Group Theatre (London)
Encyclopedia
The Group Theatre was an experimental theatre company founded in 1932 by Rupert Doone
and Robert Medley
. It evolved from a play-reading group in Cambridge that Doone had been involved with during his years studying with the Festival Theatre there. The Group Theatre was active from 1932 to 1939 and reformed as The Group Theatre Ltd. in the early 1950s.
The Group performed plays written for it in the 1930s by W. H. Auden
, both alone and in collaboration with Christopher Isherwood
, Louis MacNeice
, and Stephen Spender
. It also produced plays by T. S. Eliot
and other contemporary writers, and Elizabethan and medieval English plays.
Among the artists and musicians who worked with the Group were Henry Moore
and Benjamin Britten
.
Rupert Doone
Rupert Doone was an English dancer, choreographer, theatre director, and teacher....
and Robert Medley
Robert Medley
Charles Robert Owen Medley CBE, RA, , always known as Robert Medley, was an English painter who worked in both abstract and figurative styles, and a theatre designer...
. It evolved from a play-reading group in Cambridge that Doone had been involved with during his years studying with the Festival Theatre there. The Group Theatre was active from 1932 to 1939 and reformed as The Group Theatre Ltd. in the early 1950s.
The Group performed plays written for it in the 1930s by W. H. Auden
W. H. Auden
Wystan Hugh Auden , who published as W. H. Auden, was an Anglo-American poet,The first definition of "Anglo-American" in the OED is: "Of, belonging to, or involving both England and America." See also the definition "English in origin or birth, American by settlement or citizenship" in See also...
, both alone and in collaboration with Christopher Isherwood
Christopher Isherwood
Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood was an English-American novelist.-Early life and work:Born at Wyberslegh Hall, High Lane, Cheshire in North West England, Isherwood spent his childhood in various towns where his father, a Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army, was stationed...
, Louis MacNeice
Louis MacNeice
Frederick Louis MacNeice CBE was an Irish poet and playwright. He was part of the generation of "thirties poets" which included W. H. Auden, Stephen Spender and Cecil Day-Lewis; nicknamed "MacSpaunday" as a group — a name invented by Roy Campbell, in his Talking Bronco...
, and Stephen Spender
Stephen Spender
Sir Stephen Harold Spender CBE was an English poet, novelist and essayist who concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle in his work...
. It also produced plays by T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
and other contemporary writers, and Elizabethan and medieval English plays.
Among the artists and musicians who worked with the Group were Henry Moore
Henry Moore
Henry Spencer Moore OM CH FBA was an English sculptor and artist. He was best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art....
and Benjamin Britten
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
.