Award for pub theatre in honour of Crawford

Published Tuesday 2 August 2005 at 15:55 by Alistair Smith

Dan Crawford, the late founder and artistic director of the King’s Head Theatre in north London, will be remembered with a new award for pub-based venues.

The Dan Crawford Pub Theatre Award, which will be presented at this year’s Empty Space… Peter Brook Awards, is open to venues nationwide, with the winner decided by a panel of theatre critics. It will join the Mark Marvin Rent Subsidy Award, which helps companies mount their work in London fringe and studio theatres, and the Peter Brook Award for Fringe Theatre at the ceremony on November 15. The closing date for submissions for all three categories is September 15.

Blanche Marvin, founder of the awards, commented: “I knew Dan for forty years, so his death was very disturbing for me. He launched the first pub theatre and I want to keep his name alive.

“The award will also highlight the current situation for pub theatre. When they first opened up, many pub theatres were paying peppercorn rents. Some of those rents have more than doubled now. This award is aimed to help those theatres survive.”

Crawford died after a long battle with cancer on July 13. He is thought of by many as the father of London’s fringe theatre scene. Under Crawford, the King’s Head Theatre, launched in 1970, won numerous awards and has transferred more than 30 productions to the West End.

At the turn of the decade he fought tirelessly to save the theatre he had spent most of his life building up after its regular funding was withdrawn. In an interview with The Stage in May, he revealed it needed to generate £3,000 a week to continue to operate.

Prize money for the new award will be between £1,000 and £2,000 and will be given each year to a different organisation that displays both a high quality of work and the potential to improve. Applicants for this award should contact Blanche Marvin direct, while those submitting entries for the Mark Marvin Rent Subsidy Award should apply to the Society of London Theatre.