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27-557: The Half Moon Young People's Theatre and Half Moon Photography Workshop and Gallery were also founded at the theatre. The company had its first success in 1972 with Bertolt Brecht's In the Jungle of the Cities , directed by Guy Sprung, and The Shoemakers by Witkiewicz (Polish artist and playwright), directed by Maurice Colbourne.design by Eytan Levy Then in the summer of 1972, "Will Wat If Not What Will", by Steve Gooch, Guy Sprung and

54-548: A Whore for Angelique Rockas New Theatre at the Half Moon Theatre. During 1979 it was decided that this chapel was also inadequate for the audience that the company was attracting. The Architect Bureau was commissioned to do a feasibility study on the construction of a new theatre on a site adjacent to the chapel. The main architect, Florian Beigel , designed a theatre in which there was no fixed seating, thereby allowing plays to be staged in many forms.This element

81-567: A central performance area. In 1979 Edward Bond 's The Worlds had its London première at the Half Moon. Frances de la Tour enjoyed a collaboration with the Half Moon, appearing in the London première of Dario Fo 's We Can't Pay? We Won't Pay (1978), David Zane Mairowitz 's Landscape of Exile (1979), and in the title role of Hamlet (1980). In 1980 Declan Donnellan directed the widely praised production of John Ford`s 'Tis Pity She's

108-593: A high level of funding despite Britain's poor finances following the war. The majority of this funding was directed to organisations with which Keynes had close ties such as the Royal Opera House and was restricted to Central London . Keynes used his political influence to ensure that the Arts Council reported directly to the Treasury rather than an arts minister or the education department as had been

135-420: A number of challenging international plays in the 1970s, including premières of Steven Berkoff 's plays, American musicals and English premières of works by Dario Fo and Franca Rame . By the mid 1980s, the Half Moon theatre Company was beginning to lose its popular appeal. Problems arose with both the financial management and the artistic programme. In the late 1980s the company was using all of its grant from

162-505: A raked wooden platform bisecting the audience and a mini-drawbridge being lowered from a balcony for processional entrances. This means that the actors are rarely more than about fifteen feet away from the audience; and crucial speeches, like Falstaff's on Honour, can be addressed to individual spectators rather than hurled at a faceless throng" . By the late 1970s the success of the Half Moon Theatre Company meant that

189-856: Is still performing, with a small theatre in Whitehorse Road, Stepney. The Half Moon Photography workshop continued with the Camerawork gallery and darkroom space in Roman Road, Bethnal Green, and is now a part of the Four Corners film collective. After years of disuse, the theatre was converted into a JD Wetherspoon public house called The Half Moon . 51°31′20″N 0°02′43″W  /  51.5222°N 0.0454°W  / 51.5222; -0.0454 Arts Council of Great Britain The Arts Council of Great Britain

216-482: The Harold Wilson government of 1964–70 the Arts Council enjoyed a Golden Age thanks to the close relationship between chairman Arnold Goodman and the arts minister Jennie Lee . This period saw the council establish a network of arts organisations across the country as regular client organisations and a programme of touring exhibitions and performances. To support the council’s responsibilities in relation to

243-809: The Second World War , the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA), was appointed to help promote and maintain British culture . Chaired by Lord De La Warr , President of the Board of Education , the council was government-funded and after the war was renamed the Arts Council of Great Britain. Reginald Jacques was appointed musical director, with Sir Henry Walford Davies and George Dyson also involved. John Denison took over after

270-647: The Victorian tale Sweeney Todd formed the basis of Stephen Sondheim 's musical of the same name , with book by Hugh Wheeler . He wrote this while he was resident dramatist at Victoria Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent (1970–71). He was artistic director of the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool (1976–78), director of Liverpool Playhouse (1981–83), and artistic director of Half Moon Theatre (1984–89). He lives in West Cornwall . This article about

297-403: The "Half Moon Young People's Theatre" and a photography collective formed by US photographer Wendy Ewald , the "Half Moon Photography Workshop" exhibiting in the theatre and from 1976 publishing Camerawork . In 1974 an ambitious production of Henry IV, Part 1 and 2 , was described by Michael Billington ; "Bill Dudley has ingeniously transformed the auditorium into a medieval loft with

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324-459: The Arts Council of England became one of the distribution bodies. For the first year after the change in organisation, the Arts Council of England acted to follow through on the final plans of the Arts Council of Great Britain. Christopher Bond Christopher Godfrey Bond (born 1945, in Sussex, England, UK) is a British actor, playwright and theatre director whose 1970 retelling of

351-578: The Greater London Arts Association to service debts from the construction. The grant was halved in 1990, as it was not being used for its intended purpose of financing performance. The theatre closed in June 1990, unable to continue. The Conservative Government policy of the time was that arts organisations should be self-supporting through ticket sales and generate income through sponsorship and other activities. This went against

378-590: The Half Moon Company was a huge success. John Mortimer in the Observer calling it: "One of the best things in my term as a critic." In 1973, the company took part in the E1 festival that attracted local writers and actors. In 1975 the company set up a Management Council and began receiving an Arts Council of Great Britain subsidy. The company also formed other arts projects, a youth project that became known as

405-418: The Half Moon Theatre philosophy of bringing low cost theatre to 'new' audiences. They wanted to provide political theatre to those who were on low disposable incomes, which meant keeping ticket prices down. The low income audience and strong political agenda, in turn meant that commercial sponsors were not interested in the theatre. The Half Moon Young People's Theatre remained intact as a separate company and

432-670: The basis of the Arts Council Collection . The Arts Council commissioned 12 sculptors and 60 painters, who made large paintings, 114 by 152 centimetres (45 by 60 in) or more, to be displayed at the festival. Ultimately the works were to be given to new hospitals, libraries, schools, and health centres that emerged after the war. There were five cash prizes awarded: Robert Adams 's Apocalyptic Figure, Elinor Bellingham-Smith 's The Island, Lucian Freud 's Interior near Paddington, William Gear 's Autumn Landscape, and Robert MacBryde 's Figure and Still Life. Under

459-525: The case with CEMA, establishing the principle of an 'arms length' relationship between UK arts policy and the government of the day. After Keynes' death in April 1946 government funding was reduced but the Arts Council received wide recognition for its contribution to the Festival of Britain thanks to the new chairman Kenneth Clark . Artworks commissioned by the council for the festival were retained to form

486-439: The contract was put out to tender. Construction work finally began in 1983 and by 1984 over £1m had been raised, with the participation of ACGB, Greater London Council (GLC), Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) and Tower Hamlets Council as main sponsors. A flexible performance space was designed, with moveable seating. The former chapel was incorporated in the new building as the theatre bar, and office space. The design of

513-483: The original site, seating only 80 people, was far too small. In 1979 a disused Methodist chapel, seating 200, was identified in Mile End Road, near Stepney Green . This opened in 1979, with a production of Robert Tressell 's The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists that took advantage of the dilapidated state of the building by redecorating it as a part of the performance. This theatre had fixed seating around

540-433: The prominent Conservative Party minister Norman Tebbit . The government grant to the council was capped effecting a real-terms reduction in funding, though it was argued that any shortfall would be made up by increased sponsorship from the private sector. The secretary-general from 1975 to 1983, Roy Shaw , the last secretary-general to be knighted, faced the difficult task of reconciling the needs of arts organisations with

567-400: The restricted funding. William Rees-Mogg was a political appointment as chairman and proposed slimming down the council's responsibilities. This led to a series of clashes with prominent figures from the arts such as Peter Hall , who resigned from the council in protest. In 1987 the restructure inspired by Rees-Mogg cut by half the number of organisations receiving Arts Council funding. During

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594-604: The same period the Arts Council began encouraging a greater level of corporate sponsorship for the arts. On 1 April 1994 it was replaced by the Arts Council of England, the Scottish Arts Council , and the Arts Council of Wales , each with their own new Royal Charter; the Arts Council of Northern Ireland already existed as a distinct body. At the same time, the National Lottery was established and

621-671: The theatre was described thus: The design is based on the most direct forms of theatre of the past, such as the Italian Commedia del Arte, and the Elizabethan theatres with galleried courtyards, such as Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. Chris Bond joined the company as artistic director and the theatre was handed over in December, with the opening production of Sweeney Todd in May 1985. The Half Moon Theatre Company had put on

648-634: The visual arts, it opened the Hayward Gallery on London 's South Bank in 1968 as a home for its major exhibitions and the base for the Arts Council Collection . Since 1987, the gallery has been independently managed by the South Bank Centre . In 2003 sculpture in the collection was moved to a base in Yorkshire . During the 1970s and 1980s the Arts Council came under attack for being elitist and politically biased, in particular from

675-519: The war. A royal charter was granted on 9 August 1946 followed by another in 1967. The latter provided for functions in Scotland and Wales to be conducted by two committees known as the Scottish and Welsh Arts Councils – the basis for the later Scottish Arts Council and Arts Council of Wales. The council's first chairman was John Maynard Keynes who used his influence in government to secure

702-541: Was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain . It was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England (now Arts Council England ), the Scottish Arts Council (later merged into Creative Scotland ), and the Arts Council of Wales . At the same time the National Lottery was established and these three arts councils, plus the Arts Council of Northern Ireland , became distribution bodies. In January 1940, during

729-448: Was made possible by a planning gain deal brokered and funded by Central and City Properties without whom none of this would have been possible. Robert Walker, the artistic director, was very specific about the purpose and nature of the theatre. He wanted a space in which all members of a community, from primary school children to pensioners, could exhibit work, meet and visit. By the end of 1981 planning permission had been granted and in 1982

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