Performances

Our two theatres are newly refurbished and accessible for both audiences and performers alike. They are available for hire by professional music, theatre and dance companies, as well as for community and school productions.

Seating up to 395 people, our Pentland Theatre has options for a seated, raked auditorium or can be transformed into a flat floor space for bespoke in-the-round , promenade or cabaret theatre experiences. The Studio Theatre’s 151 seats wrap around the stage creating an intimate atmosphere suited to small scale productions.

Our Dance, Drama and Creation Spaces can accommodate up to 60 people for small scale performances and temporary performance lighting and sound options are available.

Hiring a space for a performance - FAQs

Here are some questions we're often asked about hiring our spaces for performances.

Our Box Office Team will look after ticketing for your performance. Under our standard Box Office arrangement all your tickets will be managed by artsdepot, and there is a 20% commission fee on all tickets sold or 15% for registered charities. Hirers are entitled to 20 complimentary tickets per performance for their guests.

Tickets can be booked in person or by telephone from our Box Office or online via our website. If you choose not to advertise your event on our website, online ticket sales will not be possible. As part of our environmental policy we’re trying to reduce the number of paper tickets we print and use a mobile ticketing system for events – your audience will receive their tickets via text message on the day of the show.

Included within the theatre hire fee we will create a page on our website, a presence on our Community Events digital screen and display printed A5 flyers in the venue. Any other marketing and promotion will need to be carried out by the hirer.

We apply a 20% commission fee to all Merchandise sales or 15% for registered charities. Merchandise is sold by our Visitor Services Assistants on your behalf, will be kept in a secure location and our Duty Managers carry out stock checks each day that your merchandise is on site.

We will provide a café and bardepot service to sell snacks and refreshments prior to your show and during the interval. Please ask us about post-show bar opening.

If you wish to provide your own interval refreshments a Food & Corkage charge may apply. Please contact us to discuss.

If you are using music which is under UK copyright in your performance / event then you may be liable for a payment to PRS Music (Performing Rights Society – Music). There are some exceptions so please visit the PRS website for further information https://www.prsformusic.com/

Hired events are not covered under artsdepot’s PRS License so this will be you responsibility to ensure all necessary copyright fees and permissions are in place. We can send you a form to complete and return directly to PRS.

You’re welcome to bring your own food for consumption by your staff, cast and crew. You can also pre-order catering from our Café or buy on the day. Please ask for our catering menu.

As we’re a public venue we have a duty of care to the public and therefore a strict process for selling or giving out food on site. A food charge may also apply once we have details of the food & drink you’re providing.

For items made by a professional caterer or at home you will need to provide proof of:

  • A Food Hygiene level 3 certificate
  • Public Liability insurance
  • PAT (Portable Appliance Testing) for any electrical equipment brought on site e.g., Microwave
  • All ingredients and allergens will need to be clearly labelled. This list / information must be available to any member of the public who requests it.

If items are pre-packaged and bought from commercial shops, then we will need to see a proof of purchase receipt and all items must remain in their original packaging until our Duty Manager has checked them against the matching receipts. All ingredients / allergens must be clearly displayed on the packaging or made available for the public to read if required.

Yes we can facilitate multiple performances on the same day. We need a minimum of 90 minutes between one show finishing and the next one starting.

Depending on the nature of your performance our Technical Manager may ask you to provide health & safety documentation such as:

  • Public Liability Insurance
  • Risk Assessments
  • Proof that all electrical equipment has been Portable Appliance Tested within the past 12 months.

The hiring process - FAQs

Here are some questions we're often asked about the hiring process.

Once we have confirmed room availability and suitability for your event / performance, we will send you a set-up sheet to complete. We’ll use the information you provide to create your booking contract, payment invoice and marketing if required.

If you require any assistance in completing the set-up sheet, we are more than happy to talk you through it by telephone or you can arrange an in-person meeting to complete the form. Our contact details are:

  • Fay Diliani – Hires & Events Manager
    020 8369 5471  / events@artsdepot.co.uk
  • Riva Grant – Venue Hires Assistant
    020 8369 5465 / events@artsdepot.co.uk

Yes, a member of our Hires & Events Team will be happy to arrange a viewing for you. Timings will be dependent on availability of the space you wish to hire. Due to the high volume of events taking place in our venue and limited viewing opportunities we are usually only able to offer one viewing per booking. Subsequent viewings will be arranged if possible but can’t be guaranteed.

Yes. We’ll provisionally hold your date for one month or until another hirer requires the date (whichever occurs first). After one month has passed if your date hasn’t been confirmed and we haven’t received any further communication from you then we may offer your date to someone else. If another hirer requires your date while it’s provisionally held and is in a position to confirm then we’ll give you first refusal but at that point we’d need you to either confirm and pay your deposit or release the date.

Your event will have exclusive use of the rooms you hire but there may be other events taking place in our venue at the same time.

Once your booking contract is issued, our Finance Officer will send you an invoice for a 50% deposit payment. The remainder of the hire fee will be due 30 days before the event, and we’ll send you a second invoice for this. If there are fewer than 30 days at the point of contracting, then you’ll receive one invoice for the full amount.

For theatre hirers we can offer limited free parking in our loading bay for the duration of your event. We provide two bays and can accommodate a vehicle length of 16m.  The loading bay is shared by both of our theatres so parking will be allocated by our Technical Team depending on how many theatre companies are on site.

For room hirers there is a pay & display car park directly below our venue with a lift that comes from the car park into our ground floor foyer. Parking here is limited to 90 minutes unless you’re able to speak with the parking attendant in advance to arrange a longer period. As this parking belongs to Aldi we don’t have any influence on this decision.

If you require an Accessible Parking Bay please contact us for further details.

Details of other local parking can be found here.

Due to our lease agreement there are some events which we’re unable to host within our venue which are:

  • Commercial Cinema
  • Political Events
  • Religious Services

If you’re unsure whether your event will fall into one of these categories please ask us for further details. We also reserve the right to refuse any booking which we deem unsuitable for our venue.

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an image of the Pentland Theatre taken from the stage. The red seats of the stalls and balcony can be seen, and stage lights in the ceiling.

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