home in 1999. At the start of this new millennium, the Company is delighted not only to have somewhere to live and rehearse, but a studio space in which, at last, it can present its latest productions regularly to the local community of York, and its many visitors.
RIDING LIGHTS is proud of its long association with the City of York, and while the Company's commitment to nationwide and international touring theatre remains strong, FRIARGATE THEATRE offers many exciting new opportunities within the local community. It is our hope that the building will become a resource, providing a context for developing new writing, for hosting visiting companies and enhancing the work of other local performing arts or educational projects.
FRIARGATE THEATRE opened to the public on Thursday 11 May, 2000 with the Company's new production of Ben Jonson's hilarious satire, THE ALCHEMIST. On Thursday 25 May, THE COMPLETE WORKS (Riding Lights' classic comedy revue show) opened, and the two productions ran until Saturday 1 July. In 2001, Friargate Theatre opened for a second summer season, this time featuring a new devised music-theatre production, Dick Turpin.
"an exhilarating comedy… a highly accessible and glittering production"
The Stage (The Alchemist)
"outstanding… director Paul Burbridge makes gold out of The Alchemist"
Yorkshire Evening Press (The Alchemist)
"simply unmissable"
The Mirror (The Alchemist)
"hilarious and deeply clever"
The Mirror (The Complete Works)
"a poe-treat… sharp as a paper cut… a joy"
Yorkshire Evening Press (The Complete Works)
Article from York Arts Arena Magazine, May 2000:
On May 11 this year, the North East's newest venue, Friargate Theatre, opened in York with a new production of Ben Jonson's classic satirical comedy, The Alchemist. Riding Lights Theatre Company, which owns Friargate Theatre, has established an enviable reputation for its national and international touring since its foundation in York in 1977, although the Company is not so well known in its home town.
"It's the nature of being a touring company," says Antony Dunn, Riding Lights' Marketing Officer, "that we're better known in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol and so on than we are in York." So will Friargate Theatre mean that Riding Lights will stop touring? "Not at all. We bought Friargate Theatre to serve our own needs, in terms of office and rehearsal space, and as a venue to preview our touring productions to our own community before they go off on the road. We're not going to get entrenched in Friargate Theatre - and there won't be productions here 52 weeks of the year - although we are very excited about being able to do occasional seasons like this opening one of The Alchemist and our own comedy revue show, The Complete Works."
Since the closure of the Arts Centre, York has felt the lack of an intimate studio theatre. Friargate Theatre is certainly intimate, with a capacity of 100, although Riding Lights has launched a fund-raising campaign which will enable the Company to extend the theatre, accommodating audiences of up to 160, and to host visiting companies and enhance the work of other local performing arts and educational projects.
Riding Lights' artistic policy is an eclectic one, as the opening season at Friargate Theatre suggests. "We've always produced a wide variety of theatre," says Antony Dunn. "Recently, we've produced a number of classics - Max Frisch's The Fire Raisers, Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale and our own adaptation of Three Men in a Boat - but we've also created a large number of new shows which have toured all over the country. But we want our audience in York to be confident that, whatever productions we decide to stage in Friargate Theatre, they'll carry the Riding Lights hallmarks of comic invention and vigorous ensemble theatre. We want this to be a place where people know they'll see dynamic, challenging, important theatre, and where they know they're going to have a really good evening out."
One of the most unusual things about Riding Lights is that it has never received public money - no Arts Council grants, no Lottery funds, and no local council arts awards. The Company is supported by a network of fans across the country (known as Members) who, between them, raised a large proportion of the money the Company needed to buy Friargate Theatre in the first place. Paul Burbridge, Riding Lights' Artistic Director; "Our Members are the people who have kept this Company afloat and alive. That's been one of the most remarkable things about the Company - that fact that it's still here after 23 years. Years in which so many other, more prestigious companies have completely gone to the wall."
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