The Tricycle Campaign is delighted and relieved to learn that our theatre won an award of financial assistance in Round 1 of the Culture Relief Fund. The money, over £360k, will keep the theatre afloat in 2020 and it can be assumed that the government will continue to protect this arts venue from permanent closure in Round 2 and beyond. Generous congratulates are due, deserved and hereby delivered. Long live the Tricycle.
In 2019, The Stage magazine published two articles arguing that “Theatres risk becoming irrelevant unless their leaders are prepared to give over power to local communities.” (Madani Younis and Tarek Iskander in The Stage, 16th Oct 2019); and “Theatre must stop imposing ideas on communities [and] build trust” (Lyn Gardner in The Stage, 23rd Sept 2019).
If only they had spoken up the year before.
Yet, given these opinion pieces, it sits oddly that The Stage awarded the Tricycle Campaign “Most Pointless Protest 2018” (The Stage, 20th Dec 2018). We are rightly proud of that award because it shows what an impact we made in the theatre world – and that we were ahead of the curve.
In contrast, Kiln Theatre’s rebrand is still the most pointless name change and this campaign still hopes that one day its management will “give over power” to the local community, “stop imposing ideas” on Kilburn and “get out of the way”.
We just want our Tricycle back.
My considered verdict on they who named the Kiln, is: “they have been at a great feast of languages, and stol’n the scraps” (Love’s Labour’s Lost).
Often enough the most remarkable theatre in town – Financial Times
The landmark that put Kilburn on the map was stripped of its identity, leaving those around it feeling bereaved for the theatre they loved.
Our campaign hopes the Tricycle name and good sense will be restored; and that Kilburn’s theatre will reconnect with the community it humbly used to serve.
What I find unacceptable is that, having been keeping an eye on what’s going on at 269 Kilburn High Road, there is now no reference in any shape or form to the Tricycle within the building (apart from the carpet in the cinema which I assume is as yet unchanged).
Even the Rachel Dedman ‘A Thousand Hands’ exhibition, which included a reference to the setting up of The Foresters Hall etc in 1928 and various other historical detail, didn’t manage to refer to the Tricycle. It is as if the rebranders are deliberately trying to eradicate an important and long part of the history of the building – cultural vandalism indeed.
I had been told that the automaton is safe and in good order. I would love to see it reinstalled somewhere on site. There would of course be other appropriate ways of referencing and marking the Tricycle years but to let them get away with this elimination of the past is unpalatable and wrong.
At the very least I should write to the artistic director to let her know my views. Hailing from Sheffield she should be aware of the value of remembering and cherishing history which has enabled the present.
At least we do still have the 1980 commemorative stone in the pavement down the road.
Paul Handley, Tricycle supporter
Since Spring 2018, by standing outside the theatre with a clipboard (thank you Richard, Jean, Judy and Ags), by having stalls at Summer festivals (thank you Sally) and farmers markets (thank you Alison and Paul), and via an online petition (thank you Maggie and Phil) we’ve collected and collated over 3,500 petition signatures (thank you Linda).
Few will have seen us in the winter months but as spring returns, it’s time to collect a lot more. We’ve not been idle (thank you Frankie, Celia, Terry, Mr S, Lynda, Rupert and Glenis) and now you can sign our petition on our website where, in keeping with GDPR regulations, you can also join our mailing list if you wish (thank you Phil).
If you do, you’ll be the first to hear from us when they restore the internationally-
famous name of the crown jewel of Kilburn High Road, the Tricycle Theatre.
The website (thank you Alex and Bosco) has been rewritten over the winter months (thank you Rachel). There you can now read all our previous newsletters (thank you Philippa) and we’ve introduced infographics to convey our purpose more quickly (thank you Heidi). We’ve changed our old colours (thank you Duncan) in order to promote the blue and white colour scheme and Helvetica font of our beloved Tricycle Theatre. On the website we’ve published as much as we can of about 100 press articles we’ve so far managed to generate and added blog posts like this one by me, Martin. You may have found your way here via Facebook advertising (thank you Paula) and if you have any feedback we’d be glad to receive it.
Our campaign team celebrated together in December (thank you Alan) and March (thank you Patrick). It remains for me to thank Wendy and Rob, Rosalie and the secret Triker, Aleks and Mary, Pam and the lady at No.58, Yvonne and Tim, Nick and Candice, Sandy and Nicola, Jody and Eugene, Bev and Jason, Marion and Anna. I can’t not mention Ken Chubb and his wife, the late Shirley Barrie, who started the Tricycle. Oh, and of course I must thank The Stage magazine for the accolade, awarding us the “Most Pointless Protest of 2018” award. To paraphrase the wonderful Olivia Coleman, if I’ve missed anyone out, meet me later and I’ll give you a massive snog.
It is hard enough to believe that Indhu Rubasingham, the artistic director, would squander such a world-famous brand as the Tricycle, but for the trustees to support her without doing proper research and then to ignore everyone’s love for the very theatre that these people are supposed to protect, turns disbelief into anger. It makes no commercial sense, it flies in the face of the Charity Commission’s code of conduct and it makes a mockery of community engagement.
You’d think if thousands of your supporters and donors express heartfelt outrage then restoring the name is a no-brainer. It would have been the responsible thing to do. I honestly believed that those in charge would be impressed by the degree of affection demonstrated by previously loyal supporters of the Tricycle. Thousands have made their feelings known through emails, letters, petitions and demonstrations. Clearly, the name change was a terrible error of judgment but instead of listening to us, we were dismissed, seen as a nuisance and fed dishonest statements about non-existent support. To maintain the stone wall, we were misled by Kiln Theatre about consultations and patronised by “astroturfed” social media coverage.
Please sign up to our mailing list. Our primary aim is to restore the name of the Tricycle in some meaningful way. You may have seen some of more than 50 news articles we’ve succeeded in generating since the renaming announcement on 11 April, including five in Private Eye. We are very active but to be clear, our protests have nothing to do with the artistic direction of the theatre. We are not calling for a boycott or anybody’s resignation. We just want the name back.
Of course, it’s not just a name. The Tricycle stood for something and grew in reputation to become Kilburn’s crown jewel. It put Kilburn on the map internationally and made people feel they had a friend on the High Road. In contrast, the name change and the manner of its imposition is deeply resented. It is clear from the near-unanimous reaction of thousands of people that Kilburn feels betrayed and bereaved.
People campaigning against the change of name of the Tricycle theatre and cinema were joined by former London mayor Ken Livingstone during a candlelit vigil on Monday (5 November) to mark the press night for Zadie Smith’s White Teeth.
The theatre, now called Kiln, reopened in September after being dark for two years for refurbishment. But its new look has been marred by protests against the change of name, which was announced in the national press in April.
Mr Livingstone, who lives in Cricklewood, said: “The Tricycle was the pride and joy of Kilburn and put it on the London map. Any cab driver would know where it was. Now it’s been replaced with a name people hate and no one will explain why.
“Everyone wants the re-opened theatre to succeed, but the name change is completely unnecessary for that to happen. Why would you dump such a great brand, without consulting the community that supported the theatre for nearly 40 years, and without any explanation? It makes no sense.”
I feel so very let down by Brent.
How can it be right that a theatre gets stolen by its Trustees moments after the public grant is removed?
The theatre is a public body in receipt of public funds, that owes its very existence to the support of Brent Council for 40 years, and has been repeatedly bailed out of perennial financial crises by the citizens of Brent.
It was Brent residents who gave the money to Brent for the Tricycle in the first place. Brent owns the freehold. Brent was hoodwinked by the theatre’s duplicitous fundraising. Two of the organisations supposedly consulted about the planning application have not received the consultation letter from Brent.
It seems to be a failure of local government on many levels and more generally, of local governance of the Arts.
The theatre’s Board is behaving like the venue is their private fiefdom, without accountability. Yet, Brent residents can’t get their council to represent their feelings. Not the representatives on the Board, not the Planning Committee, nowhere, it seems, is there a structure on whom the residents of Brent can rely. How can that be right?
I feel so very let down by Brent.
We have put together an email list of 31 activists who are contributing in different ways. Sadly, the theatre’s strategy is to stonewall us. They won’t answer any of our questions, eg about the consultation they claim to have done and the support they claim to have, as if they feared that doing so might dignify us.
Yet, we’ve held about 20 online conversations in front of 2,200 people… 106 people spoke against the name change, three in favour. We have 750 signatures on a paper petition and 1,250 on an online petition. We’ve spoken to hundreds of people face to face – nobody thinks the name change a good idea. The main reaction is incredulity.
Perhaps they know they cannot win a PR battle so are choosing not to engage in one but it’s an insult by a community theatre to the community it serves, in which it lives and it’s offensive to those who, for 35 years have regularly bailed them out of one crisis or another, including the 1987 fire. The people of Kilburn have saved the Tricycle before and intend to do so again.
It came as a shock to a lot of theatre-goers from Kilburn and beyond to discover that the Tricycle, a theatre that has stood on Kilburn High Road since 1981, was to be rebranded to Kiln. The decision seemed so out of character for such an iconic venue – why throw away almost 40 years of history in favour of a clunky, awkward name with only the most tenuous connection to the local area?
We felt confused, even angry. For all Kiln’s talk of wide-ranging local consultations, we couldn’t find anyone for whom this wasn’t an unwelcome surprise. The only third party with anything positive to say on the subject was the marketing agency who had introduced the name and logo.
The penny dropped – the opinions of local residents and longstanding fans of the Tricycle had been ignored in favour of a fashionable company with no connection to Kilburn. So we decided not to let this stand, and we’re so glad that you felt the same.
When so much of the character of London’s neighbourhoods is being paved over, it matters that ordinary people have united around a wish to see a true cultural institution continue with its legacy and history intact.
Our first objective is to get Kiln to finally provide some evidence for the consultations they claim to have had with local Kilburn residents. We have asked repeatedly, and each time been met with radio silence. We’ll be using our new social media channels to ensure that theatre management know we’re not going to put up with this lack of transparency. When they do finally answer, we’ll make sure everyone knows.
We also want to be clear that we are not seeking to dictate the Tricycle’s artistic journey. We wholeheartedly support its director in her admirable attempts to widen the theatre’s appeal and accessibility. Schemes such as the new pricing structure are meaningful and positive changes, and we are with the theatre every step of the way in its mission to bring great drama to the community. We simply ask that the Tricycle’s history, identity and its place in our hearts are respected, and that we can continue to walk past our treasured Tricycle Theatre and delight in its future.
Thank you so much for supporting our campaign. We promise that we won’t give up on the Tricycle, and we promise we’ll keep you in the loop every step of the way.
Our Tricycle Campaign
The name of the Tricycle Theatre has been changed without fair consultation.
The local community, which has loyally supported it for many years, believe this attempt at re-branding the theatre is unnecessary, costly and squanders the established reputation of the Tricycle. We demand they reverse this pointless decision.
Please take 3-wheeled action:
1. Telephone (020 7328 1000) or email the Tricycle Theatre (marketing@kilntheatre.com)
2. Sign our petition and share it with your friends and contacts to ask them to sign it too.
3. Write to the Board members – details here.
