The
Theatre Royal Stratford East is a
theatreTheatre is a branch of the performing arts. While any performance may be considered theatre, as a performing art, it focuses almost exclusively on live performers creating a self contained drama. A performance qualifies as dramatic by creating a representational illusion...
in
StratfordStratford, historically Stratford Langthorne, is a place in the London Borough of Newham in East London. It will be the primary location of the 2012 Summer Olympics. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....
in the
London Borough of NewhamThe London Borough of Newham is a London borough in East London, within Greater London.It is situated east of the City of London, and is north of the River Thames...
. Since 1953, it has been the home of the
Theatre WorkshopTheatre Workshop is a theatre group noted for their director, Joan Littlewood. Many actors of the 1950s and 1960s received their training and first exposure with the company...
company.
The theatre was built on the site of a wheelwright's shop at the junction of Salway Road and Angel Lane, designed by architect James George Buckle, who was commissioned by the actor-manager Charles Dillon (formerly Silver, the son of
Charles DillonCharles J. Dillon was an English actor-manager and tragedienne.In 1840, he appeared at the City Theatre, London, as Hamlet, giving a performance which attracted some critical attention. He toured extensively, to improve his reputation. Becoming actor-manager of the Theatre Royal, Wolverhampton in...
) in 1884. It opened on 17 December 1884 with a revival of
Richelieu by
Bulwer-LyttonEdward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton PC , was an English novelist, poet, playwright, and politician...
.
The
Theatre Royal Stratford East is a
theatreTheatre is a branch of the performing arts. While any performance may be considered theatre, as a performing art, it focuses almost exclusively on live performers creating a self contained drama. A performance qualifies as dramatic by creating a representational illusion...
in
StratfordStratford, historically Stratford Langthorne, is a place in the London Borough of Newham in East London. It will be the primary location of the 2012 Summer Olympics. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....
in the
London Borough of NewhamThe London Borough of Newham is a London borough in East London, within Greater London.It is situated east of the City of London, and is north of the River Thames...
. Since 1953, it has been the home of the
Theatre WorkshopTheatre Workshop is a theatre group noted for their director, Joan Littlewood. Many actors of the 1950s and 1960s received their training and first exposure with the company...
company.
History
The theatre was built on the site of a wheelwright's shop at the junction of Salway Road and Angel Lane, designed by architect James George Buckle, who was commissioned by the actor-manager Charles Dillon (formerly Silver, the son of
Charles DillonCharles J. Dillon was an English actor-manager and tragedienne.In 1840, he appeared at the City Theatre, London, as Hamlet, giving a performance which attracted some critical attention. He toured extensively, to improve his reputation. Becoming actor-manager of the Theatre Royal, Wolverhampton in...
) in 1884. It opened on 17 December 1884 with a revival of
Richelieu by
Bulwer-LyttonEdward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton PC , was an English novelist, poet, playwright, and politician...
. Two years later, Dillon sold it to Albert O'Leary Fredericks, his sister's brother-in-law and one of the original backers of the scheme. Side extensions were added in 1887, and the stage enlarged in 1891, by the original architect. In 1902,
Frank MatchamFrank Matcham was a famous English theatrical architect. He is buried in Highgate Cemetery.-Early career:...
undertook minor improvements to the entrance and foyer. The Fredericks family continued to manage the theatre until 1932, although after the
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
, the theatre fell into financial difficulties, opening only irregularly after 1926.
About 1950, a touring company presented the Christmas
pantomimePantomime is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in Great Britain, Canada, Jamaica, Australia, South Africa, Japan, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is usually performed during the Christmas and New Year season.-History:A pantomimos in Greece was...
,
Alice in Wonderland. The company were to return, as the
Theatre WorkshopTheatre Workshop is a theatre group noted for their director, Joan Littlewood. Many actors of the 1950s and 1960s received their training and first exposure with the company...
in 1953, with artistic director
Joan LittlewoodJoan Maud Littlewood was a British theatre director, noted for her work in developing the left-wing Theatre Workshop...
and take over the theatre.
The theatre came under threat with the construction of the Stratford shopping centre in the 1970s, but was saved by a public campaign and protected in June 1972 by
English HeritageEnglish Heritage . is a non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom government with a broad remit of managing the historic built environment of England. It is currently sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
with a
Grade II* listing. Money remained short, and the manager, Gerry Raffles only managed redecoration and replacements as cash became available. In 1984, the front of house was refurbished and in 2001, following a successful
Heritage Lottery FundThe Heritage Lottery Fund is a fund established in the United Kingdom under the National Lottery etc. Act 1993. The Fund opened for applications in 1994. It uses money raised through the National Lottery to transform and sustain the UK’s heritage...
bid, it completed the redevelopment of all of its front of house and backstage areas as part of a project to create the
StratfordStratford, historically Stratford Langthorne, is a place in the London Borough of Newham in East London. It will be the primary location of the 2012 Summer Olympics. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....
Cultural Quarter.
In 2005 the Theatre Royal Stratford East made history by having the first British Black musical to transfer to
London's West EndThe West End of London is an area of Central London, England, containing many of the city's major tourist attractions, businesses, headquarters and the commercial West End theatres. Use of the term began in the early 19th century to describe fashionable areas to the west of Charing Cross...
, where it played at the
Apollo TheatreThe Apollo Theatre is a Grade II listed West End theatre, on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster. Designed by architect Lewin Sharp for owner Henry Lowenfield, and the fourth legitimate theatre to be constructed on the street, its doors opened on 21 February 1901 with the American...
. Recently the theatre produced a musical version of the cult Jamaican film
The Harder They ComeThe Harder They Come is a Jamaican crime film directed by Perry Henzell.The film stars reggae singer Jimmy Cliff, who plays Ivanhoe Martin, a character based on Rhyging, a real-life Jamaican criminal who achieved fame in the 1940s...
. This production was written by the film director Perry Henzel and was one of the most successful productions in the theatre's history.
Joan Littlewood (1953-1979)
The Theatre Royal became famous under the management of Gerry Raffles (1928-1975), who worked with director
Joan LittlewoodJoan Maud Littlewood was a British theatre director, noted for her work in developing the left-wing Theatre Workshop...
on such productions as
A Taste of HoneyA Taste of Honey is the first play by the British dramatist Shelagh Delaney, written when she was 18. It was initially intended as a novel, but she turned it into a play because she hoped to revitalize British theatre and to address social issues that she felt were not being presented...
and
Oh! What a Lovely WarOh! What a Lovely War is a musical film based on the stage musical Oh, What a Lovely War! that Joan Littlewood and her Theatre Workshop created in 1963. The title is derived from the music hall song Oh! It's a Lovely War, which is one of the major numbers in the productions. In 1969 Richard...
. In 1975, her collaborator and partner, Gerry Raffles died of diabetes, and in 1979, a devastated Joan Littlewood moved to France, never to direct again.
Clare Venables (1979-1982)
Clare VenablesClare Rosamund Venables was an English Theatre Director. She was artistic director of regional theatres in Lincoln, Stratford East and Sheffield; she became Director of Education at the Royal Shakespeare Company, and she also directed a number of operas.-Early life:She was born in...
took over as Artistic Director in 1979 and remained for two and a half years.
Philip Hedley (1979-2004)
Philip Hedley had worked as an assistant to Joan Littlewood for some years, but took over the artistic directorship of the theatre from Clare Venables in 1979. He ran the theatre in the hope of rekindling the golden era it had experienced with Joan Littlewood in her prime. After a difficult first couple of years, he found his feet as Artistic Director and began to put his own personal stamp on the style in which it was run. Like Joan Littlewood, Philip Hedley was very keen to see local people using the theatre on a regular basis. To that end he not only provided traditional entertainment in style of old music hall variety shows on Sunday evenings for the traditional 'eastenders' (the ones before the soap of the same name) but also looked to engage with new Asian and Black audiences, as the local demographic changed. The theatre continued Littlewood's agenda to portray and express the experience of local people in East London.
In 1999, he began the Musical Theatre Initiatives scheme to encourage new writing in musical theatre. In 2004, after 25 years as artistic director, he retired.
Kerry Michael (2004-continues)
Kerry Michael joined Stratford East in 1997, as an associate director. He became director in September 2004. His manifesto is to bring London's new communities to the stage, and portray their experiences as second and third generation emigrants.