Category Archives: Ashcroft Theatre

Fairfield Halls offers some Easter movie magic for just £2

Posted on March 3, 2023 by insidecroydon

A money-saving cinema club, offering films on the big screen for just £2 per ticket, is coming to the Fairfield Halls this Easter, as the borough’s arts centre looks to offer fun and entertainment on a budget for hard-pressed Croydon … Continue reading →

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Younger Generation open auditions, Purley, Feb 26, Mar 26

Posted on February 17, 2023 by insidecroydon

Younger Generation, the charity theatre group for nine- to 18-year-olds who enjoy performing have two open audition dates coming up. The auditions could lead to the youngsters becoming part of the cast for a show to be performed at the … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Ashcroft Theatre, Dance, Fairfield Halls, Music, Purley | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Troup is making a song and dance of its return to the Ashcroft

Posted on November 28, 2022 by insidecroydon

The Younger Generation Theatre Group is seeking new members to join its cast for its upcoming shows. YG couldn’t perform during the pandemic years and according to one of their organisers, “During that time a lot of our core cast … Continue reading →

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Turmoil at Fairfield Halls as operating company suffers exodus

Posted on November 1, 2022 by insidecroydon

Our culture correspondent, BELLA BARTOCK, on changing times at the council-owned arts centre, and a diamond anniversary that has been forgotten by the council There’s yet more turmoil behind the scenes at the Fairfield Halls, where the chief executive and … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Ashcroft Theatre, BH Live, Borough of Culture 2023, Business, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, Jon Workman, Mayor Jason Perry, Music, The Wreck, Theatre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Help preserve the memory of Bird’s Ashcroft Theatre mural

Posted on October 10, 2022 by insidecroydon

The three-year closure of the Fairfield Halls, supposedly for “refurbishment”, is widely thought to have led to the loss of several artworks that previously graced the buildings, in an act of cultural vandalism from which the borough’s artistic reputation might … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Ashcroft Theatre, Fairfield Halls, Theatre | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

iC supporters win tickets for Twopence To Cross The Mersey

Posted on October 4, 2022 by insidecroydon

Congratulations to loyal readers Ethel Corduff and Angus Hewlett, who will be going to the theatre next week accompanied by a friend or partner, all thanks to Inside Croydon. Ethel and Angus both answered the (very) simple question posed in … Continue reading →

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WIN!!! Exclusive competition: Twopence To Cross The Mersey

Posted on September 23, 2022 by insidecroydon

Inside Croydon is delighted to offer our loyal readers the chance to see a new theatre production coming to the Fairfield Halls next month: the play  Twopence To Cross The Mersey. We have two pairs of stalls tickets – face … Continue reading →

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Depression-era drama brings Mersey beat to Ashcroft Theatre

Posted on September 20, 2022 by insidecroydon

The first national tour of Helen Forrester’s Twopence To Cross The Mersey is coming to Croydon’s Fairfield Halls next month. The new touring production of Twopence To Cross The Mersey is produced by Rob Fennah and Lynn McDermott and directed … Continue reading →

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Mayor has weeks to save Fairfield Halls and Borough of Culture

Posted on June 2, 2022 by insidecroydon

It is symptomatic of BHLive’s lack of real connection with the borough in which they are supposed to manage its largest arts venue that they chose the day of the Croydon local election results to make the announcement of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Ashcroft Theatre, BH Live, Borough of Culture 2023, Brick by Brick, Business, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, Jo Negrini, Mayor Jason Perry, Mayor of London, Neil Chandler, Paula Murray, Sadiq Khan, The Wreck, Theatre, Tony Newman, Val Shawcross | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Bafta-winner Scanlan joins calls for new bosses at arts centre

Posted on April 26, 2022 by insidecroydon

‘Things are far from perfick at the Fairfield ‘Alls’ says the award-winning actress who plays Ma Larkin, as the campaign to sack BHLive gathers momentum. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Joanna Scanlan, the BAFTA award-winning actress, has called on Croydon Council … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022 Croydon Mayor election, Art, Ashcroft Theatre, BH Live, Borough of Culture 2023, Fairfield Halls, Music, The Wreck, Theatre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Council ignored £5m offer to revive Fairfield’s reputation

Posted on April 22, 2022 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Moves to take the management of the troubled arts centre out of the hands of Bournemouth-based BHLive are being resisted by Labour politicians. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Senior officials and the Labour cabinet member in charge of … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022 Croydon Mayor election, Art, Ashcroft Theatre, BH Live, Borough of Culture 2023, Brick by Brick, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, Jo Negrini, Music, Neil Chandler, Oliver Lewis, Paula Murray, Shifa Mustafa, Theatre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Choir demands compensation over BHLive’s Fairfield shambles

Posted on April 20, 2022 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: BHLive, the under-fire operators of the council-owned arts complex, have been accused of costing one of the borough’s top arts groups thousands of pounds because of their poor management of the prestige venue. By our arts correspondent, … Continue reading →

Posted in Andrew Pelling, Art, Ashcroft Theatre, BH Live, Croydon Philharmonic Choir, Fairfield Halls, Music, Oliver Lewis, Theatre, Val Shawcross | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

A night at the comic opera: from sublime to the ridiculous

Posted on April 5, 2022 by insidecroydon

Box office closed, bar closed, bistro closed and toilets closed… KEN TOWL went along to see what the Fairfield Halls experience is like these days, and with a box seat (pictured left) he managed to last longer than the Mayor … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Ashcroft Theatre, BH Live, Croydon Philharmonic Choir, Fairfield Halls, Ken Towl, Music | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

The grand scandal at the centre of Fairfield’s absurd saga

Posted on April 3, 2022 by insidecroydon

Arts correspondent BELLA BARTOCK solves the mystery of the vanishing grand pianos, and discovers more scandal at the council-owned arts venue The Fairfield Halls, following its shambolic and costly refurbishment, is now an arts centre without an art gallery, with … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Ashcroft Theatre, BH Live, Borough of Culture 2023, Croydon Philharmonic Choir, Fairfield Halls, Music, The Wreck | Tagged , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

£67m arts centre – with no art gallery and few performances

Posted on March 31, 2022 by insidecroydon

EXCLUSIVE: The Fairfield Halls fiasco gets worse by the day, with Bournemouth-based venue operators BHLive staging shows on just 24% of available dates. Croydon is supposed to be London’s ‘Borough of Culture’ in 2023… By STEVEN DOWNES Croydon is London’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Alison Butler, Arnhem Gallery, Art, Ashcroft Theatre, BH Live, Borough of Culture 2023, Business, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, Hamida Ali, Mayor of London, Neil Chandler, Oliver Lewis, RIPI II: Fairfield Halls, Sadiq Khan, Talawa Theatre Company, The Wreck, Theatre, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Dick and Dom do the Fairfield panto: which one’s the Beast?

Posted on December 3, 2021 by insidecroydon

Rehearsals are well underway for this year’s Croydon pantomime at the Fairfield Halls, with the curtain going up next Friday at the Ashcroft Theatre on Imagine Theatre’s glittering production of Beauty and The Beast, starring Dick and Dom… though no … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Ashcroft Theatre, Comedy, Fairfield Halls, Theatre | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Council to be rocked by second Report In The Public Interest

Posted on November 26, 2021 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: The £70m ‘Fairfield fiasco’ has provoked serious concerns with auditors over the potential misuse of public money, with bungling developers Brick by Brick under scrutiny. EXCLUSIVE By STEVEN DOWNES External auditors are to issue a Report In … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Ashcroft Theatre, Brick by Brick, Business, Colm Lacey, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, Hamida Ali, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Paula Murray, Report in the Public Interest, Richard Ennis, RIPI II: Fairfield Halls, Sean Fitzsimons, Shifa Mustafa, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

BHLive’s business losses hit Fairfield Halls’ arts programme

Posted on October 22, 2021 by insidecroydon

The lack of activity in and around the Fairfield Halls and the return to the “bad old days” of tired programming dominated by derivative tribute acts and all-star wrestling is all because not enough people in Dorset are paying for … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Ashcroft Theatre, BH Live, Business, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

‘The damage to the Fairfield Halls reputation is severe’

Posted on September 9, 2021 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: While the cash-strapped council remains preoccupied with its finances, the once prestigious arts centre on the other side of Park Lane risks sliding towards cultural oblivion. By our arts correspondent, BELLA BARTOCK There are growing concerns that … Continue reading →

Posted in Arnhem Gallery, Art, Ashcroft Theatre, BH Live, Borough of Culture 2023, Business, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, GLL - Better, Mayor of London, Neil Chandler, Oliver Lewis, Paula Murray, Sadiq Khan, The Wreck, Theatre, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Now top art critic warns: ‘Somebody is going to wind up in jail’

Posted on August 30, 2021 by insidecroydon

One of the country’s leading art critics, Norman Lebrecht, has today weighed in to the gathering storm around the £70million Fairfield Halls fiasco, warning that, “Somebody is going to wind up in jail” over what he calls the “chaotic rebuilding” … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Ashcroft Theatre, Brick by Brick, Fairfield Halls, Music | Tagged , , , , | 14 Comments

Council has no answers over missing Fairfield Halls sculpture

Posted on August 29, 2021 by insidecroydon

Croydon’s crass council has been accused of another act of cultural vandalism, after “losing” a significant piece of mid-century street art from the site alongside the “award-winning” (try not to laugh) Fairfield Halls. The art installation, in a modernist, geometric … Continue reading →

Posted in Arnhem Gallery, Art, Ashcroft Theatre, Borough of Culture 2023, Brick by Brick, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, Oliver Lewis, The Wreck | Tagged , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

It’s time to put back the Sparks into Croydon’s Fairfield Halls

Posted on August 13, 2021 by insidecroydon

For £70m, the Fairfield Halls should be offering a lot more for the community, says KEN TOWL If the Fairfield Halls disappoint, and they do, over and over, it is because they have a lot to live up to. Through … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Ashcroft Theatre, BH Live, Borough of Culture 2023, Fairfield Halls, Music, Savvy Theatre Company, Talawa Theatre Company | Tagged , , , , | 11 Comments

Brick by Brick failed to replace Fairfield’s 60-year-old windows

Posted on August 3, 2021 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: The ‘fiasco’ of Brick by Brick’s bungled £70m refurbishment of the arts venue gets worse, with the latest admission of failures from a cabinet member. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Ollie “Shit Show” Lewis, the council cabinet member … Continue reading →

Posted in Alison Butler, Art, Ashcroft Theatre, Brick by Brick, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, Jo Negrini, Mayor of London, Oliver Lewis, Timothy Godfrey, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Millions of questions for BHLive over Fairfield grant aid

Posted on July 29, 2021 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: It’s like nothing has ever changed at the borough’s prestigious arts centre, where tribute acts still dominate its sparse programme, while the venue operators are staying schtum about how they’re spending public money. By our arts correspondent, … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Ashcroft Theatre, BH Live, Borough of Culture 2023, Brick by Brick, Business, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, London Mozart Players, Neil Chandler, The Wreck | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Fairfield Halls’ £70m fiasco: ‘BxB didn’t know what it was doing’

Posted on July 23, 2021 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Trade newspaper The Stage has described the five-year saga of the Fairfield Halls refurbishment as a ‘catastrophic mess’ and a ‘£70m fiasco’. Now, the centre’s former artistic director has broken his silence over the bungling of Brick … Continue reading →

Posted in Arnhem Gallery, Art, Ashcroft Theatre, BH Live, Borough of Culture 2023, Fairfield Halls, Neil Chandler, Oliver Lewis, Sadiq Khan, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments