Hoxton Hall
Encyclopedia
Hoxton Hall is a community centre and performance space in Hoxton
Hoxton
Hoxton is an area in the London Borough of Hackney, immediately north of the financial district of the City of London. The area of Hoxton is bordered by Regent's Canal on the north side, Wharf Road and City Road on the west, Old Street on the south, and Kingsland Road on the east.Hoxton is also a...

, at 130 Hoxton Street, in the London Borough of Hackney
London Borough of Hackney
The London Borough of Hackney is a London borough of North/North East London, and forms part of inner London. The local authority is Hackney London Borough Council....

.

A grade II* listed building, the theatre was first built as a Music hall
Music hall
Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...

 in 1863, as MacDonald's Music hall. It is an unrestored example of the saloon-style. In the theatre, an iron-railed, two tier galleried auditorium rises on three sides, supported on cast iron columns, above a small, high, multi-tiered stage. It survives, largely in its original form, as for many years it was used as a Quaker meeting house.

The music hall lost its performance licence in 1871, due to complaints by the police; it was sold, and the new owners applied for a licence in 1876, but were again rejected. William Isaac Palmer
William Isaac Palmer
William Isaac Palmer was a member of the Palmer family, proprietors of the Huntley & Palmers biscuit manufacturers of Reading in England...

 (1824–1893) purchased it on behalf of the Blue Ribbon Gospel Temperance Mission in 1879. Palmer was an heir to the Huntley and Palmer biscuit family and spent much of his fortune on charity. On Palmer's death, the hall passed to the Bedford Institute, a Quaker organisation dedicated to running adult schools and alleviating the results of poverty.

Today, the hall is used as a community centre and performance space, predominantly for youth groups.

Notable recent performances

  • On invitation from Lisa Goldman, artistic director of award winning theatre company The Red Room, Leo Asemota
    Leo Asemota
    Leo Asemota is a contemporary artist living and working in London, England. Asemota employs photography, film and video, performance, sculpture, drawings and various progressions in his work....

     created video installations and a portfolio of photographic portraits of Hoxton
    Hoxton
    Hoxton is an area in the London Borough of Hackney, immediately north of the financial district of the City of London. The area of Hoxton is bordered by Regent's Canal on the north side, Wharf Road and City Road on the west, Old Street on the south, and Kingsland Road on the east.Hoxton is also a...

     residents for the site-specific production Hoxton Story
    Hoxton Story
    Hoxton Story is an epic and poetic multi-plot fable marking the 10th Anniversary of the multi-award winning theatre company The Red Room.-Inspiration:...

    which opened at Hoxton Hall, to performances on September 10, 2005
  • Robert Newman filmed a television programme entitled A History of Oil for More4
    More4
    More4 is a digital television channel, run by British broadcaster Channel 4, that launched on 10 October 2005. It is carried on Freeview, on satellite broadcasters Freesat and Sky, UK IPTV broadcaster TalkTalk TV and on UK cable network Virgin Media and in the Republic of Ireland cable networks...

    , at the Hoxton Hall (later released on DVD). A mixture of stand-up comedy and introductory lecture on geopolitics
    Geopolitics
    Geopolitics, from Greek Γη and Πολιτική in broad terms, is a theory that describes the relation between politics and territory whether on local or international scale....

     and peak oil
    Peak oil
    Peak oil is the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is reached, after which the rate of production enters terminal decline. This concept is based on the observed production rates of individual oil wells, projected reserves and the combined production rate of a field...

    , in the show, based on his touring show, Apocalypso Now Newman argues that twentieth-century Western foreign policy, including World War I
    World War I
    World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

    , should be seen as a continuous struggle by the West to control Middle East
    Middle East
    The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

    ern oil
    Oil
    An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....

    . The peak oil projection is based on Richard Heinberg
    Richard Heinberg
    Richard Heinberg is an American journalist and educator who has written extensively on energy, economic, and ecological issues, including oil depletion. He is the author of ten books...

    's book The Party's Over: Oil, War, and the Fate of Industrial Societies
    The Party's Over: Oil, War, and the Fate of Industrial Societies
    The Party’s Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies, by Richard Heinberg , is an introduction to the concept of peak oil and petroleum depletion....

    .

External links

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