RADA Studios

Story

RADA Studios is a theatrical venue in Chenies Street in the London Borough of Camden, just to the east of Tottenham Court Road, owned by the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art . The building contains rehearsal rooms and meeting rooms, and two small theatres - the 200-seat Studio Theatre, and the 50-seat Club Theatre.HistoryThe building was designed by Samuel Knight as the headquarters of the St Giles's and St George's Bloomsbury Rifles and completed in 1882. It has a notable artistic history: in the 1900s, Sergei Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes rehearsed there. However, the Bloomsbury Rifles amalgamated with the 1st Middlesex (Victoria and St George’s) Volunteer Rifle Corps and moved out to the Davies Street drill hall in 1908.Instead the 12th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (The Rangers) took over the drill hall in Chenies Street on 25 June 1908. The battalion was mobilised at the drill hall in August 1914 before being deployed to the Western Front.When the London Regiment was broken up and the battalions reallocated to other units in August 1937, the hall became the home of The Rangers, The King’s Royal Rifle Corps. During the Second World War the hall was used for Ralph Reader's Gang Shows.