Nottingham Playhouse


Nottingham Playhouse is a theatre in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England. 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 and Frank Dunlop. The current building opened in 1963.

The building

The architect of the current theatre, constructed as an example of Modern architecture, was Peter Moro who had worked on the interior design of the Royal Festival Hall in London. When the theatre was completed, it was controversial as it faces the gothic revival Roman Catholic cathedral designed by Augustus Pugin. 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 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 and in 2004, the theatre was sympathetically restored and refurbished with a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
The sculpture Sky Mirror 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 patio area of Cast Restaurant 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%.

Performance history

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. 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, Kenneth Alan Taylor, Pip Broughton and Martin Duncan. The Playhouse is currently under the leadership of Stephanie Sirr, Chief Executive and Giles Croft, Artistic Director. In Spring 2017 it was announced that Adam Penford would succeed Croft as Artistic Director from September 2017.
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 pantomimes conceived by former artistic director Kenneth Alan Taylor. Taylor has directed 34 consecutive pantomimes at the theatre as of 2013.
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 plays include Old Big 'Ead in the Spirit of the Man, a homage to Nottingham legend Brian Clough, Rat Pack Confidential and Summer and Smoke, which both transferred to the West End and The Burial at Thebes 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.
In 2013, Nottingham Playhouse celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Moro designed building. The commemorative season included world premiere productions of 1984, Grandpa in my Pocket, I Was A Rat by Philip Pullman and Charlie Peace: His Amazing Life and Astounding Legend. A major new production of Richard III, Alan Ayckbourn's Joking Apart and a revival of The Ashes along with Kenneth Alan Taylor's 30th pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk completed the year.
In 2014, 2015 and 2016 the Nottingham Playhouse and Headlong Theatre 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 has subsequently been 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 Nottingham born Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean's gold medal winning performance at the 1984 winter olympics in 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 became the Playhouse's best-selling ever drama.
The highlight of its 70th anniversary 2018 season will be The Madness of George III by Alan Bennett starring Mark Gatiss, Debra Gillett and Adrian Scarborough.