The Almeida in The 1990s
In 1990 the Scot Ian McDiarmid and the South African Jonathan Kent took over as joint artistic directors.
Work by major playwrights, old and new, British and foreign was staged and the theatre acquired an artistic reputation comparable to the leading theatres in central London and, as noted by playwright David Hare, "it reinvented the European repertoire for London audiences and made British theatre more cosmopolitan and outward going". Organised as a non-profit producing theatre its productions regularly played to packed houses and frequently transferred to the West End (14 between 1990 and 2002) and to Broadway.
In 1993 the theatre won the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre.
One of the keys to the success and reputation of the Almeida during the 1990s were the stagings of various plays by Harold Pinter. These included revivals of Betrayal in 1991 and No Man's Land in 1992 and premières of Party Time in 1991 and Moonlight in 1993.
During their time at the theatre, McDiarmid and Kent were described by The Guardian as " Islington a centre of enlightened internationalism" and, as they were about to leave their positions in 2002, Michael Billington, in same newspaper, summed up their achievements as threefold:
"Three things have made the Almeida the most exciting theatre in Britain. First, an eclectically international programme: everything from Molière and Marivaux to Brecht and Neil LaBute. Second, top-level casting that has given us Ralph Fiennes in Hamlet and Ivanov, Kevin Spacey in The Iceman Cometh and Juliette Binoche in Naked. Third, a territorial expansion that has seen the Almeida colonise the Hackney Empire, the old Gainsborough film studios and even a converted bus depot in King's Cross".
In Audi's tradition, "Almeida Opera" continues as an annual season of modern opera, usually held in July.
Read more about this topic: Almeida Theatre