Capacity 1,100 Phone +44 113 213 7700 | Opened March 1990 Function Theater | |
Owner Leeds Theatre Trust ltd (Registered charity 255460) Address Playhouse Square, Quarry Hill, Leeds LS2 7UP, UK Directors James Brining, Robin Hawkes Similar Grand Theatre - Leeds, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, City Varieties Music Hall, York Theatre Royal, Royal Exchange - Manchester Profiles | ||
The West Yorkshire Playhouse (often abbreviated as WYP) is a theatre in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, in the north of England. It opened in 1990 as successor to Leeds Playhouse. It has two auditoria and hosts a wide range of productions and engages in outreach work in the local community.
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History
The origins of the West Yorkshire Playhouse lie in the earlier Leeds Playhouse, which was established following a campaign for a new theatre begun in 1964. Despite some opposition from the local council on the grounds that Leeds already had a theatre (the Grand Theatre), a public appeal was launched to raise funds at a mass meeting in Leeds Town Hall on 5 May 1968. The meeting was addressed by Peter O'Toole, Keith Waterhouse, and the actor and joint artistic director of Nottingham Playhouse, John Neville, amongst others. £20,000 was raised by public subscription, but the project still needed support from Leeds City Council. The Council eventually promised £25,000, and £5,000 annually if necessary. This, along with grants from the Arts Council and the Gulbenkian Foundation, meant that the project could go ahead and the Leeds Playhouse opened in 1970 in premises loaned to the Leeds Theatre Trust by the University of Leeds. The first performance was held on Wednesday 16 September 1970 with Tony Robinson, who later went on to play Baldrick in the television series Blackadder, starring as Simon in Alan Plater's play Simon Says, directed by Bill Hays. The following month Robinson also appeared in The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare, where he played Abraham Slender.
The Leeds Playhouse turned into the West Yorkshire Playhouse in March 1990 when it relocated to the Quarry Hill area of the city as part of a major regeneration scheme.
Building
The West Yorkshire Playhouse was designed by The Appleton Partnership architects of Edinburgh. The complex comprises: The Quarry Theatre (750 seats), The Courtyard Theatre (350 seats), a CAMRA award-winning bar with wireless internet connection, a restaurant, the Newlyn Gallery, two function rooms (the Congreve Room and the Priestley Room), three rehearsal spaces, a recording studio, extensive technical workshops, dressing rooms, a costume hire department and offices for production, administrative and artistic teams. The foundation stone was laid by Judi Dench in 1989, and on completion it was opened by Diana Rigg. The theatre was completed at a cost of £13 million.
Productions
According to the West Yorkshire Playhouse website it has established a reputation both nationally and internationally as one of Britain's most exciting producing theatres, winning awards for everything from its productions to its customer service, and it is "the largest regional repertory theatre in the UK outside London and Stratford". The theatre's first artistic director was Jude Kelly (1990–2002). Her successor was Ian Brown who ran the theatre until passing the baton to James Brining in the autumn of 2012.
Productions cover a wide range from classic drama to modern European theatre and children's shows. There is an emphasis on new writing, especially from the north of England. There are many coproductions with other regional theatres, some of which go on to tour or transfer to London theatres. Visiting companies include Northern Broadsides, Kneehigh Theatre and Peepolykus.
The theatre was home to the original version of the musical Spend Spend Spend, the story of the life of Viv Nicholson, the 1961 famous Pools winner and author of the book of the same name. The original, starring Rosemary Ashe appeared at the Playhouse before it went on to West End success starring Barbara Dickson.
A typical season includes four or five major productions which run for three or four weeks, and a number of one-week or shorter runs which may be by visiting companies. A typical recent season (Autumn-Winter 2007) included: Casanova by Carol Ann Duffy and Told By An Idiot, with Lyric Hammersmith; a stage adaptation of Don Quixote; Brief Encounter with Kneehigh Theatre and Birmingham Repertory Theatre; Rough Crossings adapted by Caryl Phillips from Simon Schama's book; Salonika, first performed at the Royal Court Theatre in 1982. There were 6 plays with shorter runs, a visiting production by Northern Ballet Theatre, and two Christmas shows, one for small children and a revived co-production with Birmingham Repertory Company of Adrian Mitchell's dramatisation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Tony Harrison's satyr play The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus was performed at the theatre in 1998.
Financial support
The theatre receives funding from Arts Council England (£1,100,000) and Leeds City Council (£820,000), West Yorkshire Grants and Leeds Education Authority. It also encourages corporate sponsorship. The theatre is a member of the European Theatre Convention.