London has a rich and vibrant theatre scene, and this includes a number of amateur companies and venues.
This interview is the first in a series travelling around the capital to highlight what’s going on in non-professional theatre in the capital, and how these companies and venues work.
Today, I chat with the Tower Theatre Company’s artistic director, Amanda Waggott. The Tower Theatre Company can be found at the Tower Theatre, Stoke Newington.
Can you tell us something about how the Tower Theatre Company started, and how it has evolved into what it is now?
This is the link to the history of the Tower: https://www.towertheatre.org.uk/history/
The Tower started in Canonbury in 1932 as a local amateur dramatic society at a time when there were very few distractions.
It relocated to Stoke Newington in 2018 and now has a far greater reach, with members coming from around the corner in N16 to all over London.
Although we are now in a world packed full of diversions, the membership of the Tower continues to grow year on year – I believe we have over 500 company members – and every play seems to attract a greater number of auditionees.
Most recently we had around 53 people trying out for our November play. The demand for community and a tangible experience seems to be at an all-time high. Something we think is extremely exciting and heartening.
You are based at your own theatre in Stoke Newington. What’s that like as a venue to perform and develop shows in?
Having the venue in Stoke Newington is invaluable as it gives us a guaranteed stage for the 18 plays a year we produce. Finding spaces around London is extremely tricky and very expensive.
The wonderful building in Stoke Newington enhances the spirit of community as the company can rehearse, build sets and perform in one place and then meet in the bar afterwards – alongside poetry evenings, gig nights, quiz nights, rehearsed readings, meetings and workshops.
It is not just a venue but a hub for the community that revolves around it. The theatre is enormously flexible, so we can perform in all manner of configurations and because the Tower owns the space it can continually improve the facilities.
This year, we are expanding with a new studio, upgraded dressing rooms, and a workshop in a basement studio.
What about your programming? What would a typical season look like and how do you choose which productions to stage?
Typically, we program published plays. We don’t have a literary department so we can’t read new unpublished work as we would need a team of readers.
We rely on volunteers and so unfortunately this is not a service we can confidently offer and maintain. We have six productions per season and three seasons, and we try to program something for everyone.
So, the criteria would include for example, contemporary, classic, diverse, LGBTQ+, comedy, large cast, political and family. Two questions we ask when putting a season together are what would our traditional audience like to see and how can we encourage new audiences and particularly local audiences to come to the theatre?
We keep our ticket prices very low so a night at The Tower is affordable and I believe the bar is the cheapest in Stokey. We also need to think about what the company would like to be in.
Shakespeare is popular with the acting members and this year we are staging a pantomime in December – Rapunzel by Phillip Meeks all based in “Stokeyville” – so far this has been a huge hit with the various teams.
We also hope it will bring in the local community, be enormous fun and brighten up Stokey on a dark December evening.
What kinds of audiences are attracted to your shows? Do you aim for a particular demographic or type, and how do you go about reaching them?
We have the traditional Tower members who have been part of the company for many years and tend to like the sort of plays programmed by the National Theatre, but we also have younger groups who love a rich variety of different plays.
The Tower aims to diversify its audience which means we are programming a broader cross section of plays representing different communities. Local audiences are the jewel in the crown and if we could embed the Tower in the Stoke Newington community and get them through the door, involved and having fun that would be wonderful.
We are constantly looking at new ways of reaching audience members and this year we had stalls at two local Farmers Markets.
This was a wonderful way to promote the Tower plays and meet and chat to residents. We found this to be a great success and one we hope to continue.
Do you think the amateur theatre scene is in a good place now? What would improve it?
We have noticed a big upswing in interest in Amateur Theatre. The Tower now has an unprecedented number of people auditioning for the company (auditions to join are now always oversubscribed) and for the shows.
We assume this is a backlash to the increasing digitalisation of society as well as a tribute to the wonderful work the Tower does.
Funding is always an issue. In the past The Tower was often the recipient of bequests which helped with capital funding. These have mostly been left by members whose lives had revolved around the Tower.
Now people seem to be more transient perhaps taking part in just one or two plays. There is less of an appetite for people to get involved on every level i.e. working behind the bar, set building, costumes, lighting, sound, stage management and more.
We are currently trying to address this and brainstorming ideas on how to encourage new members to become more involved. The Tower is really a cooperative, once you have paid your membership – which is not expensive and helps fund productions – everyone counts.
You can choose to become as involved as much as you want. I joined to do one play around ten years ago and I am now the Artistic Director.
What are the main advantages and challenges of working in amateur theatre?
Working with volunteers is the main challenge. On one level it is fantastic as people are there because they love and are genuinely passionate about theatre.
On the other hand, they have other commitments, full time jobs and families and so are not always able to be as reliable or flexible. If someone wants to drop out, you can’t really stop them.
Happily, this rarely happens at the Tower, but it does and has happened and it is very tricky to deal with if it is at the eleventh hour. Also, it is worth noting that without the incredible work of all the volunteers – we only have two paid employees – the Tower would not exist which would be tragic.
What has been Tower Theatre Company’s proudest moment?
I think the Tower has achieved so much over the years and it always punches above its weight. This year we had a production of Shakespeare in Love, directed by David Taylor, go to a beautiful outdoor venue in Suffolk.
But our proudest moment for 2025 would have to be the wonderful production of Moby Dick which was devised by the Tower company and then written and directed by Angharad Ormond.
It was performed in Stoke Newington, Brighton Open Air Theatre (BOAT) and finally at the extraordinary open air Minack Theatre in Cornwall with a backdrop of the Atlantic Ocean – very cool and an incredible, if not exhausting experience, for all those involved.
There is “a proudest moment” every year at The Tower and I am excited to see what 2026 will bring.
Looking ahead, can you say something about the company’s plans?
We want to focus and to be continually improving our core activity which is to produce 18 excellent plays a year in Stoke Newington in a welcoming, warm, safe and fun environment.
The Tower would like everyone from all walks of life to feel there is a place for them in the building in Stoke Newington, from treading the boards, operating the board to designing costumes, sets and more.
It aims to have a vibrant diverse community of people coming together to make affordable great theatre. Next year in 2026 there is a stellar spring and summer season planned.
A member commented to me last week that they consider the 2026 summer season to be “the best one the Tower as ever had”. Hopefully we can spread the word and share it with N16 and beyond.