Everyman Theatre

Everyman Theatre, Liverpool, originally a chapel, opened in 1964. It was intended by its founders, who included Terry Hands, for the production of serious modern plays which it was felt were being ignored by the Liverpool Playhouse, and among the dramatists presented during the first six years were Beckett, Bond, Peter Nichols, and Harold Pinter. The theatre became known for its treatment of local themes and its contemporary and innovative interpretations of the classics. Plans were made for rehousing it, but in the mid-1970s it was rebuilt on its existing site. Owned by an independent Trust, it now seats 430 and has an open-end stage with a small thrust capacity. Ken Campbell (1941– ) was Artistic Director from 1980 to 1983. He was well known as director of the Science Fiction Theatre of Liverpool, which, in makeshift premises, presented works which combined imagination, fantasy, and outlandish comedy. Its first production, Illuminatus (1976), a group of five plays of which Campbell was joint author and director, was seen in London in 1977 as the opening production at the Cottesloe Theatre. Though the authorities eventually forbade the use of its premises for theatrical purposes, the Science Fiction Theatre of Liverpool retained its title, presenting Neil Oram's The Warp (1979) in London. It later became Campbell's first offering at the Everyman, being shown in 10 weekly instalments as a promenade production (see THEATRE-IN-THE-ROUND). The Everyman attracts a predominantly young audience and has its own thriving Youth Theatre, while the Hope Street Project provides theatre training for all ages. The 1989–90 season celebrated the theatre's 25th anniversary with a programme of Greek, Jacobean, and contemporary Russian plays.

The theatre has supported several local authors, including Willy Russell (1947– ), whose musical about the Beatles, John, Paul, George, Ringo … and Bert (London and NY, 1974), originated there. Russell's other successes include another musical, Blood Brothers (1983); the two-character Educating Rita (1980; NY, 1987), about a drunken Open University lecturer and his working-class pupil; and the one-woman Shirley Valentine (1988; NY, 1989), a study of a discontented Liverpool housewife, which also originated at the Everyman.