It’s only five minutes from the Angel station, but the night is cold and the wind bites my face as I find warm lights and a board in the street; “Cinema Club Tonight 6pm” – I hastily leap into the welcoming and friendly air of the Old Red Lion pub. As soon as I enter the place I feel like I’ve known it all my life. It is every bit a British pub; regulars in conversation nursing pints, live football on the screen at the rear and bar to my right, propped up by those who look like they’ve not moved in a decade. I buy a pint, debate over peanuts or crisps, then look around for where the film will be shown.
It’s only then I realise that in the corner, nestled away next to the big sports screen, is a free-standing wooden box office. I walk over and am instantly welcomed and my ticket is produced. Not a receipt, but a real ticket, stub and all. I’m guided up a winding stair at the back, the walls adorned with posters, fliers, reviews and photos for shows and finally find my way into the theatre, my ticket is checked, stub removed, and I find a seat.
The theatre is what it is, a theatre. There are benches for the audience that frame the stage, black and adorned with reference points and the outline of a body (I assume from a recent production, though not out of place for tonight’s film). Spotlights and stage lights illuminate the room as we go to our seats, settling down ready for the show. As I start sipping my beer, someone steps from behind the screen, the projector giving them a halo befitting a Shakespearean aside, and introduces the show.
This is the inaugural night of the Old Red Lion Cinema Club. The venue has been a working theatre since the late 70s, and now they are branching out. But this isn’t just any film night, you’ll find no sing-alongs or usual tropes or gimmicks of other events. Instead, we are treated to great films that started, or shared, their early life with the stage – movies that owe their existence to live performance in places just like this. Tonight is the first event in the “Stage to the Screen Season” – 12 Angry Men.
What the Old Red Lion Cinema Club are trying to do is bring good cinema to their audience. And they’ve succeeded. For a first feature they could not have picked a better film, gripping and entertaining, and at no point did I feel like I was at a screening but instead a show. It’s hard to put into words what makes some things work and others not, but throughout the whole evening you could sense the love that goes into this venue, and the Cinema Club event itself. This isn’t some place that’s just trying to get you in the door with the lure of a film, this is an event that is curated and cultivated by those who obviously love what they are doing. I can’t recommend this event enough. If you are on the search for good cinema to broaden your horizons and a great place for a drink and chat, look no further.
And this is not the end. The Old Red Lion Cinema Club is continuing Stage to the Screen with “My Own Private Idaho” on November 1st. For more information and tickets go to http://www.oldredliontheatre.co.uk/cinema-club.htm – screenings are priced at £6.50.
