Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie has been garlanded with critical praise and sold faster than any show in the theatre’s 13-year history – extending its run until May 10.
The Hackney theatre, which opened as a pop up in a converted warehouse, will then be demolished to make way for a new 200-seat venue for East London.
It will feature special guests and performances to support the theatre’s work in developing new talent.
Founder and artistic director Jay Miller, who has directed The Glass Menagerie, said: “I founded The Yard because I needed to make theatre and couldn’t afford to do it. I took a punt that there would be other people like me.
In Hackney Wick where the overground had just opened up, he spotted an opportunity in the changing demographic, the “melting pot of communities” and development around the Olympic Park.
Over four weeks he and 50 volunteers converted a disused warehouse into an auditorium and bar, using reclaimed materials and £9,000 from Arts Council England.
The venue has gone on to be a launchpad for a generation of artists including Michaela Coel, Ncuti Gatwa, Emma D’Arcy, Alexander Zeldin, Shygirl, Mica Levi, and Nina Segal.
It also brought together theatre and clubbing with late-night parties and performances alongside free family events and youth theatre.
“I didn’t have a business plan, it was instinct,” adds Miller.
“I was inspired by the Shunt tunnels (under London Bridge) where people went for a good night out. You would have a dance and a drink, and weave that together with theatre – I knew the bar had to be a major part of the offering.
“We’ve developed quite a unique brand for theatre in London. Thankfully audiences have responded we have earned our place.”
As for the kind of theatre he’s drawn to, he says: “We tell damn good stories and we tell them live, stories that break through those echo chambers you find in the media and social media.
“I am not that interested in passive theatre. One of the reasons why theatre thrives is because the need for live storytelling is as large as ever.
“Theatre enables a positive relationship to stories and makes you a participant – it can be transcendental, there is nothing like it.”
When the new building opens in two years, it will be the first time Miller’s actors will have their own toilets and decent dressing rooms.
The increased capacity will help them put on better work but he describes the new venue as an “evolution rather than a revolution” – he just hopes to retain the DIY energy of the original.
“There won’t be a radical shift in programming and it won’t compromise the values or ethics with which we make work.
“The Yard has stayed true to those fundamental principals and will continue to support artists who would not otherwise be able to put on their work.”
Of the current show, he says: “I didn’t realise Tennessee Williams had coined the phrase memory play. He has written this piece the way you remember, flashes of images, snatches of music.
“It’s a beautiful simple story about why an adult man leaves leaves their family nest and what leads up to that moment of crisis.
“He’s looking back trying to understand why he did it – it is both a memorial to his family and asks the question, can we escape our memories or ever really leave our family?
“The fact that it’s The Yard’s final show, turning the theatre into a memory space, seems totally appropriate.”
The Glass Menagerie runs at The Yard Theatre in Hackney Wick until May 10.
