Arcola Theatre Reviews

Small, intimate and so different! Such a nice experience!! Highly recommend to go and see!!

Great local/national theatre with 3 small stages to see intimate performances. Book in advance or just come in last minute and see what show has free tickets. Absolute highlight was Patrick Marmion's adaptation of Will Self's Great Apes. Also The Divided Laing and Grimeborn, the annual series of contemporary opera.

The arcola bar is relaxed, affordable and frequented by local artists and performers.

Fantastic theatre in east London with a nice bar/cafe.

An incredibly good underground (both literally and figuratively) venue. We watched a 2-hour production, no break, alongside with the rest of the audience, being pretty tightly packed. Despite of this - or partially because of it, probably - I am still amazed by the high-quality production Arcola have managed to put together. Highly recommended.

Went in for a late night drink. Didn't see a show. All seemed ok

Saw 'Keith' which was amazing. Great seats, fab setting for a fringe theatre.

Surprising place buzzing with creativity. It's on the original side of different.

Small theatre that makes you feel like part of the cast. Went to see Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives. It was brilliant!

A great Arts House. I saw the Swing Sister Show. It was great.

It's a great place to visit and the shows are superb

Good drink prices, interesting venue with fascinating productions. Only issue is with the non-existent queuing system for Studio 2..

Great performance, small theatre and mixed reception from staff.

Great local London theatre. Go and see something worth seeing.

I d definitely recommend this little and cozy theatre. Great productions and plays all year round. Last weekend went to see Cutting Edge .

Staff are great
Nice bar

A sociable venue, good theatre and fine performance.

Cool theatre. Great bar and really enjoyed The Plague.

Wonderful space for creativity or just a catch up with mates over a drink a a slice of cake at the bar or cafe area... I went to see the play The Secret Lives Of Baba Segi's Wives. Asides from enjoying the play, it was a great intimate space. Be careful though not to get a balcony seat. Depending on how the stage is set up, this could block quite a bit if your view... It's also interesting to know that if you attend on a Tuesday, they offer 20 tickets to people who can offer what they think the ticket is worth... I personally find this to be amazing for people who do not have means to fund theater life, and enables them to enjoy just as much as everyone else. London is crazy expensive after all. So it's wonderful to find local businesses being inclusive to all who enjoy the arts. Great space. Will definitely go again.

Fantastic intimate theatre, seen a few memorable shows here, nice bar with a good atmosphere

Lovely intimate space for viewing theatre. Steeped seating so no worries about heads in the way. You are really up close with the actors (at least in the studio I visited). Saw a great show by International drama students. Nice to see a space like the Arcola being used in this way.

Bit slapdash, but lovely people. Nice bar, some good pieces of theatre!

Yesterday's matinee was our first visit to the Arcola, to see Maxine Peake's 'Beryl', and we were not disappointed. Though the venue was small, this lively production tells trailblazer Beryl's story with passion and humour. Hard to imagine, if you weren't there, that the cast spent much of their time acting while peddling away frantically on vintage racing bikes. Thoroughly entertaining.
There's also a large bar with plenty of seating that didn't seem too highly priced.
Now we know it's there we will probably return.

Went to see the play "Beryl" telling the story of the cyclist Beryl Barton. It was a great production ticking all the boxes including humour, emotion and great story telling. The theatre ( studio 2) is small and so it is an intimate experience with the cast only a few feet away. All in all a lovely evening at a trendy and friendly small theatre.

Never get tired of theatre trips to this cute but cutting edge spot! Love the Arcola!

Amazing performance of Julian Spooner in Mistero Buffo: as intense as James McAvoy in Macbeth at Trafalgar Studios. Mesmerising

Brilliant performance...seats are a little cramped and it was very hot inside.

Das Rheingold was MAGNIFICENT. Thank you Arcola for Grimborn

Thumbs up for the bar inside the theatre - cozy place with great food and beers

I've watched #WeArearrested - a great and moving play and greatly liked tbe friendliness of the staff, the venue itself as well as the intensity of the play.

Been here numerous times, a lovely little theatre with some memorable performances and intimate atmosphere. Highly frustrated however that it appears impossible to book tickets in a Safari browser! Surely it makes more sense to address this issue than write a message on the booking page with convoluted instructions on changing your browser settings, considering how many bookings in 2019 will be attempted on smartphones/laptops of a certain brand? Sadly that's me lost as a customer and I will miss Until the Flood, ah well.

Love theatre? Love new writing? Arcola is the place for you.

Always an interesting selection of shows with often some stunning shows picked up after Edunburgh. Can be a little hot in the theatre.

Incredible supportive culture and really interesting programming always.

Very cool venue, had a go at a swing dancing class they did and it was very fun

Had a fab afternoon watching my great nieces in little miss sunshine.

One of London's finest fringe theatres with a varied schedule of productions

A wonderfully modern and ethical, green space for the arts. Their theatre programming is really interesting, most recently having the stage version of dark silent movie The Cabinet of Dr Caligari. They also run a brilliant ticket scheme called Pay What You Can Tuesdays - it does what it says on the tin. You turn up when the box office opens and pay what you can afford to see what's on at the theatre. A great idea for those who love theatre but are on a budget or for newbies exploring the stage. Since the expansion of the bar, the drinks menu has also expanded and the area to chill out in during the interval is both spacious and cosy at the same time. Take a warm jumper into the theatre during Winter months - it gets very cold. #Irishtini

Saw an absolutely fantastic performance of 'The Fishermen'. Lovely venue. Staff very friendly and helpful.

Friendly and welcoming staff. The theatre is rather unique being so intimate and small but unfortunately it feels crammed at times and it can get too warm. Also, another unfortunate is that it smells like an old beatten down pub where everyone has spilt their cheap booze. It just makes the whole atmosphere a bit stomach churning.

Lovely little theatre, well hidden and intimate so you get to be up close and personal with the actors

great little fringe theatre for off west end productions. love the bar too

A real gem of a theatre. Intimate and modern, with a great bar attached. Friendly staff. Located just next to the station.

I went to see the secret lives of Baba Segj's wife. The play was awesome and the theatre is small and intimate so the actors can look up and address you.

I loved watching Holes in July and August. Arcola Theatre was wonderful to go to

Good IPA at a decent price! Really enjoyed the unique Mistero Buffo in the intimate and cosy theatre :)

Arcola Theatre is a well hidden little theatre with small auditoriums which give you the opportunity to be really close to the act, gry genuinely emerged in the play and experience theatre like you never have done before. I genuinely prefer this stage to some other more expensive West End theatres.

I liked the theatre. The play was very professionally offered by very good actors, but 'Keith" is rather packed with mildly funny insider jokes for those with a liberal arts degree, and was a bit self indulgent for me. The audience seemd to have quite a few theatre critic types in, doing their best to guffaw at the rather over worked jokes about famous philosophers. It had some true technical and artistic merit but was too patently self comgratulatory to be a real hit. Liked the venue and small theatre atmosphere.

Beautiful cosy place for locals to meet up and share a bite before the theatre or simply to chill on their bar. What i like about the place is that is laid back and holds some interesting nights. Check it out if you are in Hackney

The environment is terrible. The building is misplaced in the wrong street. Overall a great place. No WiFi very warm inside. Poor customer service. But would recommend to visit once in a lifetime.

Saw couple of amazing performances here and they have a great jazz night on Fridays, lovely place to hangout with friends!!

Awesome theatre with an artsy East London vibe. Lots of exposed brickwork

Very nice and cozy theater, saw a Turkish play there

Theatre and opera for people, and you're practically on stage with the performers

Went to see The Canary and the Crow! What an excellent performance!

Specialises in divisive modern drama in a really cool space that always has a million things going on. Friendly atmosphere, nice blackbox spaces, decently priced bar. They're also great for creative meetups such as new writing.

I love this theatre, there is always something interesting on! On his birthday, I gave my boyfriend a passport for 5 shows. It's very good value.

Cosy place to have a drink. Free jazz band on Friday nights.

Old paint brush factory converted into informal arts centre cum theatre and bar. Live music nights too. Saw a powerful play about the Chinese involvement in ww1

Great venue, great inesxpensive night out if you want to see some really good theatre and meet up with friends. The time waiting at the bar is not great though!

My wife and I went to a play here on September 26th. The play was fantastic Mrs. Galloway was a real highlight to our vacation. The Bartender was also excellent. Can t remember his name but we thought he was just grand.

Great small theatre with bar - so you can meet cast and writers at the end of the play :)