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23-734: The original Playhouse had opened as the Little Theatre in a converted church hall on Becket Street in 1948. In 1952, the company moved to another converted venue in Sacheverel Street and survived a major fire in 1956. In the 1960s and early 1970s the British government invested in the Arts Council of Great Britain's "Housing the Arts" fund. The fund enabled cities to renovate existing theatres and commission new ones. In response,

46-545: A 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

69-625: A salesman, and Rea (nee Mathieson-Macbeth). In World War II, he served in the British Army, joining straight from school and rising to second lieutenant. When he was demobbed in 1947, Ham joined the Architectural Association to start his studies as an architect, where he would return later in his career to teach. In 1954 he set up his own practice, and due to his love of amateur dramatics, decided to concentrate on theatre design. His early work included alterations to

92-568: The 11th Duke of Devonshire . The company experienced financial difficulties in 2002, running a trading deficit of £400,000, the biggest in its history, and nearly closed. By 2004 it had recovered and was breaking box-office records. Geoff Sweeney, the company's Development Director at the time, suggested that it might seek new larger premises on the River Trent . However, the company again ran into serious financial problems in 2007 which ultimately spelled its demise. On 29 November 2007, following

115-915: The New Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich , which was built from 1977 to 1979, followed by the Sackville theatre at Sevenoaks school in Kent, in 1981. In 1961, Ham was one of the founding members of the Association of British Theatre Technicians and was elected a Fellow in 2012. With Peter Moro, he produced a series of information sheets on aspects of theatre design that were published by the Architects' Journal . Ham developed this work into his 1972 book Theatre Planning , and his 1987 publication Theatres: Planning Guidance for Design and Adaptation . He

138-640: The Christmas production of Peter Pan , was cancelled. Roderick Ham Roderick Thomas Mathieson Ham (September 1925 – 19 January 2017) was a British architect, principally of theatres, who often worked with George Finch . He designed the New Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich , and the Thorndike Theatre in Leatherhead . Ham was born in Balham , South London. He was the son of Bob Ham,

161-661: The Derby Playhouse Studio, under the various direction of John North, David Milne and Claire Grove, provided a year-round programme of productions and mounted community tours and a Theatre in Education programme. 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

184-690: The Festival theatre in Battersea Park and additions to the Royal Court. His first major project was designing, with George Finch, the Thorndike Theatre in Leatherhead within the shell of the disused 1930s Crescent Cinema, which opened in 1969. The building is now Grade II listed and won both a RIBA Award and a building for the disabled award in 1970. Ham designed the Derby Playhouse with George Finch, which opened in 1975, and

207-445: The Playhouse as Artistic Director in 1980. Over the next seven years, the Playhouse's major 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 Rony Robinson 's The Brewery Beano and Don Shaw 's The Conspirator ; and box office successes such as Funny Peculiar , Having A Ball! and Blood Brothers . During this time,

230-552: The Playhouse gained a national reputation for its productions, particularly the works of Stephen Sondheim , with in-house productions of Sweeney Todd , Into the Woods , Company and Merrily We Roll Along . Three of these productions featured Glenn Carter , who has also appeared in other non- Sondheim productions at the Playhouse. One of these was a new music drama, Moon Landing , in which he played Buzz Aldrin . Written, composed and directed by Stephen Edwards, Moon Landing

253-470: The Playhouse to continue to operate, although on a smaller scale. According to Lyn Gardner writing in The Guardian , "it was Castledine's head that was demanded by the council as the price of underwriting the theatre's deficit." From the summer of 1990, when Castledine left the Playhouse to Christmas 1991, Executive Director, David Edwards, was in charge of scheduling the programme, which culminated in

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276-501: 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. His first season opened with a production of And A Nightingale Sang . The production of John Godber 's On The Piste , was repeated later in the year, and again in 2001, and Godber's work remained

299-606: 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. During this period,

322-510: The company formed the New Theatre Trust to raise the local funding necessary for its own purpose-built theatre. Roderick Ham , who had previously designed the Thorndike Theatre in Leatherhead , was commissioned to design the new theatre. The Derby City Council offered the land (part of the new Eagle Centre shopping development). The new Derby Playhouse, with a seating capacity of 535, was officially opened on 20 September 1975 by

345-808: The company's last production. The theatre was subsequently sold to the University of Derby and reopened in October 2009 as the Derby Theatre . The new Derby Playhouse opened with My Fair Lady . The first season also included Hamlet and 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, programming work ranging from Shakespeare, Shaw and Ibsen to Ayckbourn, Orton and Coward. Christopher Honer joined

368-411: The programme, starting with Grease , and including Little Shop of Horrors , Cabaret and Assassins , while the pantomimes 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

391-466: The refusal of Derby City Council to advance £40,000 from their 2008 grant, the board of trustees of the theatre announced that it was going into voluntary liquidation and that performances would cease immediately. Nevertheless, the cast and crew of Treasure Island went ahead and put on that evening's performance. 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

414-438: The show), Michael Hall, and 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 board of trustees announced that the company had been put into administration . The administrators allowed the Playhouse to reopen on 7 December 2007 to finish its run of Treasure Island . The theatre

437-567: The theatre's productions became known for the strength of their on-stage visual imagery, and the Playhouse was shortlisted for the Prudential Awards. 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. However, the City Council offered the theatre an additional grant, which enabled

460-449: Was being operated by a skeleton of essential staff, initially working unpaid to get it up and running again. A fund was set up to accept donations to keep the Playhouse going, as it was now operating as a charitable trust relying on ticket sales and donations alone. Tickets for a 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

483-499: Was elected Master of the Art Workers' Guild in 1989. In 1955, he married Cara P. Aldridge. He died on 19 January 2017 at the age of 91. Don Shaw (screenwriter) Don Shaw is a British screenwriter and playwright. His credits include Survivors , Doomwatch , Orde Wingate , and Bomber Harris . Shaw stated that before he took on writing for Survivors , 'I was very much an up-and-coming hot-shot writer. I

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506-501: Was made to the Arts Council. However, the Arts Council refused the appeal in January 2008, and the theatre closed after the last performance of Treasure Island on 2 February 2008. At a meeting on 30 July 2008 the creditors voted to accept a rescue package put together by the company's new board of trustees. The theatre reopened on 13 September 2008 with The Killing of Sister George which ran until 18 October. However, it proved to be

529-494: Was subsequently nominated in the Best Musical Production category of the 2008 TMA Awards. An original cast recording was also made, recorded live on the night of the final performance. The company's last production before its permanent closure was The Killing of Sister George starring Jenny Eclair and directed by Cal McCrystal . Its run ended on 18 October 2008. The rest of the 2008 autumn season, including

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