2011-2014: The White Bear
The Wardrobe Theatre was established in May 2011 by a group of like-minded Bristol artists wanting to create an alternative arts space that actively supported and showcased emerging creativity and theatre from the city. Co-founded by Chris Collier, Jesse Meadows and Jesse Jones and supported by a large community of other theatre-makers and creatives (with special thanks to Tom Brennan, Harriet de Winton, Emily Greenslade and James Newton), together we converted a disused storeroom and created a pop-up theatre above The White Bear pub on St Michael’s Hill (today called The Room Above). The space had a rough capacity of 50, it was ran purely on a volunteer basis and for 4 years all tickets were £5 or less.
It was a space for us and creatives in Bristol to experiment, learn and grow together, giving theatre-makers and artists a platform who would otherwise never get a chance to have their work seen, with no upfront hire fees. Some of the experiments that started in this room are still running today, including Closer Each Day, an improvised soap opera that has performed at The Wardrobe Theatre fortnightly for over 13 years and our alternative comedy Christmas shows that have grown every year to be a festive staple of many people’s calendars. The venue pulsed with energy and invention and was the sort of new space Bristol’s thriving theatre scene deserved, and at the end of every season we would throw a party!
A note on The Wardrobe Ensemble: Although The Wardrobe Theatre was co-founded and supported hugely in the early years by some members of Bristol theatre company, The Wardrobe Ensemble, we are entirely seperate organisations. That said, The Wardrobe Ensemble and The Wardrobe Theatre have many shared values and ethos to theatre-making and so we often collaborate on shows together and remain vocal champions for eachother’s work.
2015: Operation Migration
What was supposed to be a temporary pop-up theatre quickly turned into 4 years and a sense we had outgrown the space. In response to demand from audiences, artists, partner organisations and festivals, we decided to leave The White Bear and pooled all our resources and fundraised to build a brand new arts space for Bristol in the Old Market area of the city. Over 4 months we renovated an old bank and cabaret club to create the new Wardrobe Theatre, pulling favours from every contact we had amassed over the past 4 years, designed and project led by Chris Collier, Madeleine Girling and Holly Pigott.
On 1st December 2015 we opened our existing home in Old Market, a new venue with doubling the capacity and starting our partnership with The Old Market Assembly.
Special thanks to those that pitched in, advised and helped during our move to Old Market in 2015 to: Chris Askew, Anita Assadullah, John Bradley, Tom Brennan, Rachel Buchanan, Jim Brown, Lori Campbell, Megan Clark-Bagnell, Hazel Collier, Steve Collier, Liesel Corp, Jay Costello, Miranda Cromwell, Andrew Cross, Rosemary Cross, Simon Day, Lottie Donovan, Jack Drewry, Ann Finch, Adam Fuller, Arthur Girling, Laurie Girling, Madeleine Girling, Ben Goodman, Marcus Grant, Matt Graham, Emily Greenslade, Russell Hancock, Anna Harpin, Paul Harrison, Ellen Havard, Steve Hawes, Felix Hayes, Andy Hazell, Margaret Hickman, Harry Humberstone, Simon Inch, Rachel Isaacs, Jesse Jones, Emma Keaveney-Roys, Katie Keeler, Andy Kelly, Hal Kelly, Stephanie Kempson, James Kent, Jason King, Andrew Kingston, Alice Lamb, Matthew Lister, David Lockwood, Josh Lucas, Vicky Meadows, Meghan McKay, James Newton, Jack Offord, Natalie Parsons, Ed Patrick, Darren Perry, Holly Pigott, Lewis Prescott, Dave Ravenscroft, Ali Robertson, Ruby Spencer, Laurie Stansfield, Philippa Thomas, Rob Thumpston, Marion, Tucker, Mark Tucker, Sean Warman, Owen Wassell, Ellen Wilkinson, Harvey Williams, Bob Yates-Tily and all those who contributed during our fundraising events. Also thanks to those that donated during our move to Old Market.
2015-2024: Old Market
This space has been our home for nearly 9 years now, sharing a building with the wonderful pub/café/restaurant/events space of The Old Market Assembly which acts as our front of house. In that time we’ve continually grown, each year becoming bigger, better and professionalised step-by-step working with more and more artists, performers and theatre companies and reaching greater and greater audience numbers. In 2017 we formed a board of trustees, in 2018 we became a registered charity, 2020-2021 we navigated covid-19 and 2022 was our first time applying to join Arts Council England’s National Portfolio of Organisations. Our reach has grown immensely in recent years and The Wardrobe Theatre is now highly valued nationally and locally as a key player in Bristol’s cultural ecology.