GLASGOW’S Gorbals Street has long hosted the hottest theatre tickets in town. Never more so than in 1973 when The Close Theatre burnt down, not a decade after its opening.
Intended to subdue dissatisfaction with its parent theatre The Citizens’s inability to turnaround a large number of fresh plays, The Close Theatre was established in 1964 as the home of niche. Here was potential to tease out new talents in acting, writing and directing, whilst complementing more populist output from The Citizens’.
As always with avant-garde experimentation, controversy was an often, juicy potential.
One particularly provocative 1965 performance of Doctor Faustus, featuring a mask of the Queen’s face and Faustus reimagined as atomic scientist Robert Oppenheimer, came to an abrupt ending on its opening night when a fierce debate erupted in the audience as to whether the play should be allowed to continue.
A cultural landmark in its brief lifetime, The Close Theatre was also home to Glasgow’s first unofficial gay bar and held the (dubious) honour of being the only place in the city to serve drink on a Sunday.
On top of these tributes, modern-day A-listers Steven Berkoff, David Hayman and Billy Connolly can all be termed graduates of The Close, having worked there in their youth.
At the time of the fire, The Close came to a…close having successfully injected new life into Scottish theatre. Even if it didn’t quite match Bingo at The Palace for drama.
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