History of Theatre Royal Stratford East: 1953 - 1979

The ‘Theatre Workshop' company had been founded in the North of England in 1945. Some of its members had worked together before the war and the company developed a unique approach to playing which attempted to involve artistes and audiences in drama as a living event.

The decision to take the lease on the Theatre Royal was a major one. It was the first time they had taken a theatre as a permanent base. Up until then the company had been a touring one, mostly in the North of England, Wales and on the Continent.

Under the direction of Joan Littlewood, with Gerry Raffles as Manager and John Bury as designer, they brought their “People’s Theatre” to Stratford East.

The Theatre Royal at this time was in a dreadful state, in need of extensive repairs, maintenance and decoration. No funds were available for all this work, so in between rehearsing the plays for their first season, they cleaned and painted and tried to get the old boiler beneath the stage to work. The latter they failed to do. Meanwhile, although technically against the rules, they lived in the dressing rooms of the theatre to save money they never had.

The company opened on 2nd February 1953 with “Twelfth Night”, to a small but very enthusiastic audience. 

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