The Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG), the second largest theatre-owning and managing group in the UK, with a portfolio of 19 theatres in the West End and the regions, has taken further steps to consolidate its position by purchasing the freehold of the Fortune Theatre in the heart of London. It is also to take over the management of the 440-seat theatre. The company has also created two new production companies ? Sonia Friedman Productions (SFP) and Peter Wilson Theatre Company.
The Fortune is one of the smallest West End theatres, and is the first to be acquired by ATG since the company took over seven theatres in April 2000. It joins nine other London venues, and seven regional theatres in the ATG portfolio.
The Fortune was built in 1924, and was the first theatre to have been constructed in the West End after the First World War. During the Second World War it was used by ENSA, the Forces? entertainment service, and in the 1960s, Jonathan Miller, Peter Cook, Alan Bennett and Dudley Moore presented the seminal satirical show Beyond the Fringe there.
For 12 years it has been host to The Woman in Black, one of the West End?s most successful and longest-running shows. The show is produced by West End producer Peter Wilson, who in a separate deal with ATG recently formed a new production company, Peter Wilson Theatre Company, which will focus on the development of ATG productions in the West End and for national and international tours.
Sonia Friedman, currently the producer at ATG, has created her new production company as an ATG subsidiary, though she will retain her current role producing and programming all the work at the New Ambassadors Theatre and initiating work for other theatres across the UK and abroad.
To date she has produced, co-produced or programmed many successful shows, including Stones in His Pockets for ATG, and Shopping and Fucking and Blue Heart for Out of Joint, one of Britain?s leading theatre companies which she co-founded with Max Stafford-Clark in 1993.ATG also has its own production arm, which has been responsible for successes including Noises Off, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg and Shockheaded Peter.