B-Bar’s Dan Thompson
Dan Thompson, the man behind Plymouth’s theatrical watering hole, the B-Bar at The Barbican shared a few words with the republic
Q: What is The B-Bar, where is it and how long have you been there?
A: The B-Bar is an intimate venue, exhibition space and café-bar attached to the Barbican Theatre. We’ve styled the bar as a theatrical watering hole, dahling, but it’s not just for the luvvies, although we do count many among our growing clientele. It’s up the top of a cobbled lane – Castle Street – in the heart of Plymouth’s real cultural quarter: The Barbican. We’ve been running it since September 2007 – we being the Kaos Konsortium.
Q: We heard that you brought a new theatrical, artsy creative edge to the place. Have you and how have you done it?
A: Too right. The B-Bar opened in 2001 and it was quite a cold-feeling café space that was under-used, yet had loads of potential. We’ve taken it and basically warmed it up – draping it with velvet, decorating it in an opulent style with candelabras and chandeliers, opening it regular hours day and evening and putting in funky food via the Thai Noodle Bar. There’s also a drinks menu that includes a wide range of teas and coffees through to a carefully-selected list of wines, champagnes and beers from around the world (Mongolian Baadog anyone?).
Generally, we’re making the bar a friendlier yet grander space to everyone all round. We’re also complementing and linking to the theatre and looking at co-productions this year, and even improving the décor of the rest of the building as well as within the B-Bar.
Q: There’s a strong line-up what do you look to put on?
A: We’re planning a strong programme of music, comedy, live performance, exhibitions and events in the space to build the venue’s reputation as a creative hotspot, plus we’ve been concentrating on marketing it much wider than before. We want people to be banging our doors down for the things we’re putting on, or at least buying advance tickets and making reservations.
Q: What’s been the most enjoyable event you’ve presided over?
A: Our opening night was pretty memorable – my mate and international cabaret artiste Empress Stah covered her naked form in gold glitter and stunned our guests. You could hear the jaws dropping.
Also, our first live music event of 2008 – Louise Parker and her quartet – was near capacity on a wet, dreary night where not many in the rest of the city ventured out. Let’s start as we mean to go on.
Q: It’s not just the B-Bar that you’re involved with. What other arts and creative ventures have you been part of?
A: I’m the festival director for the Plymouth Respect Festival, responsible for programming the world music, producing the outdoor and indoor stages, plus the rest of the event. I’m part of the core management team of the Motion Plymouth digital and film festival, plus I’m about to spearhead a blues, jazz and world music festival for The Barbican this year. I’m also working with Plymouth-based Mongolian refugee artist Tod Otgonbayer – look out for an exhibition of his in the B-Bar in the near future.
Q: What’s your background?
A: I was part of the hedonistic late 80s-90s rave scene with the party production/décor crew Children of Kaos, which grew into the art-house/décor company Kaos Design, which I ran for 15 years. Now I’m flying solo under the name Kaos Production, as an events consultant and producer, working extensively in the arts/culture/entertainment industry.
Q: If someone said you were the wind beneath the wings of the Plymouth arts scene, how would you respond?
A: I need to stop eating so much of that Thai food…
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The People’s Republic of South Devon by People’s Republic of South Devon is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at www.peoplesrepublicofsouthdevon.co.uk.
August 17th, 2008
