Bedlam Theatre

The building now known as the Bedlam Theatre, in the Old Town of Edinburgh, was built as a church — the New North Free Church — and for nearly a century it served a Presbyterian congregation before finding a wholly new life as a theatre. A handsome Gothic Revival building designed by one of Edinburgh's greatest architects, it stands at a prominent point in the cityscape of the Old Town, and today it is celebrated as the oldest student-run theatre in the United Kingdom. Its story, from Free Church to Fringe venue, is a vivid illustration of the changing uses of Scotland's historic churches.

The church was a child of one of the great events of Scottish religious history, the Disruption of 1843. In that year, in a dispute over the relationship between church and state, hundreds of ministers and their congregations left the established Church of Scotland to form the new Free Church of Scotland. Among them was Charles John Brown, minister of the New North Church in Edinburgh, who led many of his congregation out of the established church and into the Free Church. The new congregation built itself a fine church, the New North Free Church, which was completed in 1848. It was noted for its active missionary work and, in particular, for its ministry to the students of the nearby University of Edinburgh — a foreshadowing, perhaps, of the building's later role.

The church was designed in the Decorated Gothic style by Thomas Hamilton, one of the foremost architects of Edinburgh, whose other works include the Royal High School on Calton Hill. With its tall spire and Gothic detailing, the building forms an important part of the Old Town cityscape, terminating the view south along George IV Bridge — a landmark in the heart of the historic city.

The congregation worshipped here until 1941, when, like that of several other Edinburgh churches, it united with the congregation of nearby Greyfriars. The building then passed to the University of Edinburgh, which used it first as a chaplaincy centre and later, from 1975, as a store. In 1980 the university gifted the building to the Edinburgh University Theatre Company, who reopened it as the Bedlam Theatre — taking its name from the lunatic asylum, or "Bedlam", that had once stood nearby. With a capacity of around ninety, the theatre has become a much-loved institution: it is the oldest student-run theatre in the United Kingdom, staging around forty productions a year, and during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe — when it operates as one of the festival's official venues — it hosts up to eight shows a day, a hub of student and fringe theatre in the world's greatest arts festival.

Though no longer a place of worship, the former New North Free Church thus continues to serve the community in a new way, its Gothic interior filled now with drama and performance rather than sermons and psalms. Its fabric is preserved, and its history as a church of the Disruption remains part of the rich religious heritage of Edinburgh.

The building stands at the corner of Bristo Place and Forrest Road, in the Old Town of Edinburgh, close to the University of Edinburgh's central campus. Nearby are the historic Greyfriars Kirk and its famous kirkyard with the statue of Greyfriars Bobby, the National Museum of Scotland, the Royal Mile and the Old Town, George IV Bridge and the city's libraries, and the wider attractions of one of Europe's most beautiful capital cities, all within easy reach.

From its origins in the Disruption of 1843 and the leadership of Charles John Brown, through its building as the New North Free Church in 1848 to the designs of Thomas Hamilton, its ministry to Edinburgh's students, and its rebirth as the Bedlam Theatre in 1980, this building gathers a remarkable history into its Gothic walls. A landmark of the Old Town and the oldest student-run theatre in Britain, the former New North Free Church remains a vibrant part of the life of Edinburgh — a church that found a new vocation in the service of the arts.