NEW MANAGEMENT FOR LONDON'S ARTS THEATRE
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Mig Kimpton, formerly of Sound Theatre is to manage the **Arts Theatre, London**.
Bars and restaurant consortium **JJ Goodman Ltd** has taken over the lease of the [**Arts Theatre**](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/venue/43/Arts-Theatre.aspx) on Leicester Square. The group has appointed **Mig Kimpton** as executive director. Kimpton was the Arts Theatre director under previous tenants Brasrat for eight months in 2009, leaving due to “artistic differences” with the management.
Kimpton is currently the **Royal Shakespeare Company**’s London manager and will continue in this role whilst managing the Arts Theatre. Whether there is likely to be any RSC involvement at the Arts at a later date is yet to be announced.
Kimpton has been quoted as saying, “The Arts needs to re-establish itself as a good place to come, for producers and also for audiences, and over the last few years it has struggled and I don’t understand why it has struggled. It has a prime location, it is an intimate house and therefore, why doesn’t it work? I used to run the Playhouse many years ago in Embankment, when it first opened in 1987, and there was a stigma attached to the Playhouse that nobody could find it, but since then it has been thriving. Having that track record, I feel I can prove myself at the Arts to make it a successful building.”
The Arts Theatre will reopen with **Woody Sez**, a play about Woody Guthrie, on January 13.