West Yorkshire Playhouse

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West Yorkshire Playhouse

The West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds

Leeds

Leeds is located on the River Aire in West Yorkshire, England. It is the urban core and administrative centre of the wider metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds....
, England

England

Theater (structure)

A theater or theatre is a structure where theatrical works or Play are performed or other performances such as musical concerts may be given....
which opened in March 1990 as part of the regeneration of the Quarry Hill

Quarry Hill, Leeds

Quarry Hill is an area of Leeds City Centre, West Yorkshire, England. It is surrounded by the Leeds Inner Ring Road to the east and north. The York & Selby Lines railway runs just south of the district into the city centre....
area of the city. According to the West Yorkshire Playhouse website it has established a reputation both nationally and internationally as one of Britain's most exciting producing theatres, winning awards for everything from its productions to its customer service, and it is "the largest regional repertory theatre in the UK outside London and Stratford".

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Encyclopedia

The West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds

Leeds

Leeds is located on the River Aire in West Yorkshire, England. It is the urban core and administrative centre of the wider metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds....
, England

England

Theater (structure)

Quarry Hill, Leeds

Jude Kelly

Judith Pamela Kelly Order of the British Empire is a noted theatre director and producer from Liverpool. She was awarded the OBE in 1997 for her services to the theatre....
(1990-2002). Her successor is Ian Brown

Ian Brown (theatre director)

Ian Brown is artistic director and chief executive of the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. He took up this post in 2002, succeeding Jude Kelly....
.

The West Yorkshire Playhouse complex comprises: The Quarry Theatre (750 seats), The Courtyard Theatre (350 seats), a CAMRA

Campaign for Real Ale

The Campaign for Real Ale is an independent, Volunteer, consumer organisation based in St Albans, England, whose main aims are promoting real ale and the traditional United Kingdom public house....
award-winning bar with wireless internet connection, a restaurant, the Newlyn Gallery, two function rooms (the Congreve Room and the Priestley Room), three rehearsal spaces, a recording studio, extensive technical workshops, dressing rooms, a costume hire department and offices for production, administrative and artistic teams. Productions cover a wide range from classic drama to modern European theatre and children's shows. There is an emphasis on new writing, especially from the north of England. There are many coproductions with other regional theatres, some of which go on to tour or transfer to London theatres. Visiting companies include Northern Broadsides

Northern Broadsides

Northern Broadsides is a theatre company formed in 1992 and based at Dean Clough Mill in Halifax, West Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, England. The founder and artistic director is Barrie Rutter....
, Kneehigh Theatre

Kneehigh Theatre

Kneehigh Theatre is a theatre company in Cornwall.Kneehigh was started in 1980 by Mike Shepherd. Early productions were performed invillage halls, marquees, cliff-tops and quarries....
and Peepolykus.

The Theatre was home to the Original Version of the Musical "Spend Spend Spend", the Story of the life of Viv Nicholson the 1961 Famous Pools Winner and Author of the book of the same Name. The Original, Starring Rosemary Ashe appeared at the Playhouse before it went onto West End Success Starring Barbara Dickson.

A typical season includes four or five major productions which run for three or four weeks, and a number of one-week or shorter runs which may be by visiting companies. A typical recent season (Autumn-Winter 2007) included: Casanova
Giacomo Casanova

Giacomo Girolamo Casanova de Seingalt was a Republic of Venice adventurer and author. His main book Histoire de ma vie , part autobiography and part memoir, is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of the customs and norms of European social life during the 18th century....
by Carol Ann Duffy

Carol Ann Duffy

Carol Ann Duffy is a United Kingdom poet, playwright and freelance writer born in Glasgow, Scotland. She grew up in Staffordshire and graduated in philosophy from University of Liverpool in 1977....
and Told By An Idiot, with Lyric Hammersmith

Lyric Hammersmith

The Lyric Hammersmith is a theatre on King Street, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, which takes pride in its original, "groundbreaking" productions....
; a stage adaptation of Don Quixote
Don Quixote

, fully titled is an early novel written by Spain author Miguel de Cervantes. Cervantes created a fictional origin for the story based upon a manuscript by the invented Moors historian, Cide Hamete Benengeli....
; Brief Encounter
Brief Encounter

Brief Encounter is a 1945 in film British film directed by David Lean about the mores of British suburban life, centring on a housewife for whom real love was an unexpectedly "violent" thing....
with Kneehigh Theatre

Kneehigh Theatre

Birmingham Repertory Theatre

Birmingham Repertory Theatre is a theatre and theatre company based on Centenary Square in Birmingham, England. It is one of the most influential companies in the history of the English Stage....
; Rough Crossings
Rough Crossings

Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves and the American Revolution is a history book and television series by Simon Schama.This gives an account of the history of thousands of enslaved African Americans who escaped to the British Empire cause during the American War of Independence....
adapted by Caryl Phillips

Caryl Phillips

Caryl Phillips is a British writer with a Caribbean background, best known as a novelist. He is now professor at Yale University and a visiting professor at Barnard College of Columbia University....
from Simon Schama

Simon Schama

Simon Michael Schama, Order of the British Empire is a British professor of history and art history at Columbia University. His many works on history and art include Landscape and Memory, Dead Certainties, Rembrandt's Eyes, and his history of the French Revolution, Citizens ....
's book; Salonika, first performed at the Royal Court Theatre

Royal Court Theatre

The Royal Court Theatre is a West End Theatre#London's non-commercial theatres theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea....
in 1982. There were 6 plays with shorter runs, a visiting production by Northern Ballet Theatre

Northern Ballet Theatre

Northern Ballet Theatre is a dance company based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, with a strong repertoire in theatrical dance productions where the emphasis is on story telling as well as classical ballet....
, and two Christmas shows, one for small children and a revived co-production with Birmingham Repertory Company of Adrian Mitchell

Adrian Mitchell

Adrian Mitchell FRSL was an England poet, novelist and playwright. A former journalism, he became a noted figure on the UK anti-authoritarian Left-wing politics....
's dramatisation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a fantasy fiction novel for children by C. S. Lewis. Written in 1950 in literature and set in approximately 1940, it is the first-published book of The Chronicles of Narnia and is the best known book of the series....
.

The theatre receives funding from Arts Council England

Arts Council England

Arts Council England was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three separate bodies for England, Scotland and Wales....
(£1,100,000) and Leeds City Council (£820,000), West Yorkshire Grants and Leeds Education Authority. It also encourages corporate sponsorship. The theatre is a member of the European Theatre Convention

European Theatre Convention

Programs According to its website, the programs of the European Theatre Convention include the following programs :...
.

West Yorkshire Playhouse

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