Hampstead Theatre
Encyclopedia
Hampstead Theatre is a theatre
in the vicinity of Swiss Cottage
and Belsize Park
, in the London Borough of Camden
. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. In 2009 it celebrates its 50 year anniversary.
The original theatre (The Hampstead Theatre Club) was created in Moreland Hall in 1959. James Roose-Evans
was the first Artistic Director, and the 1959–1960 season included The Dumb Waiter
and The Room
by Harold Pinter
, Eugene Ionesco
's Jacques and The Sport of My Mad Mother by Ann Jellicoe
. In 1962 the company moved to a portable cabin in Swiss Cottage
where it remained for nearly 40 years, before, in 2003, the new purpose-built Hampstead Theatre opened in Swiss Cottage. The main auditorium now seats between 150 and 325 people. The studio theatre, the Michael Frayn Space, seats up to 80 people and hosts Heat&Light, Hampstead Theatre's Young Company for ages 10-25. Heat&Light produces 12 productions each year, including, previously, new plays by Bola Agbaje, Mike Bartlett, Joel Horwood
, Jane Bodie, Ed Hime, Nick Grosso and John Donnelly.
As part of its commitment to developing new writers and new writing, the theatre nurtures and commissions playwrights, and also hosts regular Start Nights, where extracts of new plays are performed to an audience who give their constructive feedback on what they have seen.
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
in the vicinity of Swiss Cottage
Swiss Cottage
Swiss Cottage is a district of the London Borough of Camden in London, England. Thedistrict is located north-west of Charing Cross. It is centred on the junction of Avenue Road and Finchley Road and is the location of Swiss Cottage tube station.-Etymology:...
and Belsize Park
Belsize Park
Belsize Park is an area of north-west London, England, in the London Borough of Camden.It is located north-west of Charing Cross and situated on the Northern Line. It borders Hampstead to the north and west, Kentish Town and Gospel Oak to the east, Camden Town to the south east and Primrose Hill...
, in the London Borough of Camden
London Borough of Camden
In 1801, the civil parishes that form the modern borough were already developed and had a total population of 96,795. This continued to rise swiftly throughout the 19th century, as the district became built up; reaching 270,197 in the middle of the century...
. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. In 2009 it celebrates its 50 year anniversary.
The original theatre (The Hampstead Theatre Club) was created in Moreland Hall in 1959. James Roose-Evans
James Roose-Evans
James Roose-Evans is a British theatre director, script-writer, priest and writer on experimental theatre, gesture, ritual and meditation. In 1959 he founded the Hampstead Theatre Club, in London; and in 1974 the Bleddfa Centre for creativity and spirituality, in Powys.-Biography:James...
was the first Artistic Director, and the 1959–1960 season included The Dumb Waiter
The Dumb Waiter
The Dumb Waiter is a one-act play by 2005 Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter written in 1957; it premiered at the Hampstead Theatre Club, on 21 January 1960...
and The Room
The Room
The Room is Harold Pinter's first play, written and first produced in 1957. Considered by critics the earliest example of Pinter's "comedy of menace", this play has strong similarities to Pinter's second play, The Birthday Party, including features considered hallmarks of Pinter's early work and...
by Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
, Eugene Ionesco
Eugène Ionesco
Eugène Ionesco was a Romanian and French playwright and dramatist, and one of the foremost playwrights of the Theatre of the Absurd...
's Jacques and The Sport of My Mad Mother by Ann Jellicoe
Ann Jellicoe
Ann Jellicoe is a British actor, theatre director and playwright. Although her work has covered many areas of theatre and film, she is best known for "pushing the envelope" of the stage play, devising new forms which challenge and delight unconventional audiences...
. In 1962 the company moved to a portable cabin in Swiss Cottage
Swiss Cottage
Swiss Cottage is a district of the London Borough of Camden in London, England. Thedistrict is located north-west of Charing Cross. It is centred on the junction of Avenue Road and Finchley Road and is the location of Swiss Cottage tube station.-Etymology:...
where it remained for nearly 40 years, before, in 2003, the new purpose-built Hampstead Theatre opened in Swiss Cottage. The main auditorium now seats between 150 and 325 people. The studio theatre, the Michael Frayn Space, seats up to 80 people and hosts Heat&Light, Hampstead Theatre's Young Company for ages 10-25. Heat&Light produces 12 productions each year, including, previously, new plays by Bola Agbaje, Mike Bartlett, Joel Horwood
Joel Horwood
Joel Horwood is an award-winning British playwright has been a member of the Royal Court/BBC 50 scheme and is currently on attachment at Hampstead Theatre. His plays include I Caught Crabs in Walberswick, Mikey the Pikey and Food, all presented on the Edinburgh Fringe. Is Everyone OK? toured...
, Jane Bodie, Ed Hime, Nick Grosso and John Donnelly.
As part of its commitment to developing new writers and new writing, the theatre nurtures and commissions playwrights, and also hosts regular Start Nights, where extracts of new plays are performed to an audience who give their constructive feedback on what they have seen.
Artistic directors
- James Roose-EvansJames Roose-EvansJames Roose-Evans is a British theatre director, script-writer, priest and writer on experimental theatre, gesture, ritual and meditation. In 1959 he founded the Hampstead Theatre Club, in London; and in 1974 the Bleddfa Centre for creativity and spirituality, in Powys.-Biography:James...
(1959-1971) - Vivian MatalonVivian MatalonVivian Matalon is a British theatre director.Born in Manchester, England, Matalon began his career as an actor in a series of forgettable British films, but his greatest success has been as a director of West End, Broadway, and regional theater productions.Matalon's West End credits include Bus...
(1971-1973 - Michael RudmanMichael RudmanMichael Rudman is an American theatre director.In 1960, he graduated from Oberlin College cum laude in Government and in 1964 he received an MA in English Language and Literature at Oxford where he was President of the Oxford University Dramatic Society....
(1973-1978) - David AukinDavid AukinDavid Aukin is a theatrical and executive producer as well as a qualified solicitor. He has been nominated twice for British Academy Television Awards for producing films about Tony Blair: The Government Inspector in 2005 and The Trial of Tony Blair in 2007.- Biography :David Aukin was born in...
(1978-1984) - Michael AttenboroughMichael AttenboroughThe Hon. Michael John Attenborough is a successful English theatre director. His parents are the actors Richard Attenborough, Baron Attenborough and Sheila Sim, Lady Attenborough...
(1984-1988) - Jenny Topper (1988-2003)
- Anthony Clark (2003-2010)
- Edward HallEdward Hall (director)Edward Hall is an English theatre director and an associate director at The National Theatre. Hall is known for directing Rose Rage, a stage adaptation of Shakespeare's three Henry VI plays. He also runs an all-male Shakespeare company, Propeller...
(2010-)
Playwrights
Playwrights who have had their early work produced at the theatre include:- Simon Block
- Michael FraynMichael FraynMichael J. Frayn is an English playwright and novelist. He is best known as the author of the farce Noises Off and the dramas Copenhagen and Democracy...
- Brian FrielBrian FrielBrian Friel is an Irish dramatist, author and director of the Field Day Theatre Company. He is considered to be the greatest living English-language dramatist, hailed by the English-speaking world as an "Irish Chekhov" and "the universally accented voice of Ireland"...
- Terry JohnsonTerry Johnson (dramatist)Terry Johnson is a British dramatist and director working for stage, television and film. He is a Literary Associate at the Royal Court Theatre. At The Court he directed Dumb Show by Joe Penhall and opened his play Piano/Forte...
- Hanif KureishiHanif KureishiHanif Kureishi CBE is an English playwright, screenwriter and filmmaker, novelist and short story writer. The themes of his work have touched on topics of race, nationalism, immigration, and sexuality...
- Mike LeighMike LeighMichael "Mike" Leigh, OBE is a British writer and director of film and theatre. He studied theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and studied further at the Camberwell School of Art and the Central School of Art and Design. He began as a theatre director and playwright in the mid 1960s...
- Abi MorganAbi MorganAbi Morgan is a British playwright and screenwriter known for her works for television, such as Sex Traffic and The Hour, and the film Brick Lane...
- Rona MunroRona MunroRona Munro is a Scottish writer. She has written plays for theatre, radio, and television; was the author of the screenplay of Ken Loach's Ladybird, Ladybird and co-author of Aimée & Jaguar by German director Max Färberböck.Munro is also known for being the author of the last Doctor Who television...
- Tamsin Oglesby
- Harold PinterHarold PinterHarold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
- Philip RidleyPhilip RidleyPhilip Ridley is a British artist working with various media.- Biography :Ridley was born in Bethnal Green, in the East End of London, where he still lives and works. He studied painting at St. Martin’s School of Art and his work has been exhibited throughout Europe and Japan...
- Saman ShadSaman ShadSaman Shad was born in Karachi, Pakistan. She has lived in the Middle East, Australia and currently spends her time between London and Dubai. Saman is a playwright and novelist, whose past works are listed below.-Short Stories:...
- Shelagh StephensonShelagh StephensonShelagh Stephenson is a playwright, born in Northumberland and read drama at Manchester University. Her stage plays include The Memory of Water , An Experiment with an Air Pump, Ancient Lights, Five Kinds of Silence and Mappa Mundi...
- debbie tucker green
- Crispin WhittellCrispin WhittellCrispin Whittell is a British director and playwright.He spent much of his early life in Africa. He was a member of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain, and studied English at Cambridge University.-Career:...
- Roy WilliamsRoy Williams (playwright)Roy Samuel Williams, OBE is an award-winning English playwright. Williams has many awards including the George Devine Award for Lift Off, the 2001 Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright for his play Clubland, the 2002 BAFTA Award for Best Schools Drama for Offside and 2004 South Bank...
External links
- Hampstead Theatre Official website