Plowright Theatre
Encyclopedia
The Plowright Theatre, is a live entertainment venue on Laneham Street in Scunthorpe
, North Lincolnshire
. It is owned and managed by North Lincolnshire Council.
style theatre
with a 354 seat
auditorium. Originally known as Scunthorpe Civic Theatre it was renamed in the 1990s in recognition of the achievements of local actress Joan Plowright
. Plowright was born in Brigg
, educated in Scunthorpe, and is currently the President of Scunthorpe Little Theatre Club. The club was founded by her father Bill Plowright and staged the theatre's first performance, Peer Gynt
, in 1958.
In March 2008, previous box office records at the theatre were broken, after tickets for the comedian Lee Evans
became the fastest sell-out in the theatre's history. The local newspaper reported that a queues had formed at the box office at 6am, and that all tickets sold out within 65 minutes after the box office opened at 10.30am.
Scunthorpe
Scunthorpe is a town within North Lincolnshire, England. It is the administrative centre of the North Lincolnshire unitary authority, and had an estimated total resident population of 72,514 in 2010. A predominantly industrial town, Scunthorpe, the United Kingdom's largest steel processing centre,...
, North Lincolnshire
North Lincolnshire
North Lincolnshire is a unitary authority area in the region of Yorkshire and the Humber in England. For ceremonial purposes it is part of Lincolnshire....
. It is owned and managed by North Lincolnshire Council.
Overview
The Plowright theatre was commissioned by the former Scunthorpe Borough Council and built by J. W. Taylor in 1958. It is a traditional prosceniumProscenium
A proscenium theatre is a theatre space whose primary feature is a large frame or arch , which is located at or near the front of the stage...
style theatre
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...
with a 354 seat
Seating capacity
Seating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, both in terms of the physical space available, and in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats...
auditorium. Originally known as Scunthorpe Civic Theatre it was renamed in the 1990s in recognition of the achievements of local actress Joan Plowright
Joan Plowright
Joan Ann Plowright, Baroness Olivier, DBE , better known as Dame Joan Plowright, is an English actress, whose career has spanned over sixty years. Throughout her career she has won two Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award and has been nominated for an Academy Award, an Emmy, and two BAFTA Awards...
. Plowright was born in Brigg
Brigg
Brigg is a small market town in North Lincolnshire, England, with a population of 5,076 in 2,213 households . The town lies at the junction of the River Ancholme and east-west transport routes across northern Lincolnshire...
, educated in Scunthorpe, and is currently the President of Scunthorpe Little Theatre Club. The club was founded by her father Bill Plowright and staged the theatre's first performance, Peer Gynt
Peer Gynt
Peer Gynt is a five-act play in verse by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen, loosely based on the fairy tale Per Gynt. It is the most widely performed Norwegian play. According to Klaus Van Den Berg, the "cinematic script blends poetry with social satire and realistic scenes with surreal ones"...
, in 1958.
Performances
The Scunthorpe Amateur Operatic Society perform a musical every year at the theatre, as do Scunthorpe Gilbert and Sullivan SocietyIn March 2008, previous box office records at the theatre were broken, after tickets for the comedian Lee Evans
Lee Evans (comedian)
Lee Evans is an English comedian, writer, actor and musician.-Personal life:Lee Evans was born in Avonmouth, Bristol, England to an Irish mother and a Welsh father, Dave Evans, a nightclub performer. He left Bristol at the age of 13 and then went to The Billericay School in Billericay, Essex...
became the fastest sell-out in the theatre's history. The local newspaper reported that a queues had formed at the box office at 6am, and that all tickets sold out within 65 minutes after the box office opened at 10.30am.