The newly established The Vertical Theatre Group announced, on January 29th 2021, the launch of The Vertical Theatre, a vision for a ‘future-proof’ live performance venue.
This new innovative, tourable, free-standing venue is designed to help guarantee the new future of live entertainment. The Vertical Theatre Group is optimistic that the venue, which allows for social distancing, will be ready to roll-out later this year with the ambition to have multiple Vertical Theatre venues around the world in due course, to give a much-needed boost to the struggling live entertainment industry. The Vertical Theatre Group has begun initial discussions with potential partners and are open to conversations from further partners to realise its vision.
The Vertical Theatre is a new kind of performance space that could be used by all levels of the live entertainment world – from theatre and festivals to global artist tours as well as comedy, circus, and televised events.
The freestanding tourable structure has a roof to protect the audience and stage from the elements, with optional open sides to allow for optimum airflow and natural ventilation. The audience sits in balconies which can accommodate groups between 4-12 people or designated ‘social bubbles’.
The Vertical Theatre is modular in size and has the capacity for 1,200 to 2,400 people (depending on social distancing rules). The venue has the capability to include built-in global streaming capacity and features innovative F&B facilities. Conceived with social distancing and decentralisation of audiences in mind, the Vertical Theatre also creates a space that is fully adaptable for when Covid-19 restrictions are a thing of the past.
In August 2020, led by Stufish Entertainment Architects, a group of producers, creatives and technical specialists gathered to work towards a new design of venues that would allow for live performances now, with social distancing restrictions in place, as well as into the future. The Vertical Theatre Group founders are Stufish Entertainment Architects represented by Ric Lipson and Paul Preston; live events and documentary producer Holly Gilliam; theatre producer Katy Lipson; production director Jake Berry; and director and Digital Theatre founder Robert Delamere. Their main goal was to provide a commercially viable space for live entertainment now, in a world of social distancing.
The Vertical Theatre Group founders, commented:
“We are devoted to the vital importance of arts and culture. We believe they are an essential part of human experience, of what makes us who we are. We are very excited to be able to bring this innovative new venue offering to the live entertainment world at this pivotal moment for the future of the arts.’’
Ric Lipson, entertainment Architect and partner at Stufish, commented: “Creativity defines all the artists and partners we work with. At Stufish, we were excited to see what a new type of cross arts collaboration could produce, as we build a new vision for the future of live entertainment – The Vertical Theatre.”
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