Built in 1866 as the Star Music Hall, the Liverpool Playhouse became a full-time repertory theatre in 1911, and was the oldest repertory company in the country when it was sadly wound up in 1999.
The Playhouse’s acting roster was among the finest in the country – including Robert Donat, Michael Redgrave, Rachel Kempson, John Thaw, Anthony Hopkins and many, many more – and the rich variety of the repertory programme formed many generations of committed theatregoers. It was here that Noël Coward first worked with Gertrude Lawrence, as child actors, and the Playhouse was the wartime home of the Old Vic company, who decamped, perhaps unwisely, to what was to be Britain’s second most bombarded city.
The latter part of the twentieth century featured many high points, perhaps the most notorious being the tenure of the Gang of Four – Alan Bleasdale, Chris Bond, Bill Morrison and Willy Russell – a brief but dazzlingly creative period which spawned, among many others, Russell’s international smash hit, Blood Brothers.
Since 2004 the Playhouse, like the Everyman, has been predominantly a producing theatre. More stately than the Everyman, yet intimate in its own way, the Playhouse has been the home of classic drama, from ancient to modern, presented with the highest production values, such as Janet Suzman's stunning 2010 production of Antony and Cleopatra starring Kim Cattrall and Jeffery Kissoon. Over the last few years, however, with productions like Proper Clever, Once Upon A Time At The Adelphi, Ghost Stories, Canary, No Wise Men, Twisted Tales, and The Ladykillers the Playhouse has also once again become home to new writing and world premières.
A Star Is Reborn- The Playhouse Studio Returns
For several years the Playhouse housed a small studio in what is now our rehearsal room. It was the compact crucible for many a fledgling writer and performer. Indeed, many of our most celebrated theatre practitioners took their first steps as artists in the safe yet utterly daring Playhouse Studio.
The reopening of the Playhouse Studio was our 100th birthday present to the theatre with the opening production the world première of a new play by Liverpool writer Lizzie Nunnery, The Swallowing Dark on 20 October 2011 and then from 8-19 November it played host to Everyword 2011.
The new Studio promises to be a dynamic space which will nurture the theatrical talents of the future.
recent playhouse productions
Liverpool Playhouse - A Theatre and Its City
by Ros Merkin (Liverpool University Press, 2011)
A new book compiled by Ros Merkin celebrates 100 years with contributions and stories from those who have been part of the extraordinary journey of the Playhouse.
We have a limited number of hardback copies at the special rate of £20 (rrp £25). Buy Online.