We meet the artistic director of the Marylebone Theatre, which he hopes will emerge as a new star of the (north) West End
Words: Jonathan Whiley
Mid-morning in Marylebone and serendipity is afoot. A stoneâs throw from Baker Street â of Sherlock Holmes fame â and the artistic director of the neighbourhoodâs new theatre is taking me back to his school days with Benedict Cumberbatch, whom he played opposite in a school play. âIt had a really good theatre department and had a number of people who have gone on to be very successful in theatre, including Benedict Cumberbatch, who was a few years above me.â
Even as a teenager Alexander Gifford says that he recognised Benedict was âa supernaturally gifted actor.â âHe was unbelievably good,â he says of the man who made his mark as Conan Doyleâs eccentric detective. âHe was three years above me when I arrived in my first term and he was playing Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman. I remember thinking âwow, who is this guy?â.â
And yet their drama teacher advised Benedict not to pursue a career in theatre. âThey said it was a very competitive industry. I remember feeling outraged!.â
It didnât derail either of them. Aged 17, Alexander was cast in cult Indian comedy âBombay Boysâ â alongside the likes of Naveen Andrews â and would go on to set up a theatre company in Gloucestershire. âAfter seven or eight years, having cut my teeth as a director and producer, I moved to London and this opportunity came up a year later,â the 43-year-old says.
The chance to run a new theatre inside Rudolf Steiner House â as a Steiner trained teacher and having visited the venue for 20 years â was one he wasnât going to pass up.
He interviewed 18 months ago and set out a vision to the board for the newly refurbished venue. âI just had this hunch that the venue was so well located, so unique in its dimensions and proportions, that we would be very likely to be able to emerge as a significant new venue; like the Almeida or Donmar for this part of London.â
With the stage now the same proportions as those in the West End, Alexander says it âopens up the possibility of incubating shows for transfers to large venuesâ, adding: âWe are aiming to be a producing house, so weâre going to create our own work but we also have incoming shows. We are not just theatre; we have music, spoken word and comedy starting in the new year.â

The Marylebone Theatreâs debut show is Dmitry (until November 5), a new version of Friedrich Schillerâs last, unfinished play. The script is the culmination of â80 or 90 draftsâ between Alexander and playwright, Peter Oswald.
The ambition and production values are not going unnoticed with Mark Rylance among the patrons. âItâs a big seal of approval for us,â says Alexander, whose upcoming programme includes A Sherlock Carol from November 18 to Jan 7. âItâs the unlikely premise that Sherlock Holmes investigates the death of Ebenezer Scrooge. We are in the right part of the world and itâs a charming, delightful Christmas show.â
Formerly Steiner House, Alexander says the venue has had âa fantastic responseâ from the local community. âWe are doing loads of community aimed projects; classes, courses, community choirs. After one community choir event, one of the locals said, âso this our theatre nowâ, which is what you want.â
