A new 212-seat venue in London that has been backed by Mark Rylance will open in London this year.
The Marylebone Theatre will be based in the former Steiner Hall near Baker Street and will produce its own work as well as receive incoming companies.
It plans to present the “best new writing alongside high quality dance, music and spoken word” and its patrons – alongside Rylance – include English National Opera music director Martyn Brabbins and cross-bench peer Usha Prashar.
It opens with Friedrich Schiller’s Dmitry, written by Peter Oswald, who was resident playwright at Shakespeare’s Globe under Rylance.
The play was left incomplete after Schiller’s death and will be directed by former Young Vic artistic director Tim Supple, who has spent the past 15 years working abroad but who returns to the UK to direct this production.
It has been described as a “timely exploration of the historic and tragic conflict between Russia’s leaders and the West”.