Celebrated double act quits Almeida theatre (original) (raw)

The most celebrated double act in British theatre, Ian McDiarmid and Jonathan Kent, are quitting the Almeida, the backstreet fleapit they have turned into a magnet for the biggest names on stage and screen.

The news, broken to staff last night at its temporary home in a converted bus depot behind London's King's Cross station, leaves two of theatre's most prestigious posts unfilled.

It also sparked speculation that Kent and McDiarmid, who turned the Almeida into an international phenomenon that brought Hollywood stars to Islington and Hackney as well as Chekhov to the Russians, might be about to enter the race to replace Trevor Nunn at the National Theatre.

But the pair, both originally actors who reinvented themselves as well as the little north London theatre over the past 11 years by using playwrights like Harold Pinter, David Hare and most recently Neil LaBute to attract big-name actors of the calibre of Kevin Spacey, Ralph Fiennes, Diana Rigg and Rachel Weisz, immediately ruled themselves out of the running.

Asked if they might consider creating the same magic on the South Bank, McDiarmid said: "Absolutely not. There's no hidden agenda. We're not moving on to something else ... Neither Jonathan nor I are careerists, which doesn't make us purer or more virtuous than anyone else."

Kent, the directing half of the partnership who will see through three big productions before they leave in July next year when the £5.8m refurbishment of the Almeida itself should almost be finished, hinted that they did not have the energy to take on a task as gargantuan or as thankless as the National.

"It's been a struggle to create the Almeida. After 11 years one's energy and initiative start to flag," he said. "Also, given the rise in funding, the building looks as secure as it's ever been. So it's probably time for a fresh vision. The Almeida, unlike the National, is an act of imagination. The danger, if we stay on, is that we become an institution."

Having won no fewer than 45 theatre awards, taken 15 productions into the West End and a similar number to New York, not to mention the creation of Almeida Opera, Kent and McDiarmid will be a very hard act to follow.

Their mix of glamour and adventure has made the theatre once renowned for the hardness of its seats as much as its founder Pierre Audi's brilliance, a fashionable place to pass an evening.

So they will be no shortage of candidates when the post in advertised next month. With decent funding, stars queuing up to work there and new, softer seats, many of those said to be on the shortlist to replace Trevor Nunn at the National would happily settle for a sojourn in Islington.

But the Almeida was last night insisting that no approaches had been made to anyone prior to Kent and McDiarmid's decision. They will have a say in their successor.

Stephen Daldry, who was the popular choice for the National until he reportedly ruled himself out, is likely to top the dream list with Nick Hynter, if he is passed over by the National's board for a rumoured combination of Jude Kelly and Max Stafford-Clark.

The Almeida's chairman, Garry Hart, said the reopening late next year should be marked by the choice of a successor able to bring to their work the same artistic distinction, creativity and vitality as and McDiarmid-Kent.

Meanwhile, the National Theatre said yesterday it could take another two months to appoint Nunn's successor.