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Sunday 13 May 2018

Kiln Theatre Protests Take a Strange Turn

It sounds as if the protests around the Kiln (formerly Tricycle) Theatre are taking a rather odd turn.  I say "around" because the protesters appear to be protesting both in favour and against the Theatre and in one case just making a generalised comment on community pubs. 

At least that is the impression I get from the reports in the Kilburn Times and via Wembley Matters.

People seem to be overlooking just what a remarkable thing the Kiln Theatre team has achieved in getting funding to build the new theatre, push the changes through, launch a series of high quality productions and community engagement projects, and maintain the business as a going concern at a time when funding for the Arts is incredibly difficult. 

To begrudge them a name change after all that seems more than a little churlish.

Indeed, it sounds like this group of protesters are getting dangerously close to the same trap that some of the Brent Library litigants fell into.  They are so determined to be hostile to an element of the project that they become completely hostile to the very institution that they claim to be defending.  Certainly when I see the quotes in the CNJ and the Brent Times about organising a "boycott" of the Theatre I can't help but wonder how that would help anyone.

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