Bedlam Theatre
in Edinburgh, United KingdomCategory: Attraction
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11B Bristo Pl, Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH1 1EZ, UK Print route »
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Bedlam Theatre is a fully operational 90 seat student-run theatre housed in a Neogothic church in central Edinburgh. It is owned by the University of Edinburgh, and notable for being the oldest student-run theatre in Britain.It is run by and home to the Edinburgh University Theatre Company (EUTC), who are so associated with the building that its members are often termed "Bedlamites", though the EUTC can and has staged performances in other venues since moving into Bedlam Theatre.
Its building, the former New North Free Church at the foot of George IV Bridge in Edinburgh, was designed by Thomas Hamilton, an architect involved in the creation of Edinburgh's New Town. It is on the site of the old city poorhouse, and its current (rather apt) name is taken from the nearby site of the city's first mental health hospital, where the poet Robert Fergusson died.
After the building was abandoned by the church in 1937 it was given to University of Edinburgh, who used it for various purposes including a Chaplaincy, a furniture store and a Nursing School until, in 1980, when the building was converted for the use of the Edinburgh University Theatre Company.
The theatre has hosted Edinburgh's longest running improvised comedy troupe, The Improverts, since their inception.
