Nottingham Playhouse is a theatre in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. It was first established as a repertory theatre in 1948 when it operated from a former cinema in Goldsmith Street. Directors during this period included

Val May Valentine Gilbert Delabere "Val" May, CBE (1 July 1927 – 6 April 2012) was an English theatre director and artistic director. He led the Bristol Old Vic from 1961 to 1975, and the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre from 1975 to 1992. Early life and educat ...

and Frank Dunlop. The current building opened in 1963.

The building

The architect of the current theatre, constructed as an example of

Modern architecture Modern architecture, or modernist architecture, was an architectural movement or architectural style based upon new and innovative technologies of construction, particularly the use of glass, steel, and reinforced concrete; the idea that for ...

, was

Peter Moro Peter Meinhard Moro (27 May 1911 – 10 October 1998) was a London-based architect whose practice developed many notable public buildings. He was the son of Austrian physician and paediatrician Ernst Moro. Life and works Moro was born in Heide ...

who had worked on the interior design of the Royal Festival Hall in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. When the theatre was completed, it was controversial as it faces the

gothic revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

Roman Catholic cathedral designed by

Augustus Pugin Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin ( ; 1 March 181214 September 1852) was an English architect, designer, artist and critic with French and, ultimately, Swiss origins. He is principally remembered for his pioneering role in the Gothic Revival st ...

. However, the buildings received a Civic Trust Award in 1965. Despite the modern external appearance and the circular auditorium walls, the theatre has a proscenium layout, seating an audience of 770. During the 1980s, when the

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wid ...

interiors were out of fashion, the Playhouse suffered from insensitive "refurbishment" that sought to hide its character. Since 1996, it has been a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

and in 2004, the theatre was sympathetically restored and refurbished with a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The sculpture

Sky Mirror ''Sky Mirror'' is a public sculpture by artist Anish Kapoor. Commissioned by the Nottingham Playhouse, it is installed outside the theatre in Wellington Circus, Nottingham, England. ''Sky Mirror'' is a -wide concave dish of polished stainles ...

by Anish Kapoor was installed between the theatre and the adjacent green space of Wellington Circus in 2001 at a cost of £1.25m (). It is one of the main features of the 160 seat Djanogly Terrace and in autumn 2007 won the Nottingham Pride of Place in a public vote to determine the city's favourite landmark. In 2014–15, Nottingham Playhouse underwent a complete environmental upgrade including insulation of the fly tower, secondary and double glazing and installing PV panels. The works were jointly funded by Arts Council England, Nottingham City Council, patron donations and philanthropist Sir Harry Djanogly. The award-winning works have been calculated to cut annual energy usage by over 35%. In 2019, Nottingham Playhouse was named The Stage Regional Theatre of the Year.

Performance history

Aladdin pantomime Nottingham Playhouse 2008

The new theatre's artistic direction was shared between Frank Dunlop and actor John Neville with Peter Ustinov as associate. The first production in the new theatre was Shakespeare's '' Coriolanus'' in a production by

Tyrone Guthrie Sir William Tyrone Guthrie (2 July 1900 – 15 May 1971) was an English theatrical director instrumental in the founding of the Stratford Festival of Canada, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at ...

. This included a young Ian McKellen as Tullus Aufidius opposite Neville in the title role. Subsequent artistic directors were Stuart Burge, Richard Eyre, Geoffrey Reeves,

Richard Digby Day Richard Digby Day (born 27 December 1938) is a British stage director and international professor and lecturer. He is well known for his work in the classical theatre, in particular the plays of William Shakespeare and George Bernard Shaw. He is ...

Kenneth Alan Taylor Kenneth Alan Taylor (born 1937) is a British pantomime writer and actor. He is best known for having played the pantomime dame for thirty years in his own productions at Nottingham Playhouse. Career He started writing Pantoes in 1962 in Oldham ...

, Pip Broughton, Martin Duncan and Giles Croft. The Playhouse is currently under the leadership of Stephanie Sirr MBE, Chief Executive and Adam Penford, artistic director. Nottingham Playhouse has a strong tradition of new works for children, both in the form of original writing and more recently in the form of classic

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speakin ...

s conceived by former artistic director Kenneth Alan Taylor. In common with most producing theatres, Nottingham Playhouse no longer has a repertory approach to programming although it continues to create up to 13 new productions per annum. Its recent successes include ''Old Big 'Ead in the Spirit of the Man'', a homage to Nottingham legend

Brian Clough Brian Howard Clough ( ; 21 March 1935 – 20 September 2004) was an English football player and manager, primarily known for his successes as a manager with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. He is one of four managers to have won the Engli ...

, ''Rat Pack Confidential'' and '' Summer and Smoke'', which both transferred to the West End and ''

The Burial at Thebes ''The Burial at Thebes: A version of Sophocles' Antigone'' is a play by Irish Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney, based on the fifth century BC tragedy ''Antigone'' by Sophocles. It is also an opera by Dominique Le Gendre. Plot Antigone, the daughte ...

'' which was part of the Barbican BITE season of autumn 2007 and toured the US in 2008. Its production of '' Oedipus''. created by Steven Berkoff. toured to the Spoleto Festival and stage adaptation of '' On the Waterfront'' to the West End for an extended run. In 2013, an adaptation of '' The Kite Runner'' by Matthew Spangler produced by Nottingham Playhouse became the theatre's best selling ever drama up to that point in time. Autumn 2014 saw a successful UK tour of the piece and summer 2022 a Broadway revival at the Helen Haynes Theatre, again directed by Giles Croft. In 2014, 2015 and 2016 the Nottingham Playhouse and

Headlong Theatre Headlong is a British touring theatre company noted for making bold, innovative productions with some of the UK’s finest artists. Jeremy Herrin took over the artistic directorship of the company in 2013, and is the current artistic director. Ar ...

production of ''1984'' played at the Playhouse Theatre in London's West End to positive reviews. In Autumn 2015' it toured to Australia and the USA. In 2016' it was announced that the award-winning Nottingham Playhouse production of The Kite Runner would transfer to the West End from December 2016 to March 2017. The run was subsequently extended to the Playhouse Theatre in summer 2017 prior to a second UK tour. In 2013, the theatre was awarded £1m from Arts Council England to undertake upgrading of the theatre's energy efficiency. Fiona Buffini's Mass Bolero'' marked 2014 - a tribute to

born Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean's gold medal-winning performance at the 1984 winter olympics in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see names in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajevo ...

by the people of Nottingham. Over 800 Nottingham residents took part and the work has currently been viewed almost 80,000 times on YouTube. In 2017 Touched by Nottingham writer Stephen Lowe and starring Nottingham-born actress

Vicky McClure Victoria Lee McClure (born 8 May 1983) is an English actress, model and presenter. She is known for her roles as Detective Inspector Kate Fleming in the BBC series ''Line of Duty'' (2012–present) and Lol Jenkins in Shane Meadows' film ''This ...

became the Playhouse's then best-selling ever drama. The highlight of its 70th anniversary 2018 season was '' The Madness of George III'' by Alan Bennett starring

Mark Gatiss Mark Gatiss (; born 17 October 1966) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, director, producer and novelist. His work includes writing for and acting in the television series '' Doctor Who'', '' Sherlock'', and '' Dracula''. Together with ...

, Debra Gillett and

Adrian Scarborough Adrian Philip Scarborough (born 10 May 1968) is an English actor. He has appeared in films including ''The Madness of King George'' (1994), ''Gosford Park'' (2001), ''Vera Drake'' (2004), ''The History Boys'' (2006), ''The King's Speech'' (2010 ...

which achieved record-breaking box office figures and was seen by around 500,000 people internationally through NTLive. In 2020-21 the theatre presented a range of live and digital productions including the world premiere of James Graham’s new play, inspired by the pandemic, ''Bubble''. Autumn 2021 saw the world premiere of

’s adaptation of ''

A Christmas Carol ''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. ''A Christmas ...

'' before a London transfer.. A filmed version is planned for 2022.

Participation and education

Through its Theatre In education (TIE) company Roundabout and, since 2004, in its own name Nottingham Playhouse has toured professional theatre in schools across the

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Leicestershire, Derbyshire, L ...

. It's TIE work has also toured internationally. It now runs classes and courses for all ages and includes a programme for people at risk of homelessness, learning disabled adults and runs ten youth theatres free of charge in the community.

Awards

The Stage Regional Theatre of The Year 2019 What's On Stage Best Revival The Madness of George III 2018 What's on Stage Best Supporting actor

The Madness of George III 2018 UK Theatre Best Performance in a Musical Rebecca Trehearn Sweet Charity 2019.https://uktheatre.org/theatre-industry/news/winners-announced-for-uk-theatre-awards-2019/ UK Theatre Best Design Morgan Large, Wonderland 2018

References

Mass Bolero https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WOO6qoEcgo

External links

Official SiteProductions
an incomplete listing on Theatricalia. {{Authority control Grade II* listed buildings in Nottinghamshire Theatres in Nottingham Theatres completed in 1963 Producing theatres in England Recipients of Civic Trust Awards