Derby Playhouse
Encyclopedia
Derby Theatre is a theatre
situated in Derby
, England
. Formerly known as the Derby Playhouse, it was operated by Derby Playhouse Ltd from its opening in 1975 until 2008, when the company ceased operating after a period in administration. The theatre was subsequently reopened in 2009 as Derby Theatre under the control of the University of Derby
, who use it as a learning and community theatre. Professional productions are staged at the venue in conjunction with Derby LIVE, the city council's performing arts programme.
On 29 November 2007, following the refusal of Derby City Council to forward £40,000 of grant monies, the Board of Trustees of the theatre announced that it was going into voluntary liquidation and that performances would cease immediately. The cast and crew of Treasure Island
(the Christmas show that was due to 'press' that evening) defied the wishes of the Trustees and put on that evening's performance. On 30 November 2007 the Board of Trustees announced that the company had been put into administration.
The Arts Council subsequently suspended its funding.
The Playhouse then reopened on Friday 7 December 2007 to finish its run of Treasure Island
, trading in administration. Tickets for a slightly modified Spring/Summer 2008 season, which had already been on sale for some weeks before the closure, were put back on sale during December and January while an appeal was made to the Arts Council. However, the Arts Council refused the appeal on 25 January 2008, and so the theatre closed after the last performance of Treasure Island on 2 February 2008, the run having been extended by one week.
At a meeting on 30 July 2008 the creditors voted to accept a rescue package put together by the new board of trustees of the company. Subsequently, the theatre reopened on Saturday 13 September 2008 with The Killing of Sister George
starring Jenny Eclair.
The Derby Playhouse production, Moon Landing
, has been nominated in the Best Musical Production category of the TMA Awards
, 2008.
A NEW era has begun at Derby Playhouse – with the first productions expected on stage by October.
University of Derby staff, who will manage the theatre, entered the city centre building Friday, April 24, 2009 just hours after signing a 99-year lease – for an undisclosed sum.
Work is in progress to convert behind the scenes areas into offices and learning spaces for theatre and performing arts staff and students.
University finance director Hari Punchihewa also hopes to receive applications from community groups and touring productions who want to put on productions at the theatre.
He was quoted as saying "This is both a learning theatre and a community theatre and we want it to appeal to all ages and sections of society".
The Playhouse re-opened in October 2009 under the name Derby Theatre with two productions by local non-professional theatre group Derby Gilbert & Sullivan Company
who performed The Gondoliers and The Mikado. It is now being run by Derby LIVE. As of November 2009 they are showing the Bafta award winning play "The Pros, the Cons and a Screw", written by Tim Elgood. The Prison drama has received with strong reviews, "...altogether superb", The Stage.
. It was the culmination of years of planning and fund-raising to secure a brand new theatre for Derby.
The original Playhouse had opened as the Little Theatre in Becket Street, back in 1948, in a converted Church Hall; in 1952, the company moved to further converted premises in Sacheveral Street, surviving a major fire in 1956.
In the 1960s and early 70's there was a renaissance in arts funding; government investment in the Arts Council of Great Britain's "Housing the Arts" fund enabled towns and cities all over the country either to renovate existing theatres, or commission new ones; as a result, new theatres were being constructed all over the country. With its success in Sacheveral Street, Derby Playhouse, too, wanted its own brand new, purpose-built theatre, so formed the New Theatre Trust in order to raise the local funding necessary for the project. From 1980 to 2003 and since the theatre's reopening, the theatre regularly hosted the Derby Gilbert & Sullivan Company
for their annual Gilbert and Sullivan
shows.
Roderick Ham - who had already designed the Thorndike Theatre, Leatherhead
- was commissioned to design the new theatre, and the City Council offered the site as part of the new shopping development, the Eagle Centre
.
and the high-profile first season continued with Hamlet
and concluded the following summer with Allestree
-born Alan Bates
in The Seagull
, a production which went on to play for a season in London.
Mark Woolgar was Resident Director for the first five seasons, with work ranging from Shakespeare, Shaw and Ibsen to Ayckbourn, Orton and Coward. Christopher Honer joined the Playhouse as Artistic Director in 1980. Over the next seven years, landmark productions included All My Sons with Miranda Richardson
, Piaf with Caroline Quentin
, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui starring Ben Roberts; new plays such as Don Shaw's The Conspirator and Rony Robinson
's The Brewery Beano; and box office successes such as Funny Peculiar, Having A Ball! and Blood Brothers.
Meanwhile, the Studio, under the various direction of John North, David Milne and Claire Grove, not only provided a year-round programme of productions, but also mounted community tours and Theatre in Education.
In 1987, Annie Castledine
succeeded Christopher Honer as Artistic Director, and for the next three years, the Playhouse saw a completely different style of theatre. Revivals of plays such as The Innocent Mistress, The Children's Hour and The Dark at the Top of the Stairs together with re-interpretations of classics such as A Doll's House and Jane Eyre. There were also plays from the popular repertoire such as Arsenic and Old Lace
, Gaslight and Noises Off alongside new work such as Sunday's Children, The Queen of Spades, Selling the Sizzle and Self Portrait and a series of co-productions with such companies as Shared Experience, Paines Plough and Temba meant the Playhouse was seldom out of the news. The strength of the visual images on stage became an outstanding feature, and the work of a series of world-class designers could be seen on the Playhouse stage. The Playhouse was shortlisted for the prestigious Prudential Awards during this period.
When Annie Castledine left the Playhouse in the summer of 1990, Derby Playhouse faced the prospect of greatly reduced funding as Derbyshire County Council had cut their entire arts budget, depriving the Playhouse of £130,000 of revenue grant. Fortunately the City Council stepped in and offered the theatre an additional grant, which enabled the Playhouse to continue to operate, albeit on a smaller scale. From the summer of 1990 to Christmas 1991, Executive Director, David Edwards, was in charge of scheduling the programme, which culminated in the Playhouse's production of Hobson's Choice winning the Theatrical Management Association
's Regional Theatre Award for Best Overall Production. In spring 1991, Mark Clements was appointed Artistic Director.
Mark's first season was an immediate critical and financial success, from its opening production of And A Nightingale Sang. But the real record breaker was to follow with John Godber
's On The Piste, which was so popular that it had to be repeated later in the year, and again in 2001, and Godber's work became an ever-popular part of the programme during Clements' tenure. During the Clements period the programme included a variety of work, ranging from classics such as Death of a Salesman, Aphra Behn's Lucky Chance and Shakespeare's Richard III, to contemporary drama such as Our Boys, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice and Children of a Lesser God, and newly commissioned work such as Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Passion Killers and Blood Money. Musicals became an important part of the programme, starting with Grease, and including Little Shop of Horrors
, Cabaret and Assassins, while the pantomime
s written by Mark Clements and Michael Vivian drew in record numbers at Christmas time.
In 2002 both Mark Clements and David Edwards left the company. Karen Hebden was appointed as Chief Executive, closely followed by Stephen Edwards as Creative Producer.
Over the following years the Playhouse gained national recognition for its productions, particularly the works of Stephen Sondheim
. To date there have been critically acclaimed in-house productions of Sweeney Todd
, Into the Woods
, Company
and Merrily We Roll Along
. Three of these productions featured West End and Broadway performer Glenn Carter
, who has also appeared in other non-Sondheim
productions at the Playhouse. One of these was a new music drama called Moon Landing
, from an original idea and synopsis by Justin Fleming, written, composed and directed by Stephen Edwards. The production was based on the events of and leading up to the Apollo 11
lunar mission, and also looked at the more 'human' side of the story, following the relationships of the astronauts and their families. Carter appeared as Buzz Aldrin
. The production was met with outstanding critical acclaim, especially as it was a brand new musical produced entirely in house by a regional rep theatre. An original cast recording was made, recorded live on the night of the final performance.
In 2007, productions at the theatre sold over 100,000 tickets in aggregate for the first time.
The theatre had a gained a national reputation for its productions. The joint Artistic Directors were Stephen Edwards and Karen Louise Hebden at the time the theatre closed.
. The staff were made redundant without any notice, and the performances of the Christmas show Treasure Island
were cancelled. The show had been selling well, and had already been open for four preview performances. It had also followed a sell out run of the hit comedy Stepping Out
directed by Steven Dexter
. The cast, crew and staff of the Playhouse then rallied to put on one final performance of the show. After the curtain call, the cast were joined on stage by the rest of the staff, with Karen Hebden (the theatre's Chief Executive and director of the show), Michael Hall, and Prof. Jonathan Powers (two former chairmen of the Playhouse board) who then addressed the audience and press, asking them to fight for the city's theatre and get the Playhouse open again.
The following day the theatre was placed into administration, which meant it could potentially reopen and trade again. It had been placed in the hands of Tenon Recovery, who became administrators. During the following week, the public support gained huge momentum, including a candle-lit protest outside of the Derby City Council house, and over 3,000 people joining a 'Save Derby Playhouse' group on the social networking site Facebook in just five days. There were also many letters of support and shock on the pages of the Derby Evening Telegraph
.
Derby Playhouse was able to re-open a week after its closure, after a consortium led by Powers was able to form a business plan that enabled the theatre to trade until the end of Treasure Island
s original run. The box office re-opened on 7 December 2007 with performances recommencing on 8 December. The theatre was being run on a skeleton of essential staff, initially working unpaid to get the theatre up and running again. A fund was set up to accept donations to keep the theatre running, as it was now running as a charitable trust relying on ticket sales and donations alone. However, the theatre finally closed after the last performance of Treasure Island on 2 February 2008 (the run having been extended by one week).
At a meeting on 30 July 2008 the creditors voted to accept a rescue package put together by the new board of trustees of the company. Subsequently, the theatre reopened on Saturday 13 September 2008 with The Killing of Sister George
starring Jenny Eclair.
Derby Playhouse joins a growing list of regional theatres that are struggling financially and fighting closure, such as the Exeter
Northcott Theatre
and the Bristol Old Vic
.
2007
Further information: Derby Playhouse production history
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...
situated in Derby
Derby
Derby , is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Formerly known as the Derby Playhouse, it was operated by Derby Playhouse Ltd from its opening in 1975 until 2008, when the company ceased operating after a period in administration. The theatre was subsequently reopened in 2009 as Derby Theatre under the control of the University of Derby
University of Derby
The University of Derby is a university in the city of Derby, England. The main site is on Kedleston Road, Allestree in the north-west of Derby close to the A38 opposite Markeaton Park...
, who use it as a learning and community theatre. Professional productions are staged at the venue in conjunction with Derby LIVE, the city council's performing arts programme.
On 29 November 2007, following the refusal of Derby City Council to forward £40,000 of grant monies, the Board of Trustees of the theatre announced that it was going into voluntary liquidation and that performances would cease immediately. The cast and crew of Treasure Island
Treasure Island
Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "pirates and buried gold". First published as a book on May 23, 1883, it was originally serialized in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881–82 under the title Treasure Island; or, the...
(the Christmas show that was due to 'press' that evening) defied the wishes of the Trustees and put on that evening's performance. On 30 November 2007 the Board of Trustees announced that the company had been put into administration.
The Arts Council subsequently suspended its funding.
The Playhouse then reopened on Friday 7 December 2007 to finish its run of Treasure Island
Treasure Island
Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "pirates and buried gold". First published as a book on May 23, 1883, it was originally serialized in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881–82 under the title Treasure Island; or, the...
, trading in administration. Tickets for a slightly modified Spring/Summer 2008 season, which had already been on sale for some weeks before the closure, were put back on sale during December and January while an appeal was made to the Arts Council. However, the Arts Council refused the appeal on 25 January 2008, and so the theatre closed after the last performance of Treasure Island on 2 February 2008, the run having been extended by one week.
At a meeting on 30 July 2008 the creditors voted to accept a rescue package put together by the new board of trustees of the company. Subsequently, the theatre reopened on Saturday 13 September 2008 with The Killing of Sister George
The Killing of Sister George
The Killing of Sister George is a 1964 play by Frank Marcus that was adapted as a 1968 film directed by Robert Aldrich.- Stage version :Sister George is a beloved character in the popular radio series Applehurst, a nurse who ministers to the medical needs and personal problems of the local villagers...
starring Jenny Eclair.
The Derby Playhouse production, Moon Landing
Moon Landing (music drama)
Moon Landing is a musical drama with music, lyrics and book by Stephen Edwards. It explores the story of the Apollo astronauts on their journey to the Moon and asks the question, "How do you return to Earth when you've walked on another world?"...
, has been nominated in the Best Musical Production category of the TMA Awards
TMA Awards
The TMA Awards, established in 1991, are presented annually by the Theatrical Management Association in recognition of creative excellence and outstanding work in United Kingdom theatres...
, 2008.
A NEW era has begun at Derby Playhouse – with the first productions expected on stage by October.
University of Derby staff, who will manage the theatre, entered the city centre building Friday, April 24, 2009 just hours after signing a 99-year lease – for an undisclosed sum.
Work is in progress to convert behind the scenes areas into offices and learning spaces for theatre and performing arts staff and students.
University finance director Hari Punchihewa also hopes to receive applications from community groups and touring productions who want to put on productions at the theatre.
He was quoted as saying "This is both a learning theatre and a community theatre and we want it to appeal to all ages and sections of society".
The Playhouse re-opened in October 2009 under the name Derby Theatre with two productions by local non-professional theatre group Derby Gilbert & Sullivan Company
Derby Gilbert & Sullivan Company
Derby Gilbert & Sullivan Company, based in Derby, England, produces the works of Gilbert & Sullivan. The company have won the amateur competition at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival an unprecedented six times and have been called "one of the most highly acclaimed nonprofessional...
who performed The Gondoliers and The Mikado. It is now being run by Derby LIVE. As of November 2009 they are showing the Bafta award winning play "The Pros, the Cons and a Screw", written by Tim Elgood. The Prison drama has received with strong reviews, "...altogether superb", The Stage.
History
The present day Derby Playhouse was officially opened on 20 September 1975 by the 11th Duke of DevonshireDuke of Devonshire
Duke of Devonshire is a title in the peerage of England held by members of the Cavendish family. This branch of the Cavendish family has been one of the richest and most influential aristocratic families in England since the 16th century, and have been rivalled in political influence perhaps only...
. It was the culmination of years of planning and fund-raising to secure a brand new theatre for Derby.
The original Playhouse had opened as the Little Theatre in Becket Street, back in 1948, in a converted Church Hall; in 1952, the company moved to further converted premises in Sacheveral Street, surviving a major fire in 1956.
In the 1960s and early 70's there was a renaissance in arts funding; government investment in the Arts Council of Great Britain's "Housing the Arts" fund enabled towns and cities all over the country either to renovate existing theatres, or commission new ones; as a result, new theatres were being constructed all over the country. With its success in Sacheveral Street, Derby Playhouse, too, wanted its own brand new, purpose-built theatre, so formed the New Theatre Trust in order to raise the local funding necessary for the project. From 1980 to 2003 and since the theatre's reopening, the theatre regularly hosted the Derby Gilbert & Sullivan Company
Derby Gilbert & Sullivan Company
Derby Gilbert & Sullivan Company, based in Derby, England, produces the works of Gilbert & Sullivan. The company have won the amateur competition at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival an unprecedented six times and have been called "one of the most highly acclaimed nonprofessional...
for their annual Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
shows.
Roderick Ham - who had already designed the Thorndike Theatre, Leatherhead
Leatherhead
Leatherhead is a town in the County of Surrey, England, on the River Mole, part of Mole Valley district. It is thought to be of Saxon origin...
- was commissioned to design the new theatre, and the City Council offered the site as part of the new shopping development, the Eagle Centre
Eagle Centre
Westfield Derby is a large indoor shopping centre in centre of Derby, UK, jointly owned by Westfield and Hermes.-Overview:Westfield Derby contains around 200 shops, a supermarket, a cinema and many eateries. The largest stores are Next, Marks & Spencer, Debenhams and Sainsbury's. There is also a...
.
Productions
The New Playhouse opened with My Fair LadyMy Fair Lady
My Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe...
and the high-profile first season continued with Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
and concluded the following summer with Allestree
Allestree
-Climate:Due to its location in southern Derbyshire, Allestree has a temperate climate with a small variation in daily and annual temperatures. The warmest month is July, with an average temperature range of 11.4 °C to 21.3 °C, and the coolest month is January, with a range of...
-born Alan Bates
Alan Bates
Sir Alan Arthur Bates CBE was an English actor, who came to prominence in the 1960s, a time of high creativity in British cinema, when he demonstrated his versatility in films ranging from the popular children’s story Whistle Down the Wind to the "kitchen sink" drama A Kind of Loving...
in The Seagull
The Seagull
The Seagull is the first of what are generally considered to be the four major plays by the Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov. The Seagull was written in 1895 and first produced in 1896...
, a production which went on to play for a season in London.
Mark Woolgar was Resident Director for the first five seasons, with work ranging from Shakespeare, Shaw and Ibsen to Ayckbourn, Orton and Coward. Christopher Honer joined the Playhouse as Artistic Director in 1980. Over the next seven years, landmark productions included All My Sons with Miranda Richardson
Miranda Richardson
Miranda Jane Richardson is an English stage, film and television actor. She has been nominated for two Academy Awards, and has won two Golden Globes and a BAFTA during her career....
, Piaf with Caroline Quentin
Caroline Quentin
Caroline Jones known by her stage name Caroline Quentin, is an English actress. Quentin became known for her television appearances in Men Behaving Badly, playing Dorothy, and playing Maddy Magellan in Jonathan Creek for three years.-Early life:...
, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui starring Ben Roberts; new plays such as Don Shaw's The Conspirator and Rony Robinson
Rony Robinson
Rony Robinson is a writer, educationalist and iconic, Sony Award-winning BBC Radio Sheffield daytime presenter. His novels include: The Ted Carp Tradition , The Beano...
's The Brewery Beano; and box office successes such as Funny Peculiar, Having A Ball! and Blood Brothers.
Meanwhile, the Studio, under the various direction of John North, David Milne and Claire Grove, not only provided a year-round programme of productions, but also mounted community tours and Theatre in Education.
In 1987, Annie Castledine
Annie Castledine
Annie Castledine is a theatre director.Her work has included periods with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Young Vic. She has been Artistic Director at Theatr Clywd, Mold and at the Derby Playhouse ....
succeeded Christopher Honer as Artistic Director, and for the next three years, the Playhouse saw a completely different style of theatre. Revivals of plays such as The Innocent Mistress, The Children's Hour and The Dark at the Top of the Stairs together with re-interpretations of classics such as A Doll's House and Jane Eyre. There were also plays from the popular repertoire such as Arsenic and Old Lace
Arsenic and Old Lace (play)
Arsenic and Old Lace is a play by American playwright Joseph Kesselring, written in 1939. It has become best known through the film adaptation starring Cary Grant and directed by Frank Capra. The play was directed by Bretaigne Windust, and opened on January 10, 1941. On September 25, 1943, the...
, Gaslight and Noises Off alongside new work such as Sunday's Children, The Queen of Spades, Selling the Sizzle and Self Portrait and a series of co-productions with such companies as Shared Experience, Paines Plough and Temba meant the Playhouse was seldom out of the news. The strength of the visual images on stage became an outstanding feature, and the work of a series of world-class designers could be seen on the Playhouse stage. The Playhouse was shortlisted for the prestigious Prudential Awards during this period.
When Annie Castledine left the Playhouse in the summer of 1990, Derby Playhouse faced the prospect of greatly reduced funding as Derbyshire County Council had cut their entire arts budget, depriving the Playhouse of £130,000 of revenue grant. Fortunately the City Council stepped in and offered the theatre an additional grant, which enabled the Playhouse to continue to operate, albeit on a smaller scale. From the summer of 1990 to Christmas 1991, Executive Director, David Edwards, was in charge of scheduling the programme, which culminated in the Playhouse's production of Hobson's Choice winning the Theatrical Management Association
Theatrical Management Association
The Theatrical Management Association, founded in 1894, is the UK’s pre-eminent association for companies and organisations involved professionally in the production and presentation of the performing arts. The Theatrical Management Association has presented the TMA Awards annually since 1991....
's Regional Theatre Award for Best Overall Production. In spring 1991, Mark Clements was appointed Artistic Director.
Mark's first season was an immediate critical and financial success, from its opening production of And A Nightingale Sang. But the real record breaker was to follow with John Godber
John Godber
John Harry Godber is an English dramatist, known mainly for his observational comedies. In the 'Plays and Players Yearbook' for 1993 he was calculated as the third most performed playwright in the UK behind William Shakespeare and Alan Ayckbourn. He has a wife and 2 children.-Biography:Godber was...
's On The Piste, which was so popular that it had to be repeated later in the year, and again in 2001, and Godber's work became an ever-popular part of the programme during Clements' tenure. During the Clements period the programme included a variety of work, ranging from classics such as Death of a Salesman, Aphra Behn's Lucky Chance and Shakespeare's Richard III, to contemporary drama such as Our Boys, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice and Children of a Lesser God, and newly commissioned work such as Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Passion Killers and Blood Money. Musicals became an important part of the programme, starting with Grease, and including Little Shop of Horrors
Little Shop of Horrors (musical)
Little Shop of Horrors is a rock musical, by composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman, about a hapless florist shop worker who raises a plant that feeds on human blood. The musical is based on the low-budget 1960 black comedy film The Little Shop of Horrors, directed by Roger Corman...
, Cabaret and Assassins, while the pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
s written by Mark Clements and Michael Vivian drew in record numbers at Christmas time.
In 2002 both Mark Clements and David Edwards left the company. Karen Hebden was appointed as Chief Executive, closely followed by Stephen Edwards as Creative Producer.
Over the following years the Playhouse gained national recognition for its productions, particularly the works of Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
. To date there have been critically acclaimed in-house productions of Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as then antagonist of the Victorian penny dreadful The String of Pearls and he was later introduced as an antihero in the broadway musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and its film adaptation...
, Into the Woods
Into the Woods
Into the Woods is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. It debuted in San Diego at the Old Globe Theatre in 1986, and premiered on Broadway in 1987. Bernadette Peters' performance as the Witch and Joanna Gleason's portrayal of the Baker's Wife brought acclaim...
, Company
Company
A company is a form of business organization. It is an association or collection of individual real persons and/or other companies, who each provide some form of capital. This group has a common purpose or focus and an aim of gaining profits. This collection, group or association of persons can be...
and Merrily We Roll Along
Merrily We Roll Along (musical)
Merrily We Roll Along is a musical with a book by George Furth and lyrics and music by Stephen Sondheim. It is based on the 1934 play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart....
. Three of these productions featured West End and Broadway performer Glenn Carter
Glenn Carter
Glenn Carter is an English stage actor and singer-songwriter performing leading roles in musicals staged in London's West End...
, who has also appeared in other non-Sondheim
Sondheim
Sondheim vor der Rhön is a municipality in the district Rhön-Grabfeld, Bavaria, Germany. It is administrated by the Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Ostheim. As of 2002 it had a population of 1123, and covers an area of 18.58 km².-History:...
productions at the Playhouse. One of these was a new music drama called Moon Landing
Moon Landing (music drama)
Moon Landing is a musical drama with music, lyrics and book by Stephen Edwards. It explores the story of the Apollo astronauts on their journey to the Moon and asks the question, "How do you return to Earth when you've walked on another world?"...
, from an original idea and synopsis by Justin Fleming, written, composed and directed by Stephen Edwards. The production was based on the events of and leading up to the Apollo 11
Apollo 11
In early 1969, Bill Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council effective in August 1969 and announced his retirement as an astronaut. At that point Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup Command Module Pilot in case Apollo 11 was...
lunar mission, and also looked at the more 'human' side of the story, following the relationships of the astronauts and their families. Carter appeared as Buzz Aldrin
Buzz Aldrin
Buzz Aldrin is an American mechanical engineer, retired United States Air Force pilot and astronaut who was the Lunar Module pilot on Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing in history...
. The production was met with outstanding critical acclaim, especially as it was a brand new musical produced entirely in house by a regional rep theatre. An original cast recording was made, recorded live on the night of the final performance.
In 2007, productions at the theatre sold over 100,000 tickets in aggregate for the first time.
The theatre had a gained a national reputation for its productions. The joint Artistic Directors were Stephen Edwards and Karen Louise Hebden at the time the theatre closed.
Closure and temporary reopening
Derby Playhouse was closed suddenly on 29 November 2007, after the board of directors placed the company into liquidationLiquidation
In law, liquidation is the process by which a company is brought to an end, and the assets and property of the company redistributed. Liquidation is also sometimes referred to as winding-up or dissolution, although dissolution technically refers to the last stage of liquidation...
. The staff were made redundant without any notice, and the performances of the Christmas show Treasure Island
Treasure Island
Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "pirates and buried gold". First published as a book on May 23, 1883, it was originally serialized in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881–82 under the title Treasure Island; or, the...
were cancelled. The show had been selling well, and had already been open for four preview performances. It had also followed a sell out run of the hit comedy Stepping Out
Stepping Out (play)
Stepping Out is a play written by Richard Harris in 1984. It was produced in the West End, London, where it received the Evening Standard Comedy of the Year Award, and on Broadway, New York.-Plot:...
directed by Steven Dexter
Steven Dexter
Steven Dexter is a theatre director and writer. Born in South Africa, he moved to London in 1984 and studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.- West End productions :...
. The cast, crew and staff of the Playhouse then rallied to put on one final performance of the show. After the curtain call, the cast were joined on stage by the rest of the staff, with Karen Hebden (the theatre's Chief Executive and director of the show), Michael Hall, and Prof. Jonathan Powers (two former chairmen of the Playhouse board) who then addressed the audience and press, asking them to fight for the city's theatre and get the Playhouse open again.
The following day the theatre was placed into administration, which meant it could potentially reopen and trade again. It had been placed in the hands of Tenon Recovery, who became administrators. During the following week, the public support gained huge momentum, including a candle-lit protest outside of the Derby City Council house, and over 3,000 people joining a 'Save Derby Playhouse' group on the social networking site Facebook in just five days. There were also many letters of support and shock on the pages of the Derby Evening Telegraph
Derby Evening Telegraph
The Derby Telegraph, formerly the Derby Evening Telegraph, is a daily tabloid newspaper printed and distributed in Derby, England.-History:In 1857, Richard Keene was publishing the Derby Telegraph every Saturday. His business was in Irongate...
.
Derby Playhouse was able to re-open a week after its closure, after a consortium led by Powers was able to form a business plan that enabled the theatre to trade until the end of Treasure Island
Treasure Island
Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "pirates and buried gold". First published as a book on May 23, 1883, it was originally serialized in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881–82 under the title Treasure Island; or, the...
s original run. The box office re-opened on 7 December 2007 with performances recommencing on 8 December. The theatre was being run on a skeleton of essential staff, initially working unpaid to get the theatre up and running again. A fund was set up to accept donations to keep the theatre running, as it was now running as a charitable trust relying on ticket sales and donations alone. However, the theatre finally closed after the last performance of Treasure Island on 2 February 2008 (the run having been extended by one week).
At a meeting on 30 July 2008 the creditors voted to accept a rescue package put together by the new board of trustees of the company. Subsequently, the theatre reopened on Saturday 13 September 2008 with The Killing of Sister George
The Killing of Sister George
The Killing of Sister George is a 1964 play by Frank Marcus that was adapted as a 1968 film directed by Robert Aldrich.- Stage version :Sister George is a beloved character in the popular radio series Applehurst, a nurse who ministers to the medical needs and personal problems of the local villagers...
starring Jenny Eclair.
Derby Playhouse joins a growing list of regional theatres that are struggling financially and fighting closure, such as the Exeter
Exeter
Exeter is a historic city in Devon, England. It lies within the ceremonial county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council. Currently the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district, and is therefore under the administration of the...
Northcott Theatre
Northcott Theatre
The Northcott Theatre is a theatre situated on the Streatham Campus of the University of Exeter, Exeter, Devon, England.-History:The Northcott is the seventh building in Exeter to be used as a theatre....
and the Bristol Old Vic
Bristol Old Vic
The Bristol Old Vic is a theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, King Street, in Bristol, England. The theatre complex includes the 1766 Theatre Royal, which claims to be the oldest continually-operating theatre in England, along with a 1970s studio theatre , offices and backstage facilities...
.
Recent Productions
2008- The Killing of Sister GeorgeThe Killing of Sister GeorgeThe Killing of Sister George is a 1964 play by Frank Marcus that was adapted as a 1968 film directed by Robert Aldrich.- Stage version :Sister George is a beloved character in the popular radio series Applehurst, a nurse who ministers to the medical needs and personal problems of the local villagers...
2007
- The Importance of Being EarnestThe Importance of Being EarnestThe Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at St. James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae in order to escape burdensome social obligations...
- JohnnoJohnnoJohnno is a semi-autobiographical novel written by Australian author David Malouf and was first published in 1975. It was Malouf's first novel....
, a co-production with Australia's La Boite Theatre. - Merrily We Roll AlongMerrily We Roll Along (musical)Merrily We Roll Along is a musical with a book by George Furth and lyrics and music by Stephen Sondheim. It is based on the 1934 play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart....
- As You Like ItAs You Like ItAs You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the folio of 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility...
- The TempestThe TempestThe Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place,...
- Derby Playhouse Youth Theatre - Moon LandingMoon Landing (music drama)Moon Landing is a musical drama with music, lyrics and book by Stephen Edwards. It explores the story of the Apollo astronauts on their journey to the Moon and asks the question, "How do you return to Earth when you've walked on another world?"...
- Stepping OutStepping Out (play)Stepping Out is a play written by Richard Harris in 1984. It was produced in the West End, London, where it received the Evening Standard Comedy of the Year Award, and on Broadway, New York.-Plot:...
- Treasure IslandTreasure IslandTreasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "pirates and buried gold". First published as a book on May 23, 1883, it was originally serialized in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881–82 under the title Treasure Island; or, the...
Further information: Derby Playhouse production history
Derby Playhouse production history
Derby Playhouse, is a theatre situated in Derby, England. It has been operated by Derby Playhouse Ltd since it opened in 1975 although the future of Derby Playhouse Ltd is currently uncertain. The following is a chronological list of productions that have been staged since it opened.This list...
External links
- The Guardian Review of Treasure Island in The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
. - The 'Save Derby Playhouse' Protest Website Protest website set up by Derby City residents and former employees of the theatre
- Derby Playhouse Official Theatre website
- Audio recording of the protest rally at Derby City Council house, December 4th 2007