The Lost Library of Leake Street – The Glitch, London

A relaunched space from VAULT Creative Arts opens with a tale of Christmas magic, The Lost Library of Leake Street.

Reimagining VAULT: The Glitch

The announcement earlier this year that VAULT Festival would not go ahead as it had not secured the necessary funding was a blow to London’s theatre scene. I came late to the VAULT Festival party and only experienced it in what turned out to be its final year, but even then I could see that it was something special. For theatre makers it was a great opportunity to develop works in a vibrant and creative environment. For audiences, it was a chance to see an enormous variety of works in an ultra cool space right in the heart of central London.

But if the work under discussion today has taught me anything, it’s that things do change but that’s OK. VAULT Festival doesn’t exist any more in that format. But VAULT Creative Arts have instead come up with The Glitch, a multi-purpose space on Lower Marsh. The Glitch is a welcoming cafe, lively bar, and performance space. It’s recently been relaunched after some work to adapt the flexible, in the round performance space to allow more seating, and The Lost Library of Leake Street is the inaugural performance in this incarnation. The idea is that the spirit of VAULT Festival will live on in multiple nightly performances, a win-win financial model for venue and theatremakers, and a flexible approach to ticketing. The only thing that’s not possible is full accessibility, as the performance space is in a basement with no lift.

The opening of The Glitch had somehow passed me by. But luckily the Salterton Arts Review has equally culturally curious friends, one of whom suggested checking it out. Read on to find out more about The Glitch’s opening Christmas show.

The Lost Library of Leake Street (and a Small Aside)

With only one version of A Christmas Carol under my belt this year, I still had a Christmas itch to scratch. And The Lost Library of Leake Street fit the bill perfectly. It is a work written and directed by The Glitch’s new Artistic Director Oli Savage. He specialises in site-specific theatre, and a previous iteration of this work was fitted to a first home in Spitalfields Market.

This time it’s Leake Street where we meet Isla (Ronay Poole reprising the role). It’s been a tough year, and she’s looking for a gift for her mum. She comes across a peculiar kind of shop which isn’t a shop at all. Maximillian Crisp (Daniel Copeland) explains that it’s actually a library, in which each object is imbued with a story. You can’t buy the things you see around you, but you might be able to trade them for a story of your own.

Firstly I’m going to make a quick aside. I’ve written a few times on the blog about museologist Peter van Mensch and his model of ‘the object as data carrier’. It’s the idea that (museum) objects carry different types of information. About their materials and creation, their purpose and function, and also the stories associated with them. The latter aren’t visible, but I guess are sort of psychically linked to the objects or carefully recorded and archived, depending on how you look at it. This play, in which a tin can holds the story of a fresh start, or a key a tale of trust and love lost, is basically an embodiment of this idea. Takes me back to the days of my Masters course!

Back to the Play

Anyway, I digress. Savage captures something of the conversational and ebullient storytelling style of Charles Dickens himself. Isla and Maximillian are, in good Christmas tale fashion, just what the other needs. The human connection is sweet and genuine, and I’m sure everyone left The Glitch feeling cheered. The fact that it can continue to develop as a site-specific work opens up nice possibilities. I wonder if there’s a way to provoke audience members to think about their own stories, perhaps using some of the prop items?

Ronay Poole is great as a guarded but ultimately curious teenager. Daniel Copeland is a great bit of casting for this second iteration of the play. He so completely embodies the different characters in his stories that we feel a bit of the magic.

It’s basically my dream to find a magical place on the eve of Christmas, so it was always a good bet I was going to enjoy The Lost Library of Leake Street. I’m pleased it lived up to my expectations. It’s a good way to get audiences into The Glitch and continue the VAULT Festival legacy in a new format. So Christmas lovers should get themselves down there, and perhaps enjoy The Glitch’s other offerings of food and entertainment upstairs at the cafe/bar.

Salterton Arts Review’s rating: 4/5

The Lost Library of Leake Street on until 22 December 2024