London's Gate theatre, a small but influential venue not to be confused with Dublin's Gate, is closing next month after five decades, undone by rising costs, falling funding and disruption from its 2022 move away from its original Notting Hill Gate home. Despite its tiny size, the theatre earned a reputation as a nursery for major theatrical talent and a champion of international drama, offering London audiences access to world theatre rarely staged elsewhere.

Founded in 1979 by Lou Stein in a 56-seat room above the Prince Albert pub, the Gate opened with Flann O'Brien's At Swim-Two-Birds and later launched a Battersea offshoot above the Latchmere pub. Successive artistic directors, including Giles Croft, Stephen Daldry, Laurence Boswell, David Farr and Mick Gordon, built eclectic, unsubsidised programmes spanning Russian, French, German, Spanish and Greek drama, while nurturing directors such as Katie Mitchell and later a succession of women including Erica Whyman and Thea Sharrock who reshaped its repertoire.