Evening Standard Article

June 23, 1999

Ralph goes back to his roots to save theatre
Robin Stringer

RALPH FIENNES has come to the aid of the Fulham youth theatre which gave him his start as an actor but now faces closure because the building it is based in is being redeveloped.

The international star returned to the aptly named LOST Youth Theatre Company, London's only professional youth theatre owned and run by its members, to take a workshop on Hamlet and to publicise the company's hunt for a new home.

"It would be a tragedy if it had to close and could not find an equivalent space," said Fiennes. "It gave me the confidence to audition for drama school and I cannot forget the initial visceral inspiration that it gave me."

At the time, back in 1981, Fiennes was a student at Chelsea Art School, but was thinking about becoming an actor. He saw a poster advertising the company's production of Cabaret and went to see it at its then home, the London Oratory School Theatre, from which it takes its name. The "brilliant production" persuaded Fiennes to join the company and pursue his ambition to be an actor.

LOST's current theatre is above the Lost Cafe, near Fulham Broadway. With a large stage and 110 seats, it claims to be the biggest fringe venue in London.

But it will disappear in a matter of weeks when work starts on an Ł11 million shopping complex around Fulham Broadway.