Liverpool Playhouse

Liverpool Playhouse, Britain's oldest surviving repertory theatre, opened partly in emulation of the venture so ably run by Miss Horniman. When an experimental season run by Basil Dean at another theatre showed that Liverpool was willing to accept good plays under repertory conditions, the old Star Theatre, a home of lurid melodrama built in 1866, was taken over and completely reconstructed. It opened in 1911 as the Liverpool Repertory Theatre and was closed only for short summer vacations, being given its present name in 1916. It set out to cater for every type of playgoer, though under William Armstrong, its Artistic Director 1922–44, its programmes were perhaps somewhat less adventurous than those of Barry Jackson at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. In recent years, however, classical and established works have been offset by a number of controversial modern plays by such writers as David Hare, Harold Pinter, Tom Stoppard, and Alan Bennett. A musical is presented annually at Christmas. The Playhouse, which seats 758, was extensively renovated in 1968, but the auditorium still retains the spaciousness of earlier times, with wide circles and balconies curving round the stage. Many well-known players started their careers there, among them Michael Redgrave, Rex Harrison, Diana Wynyard, and more recently Ian McKellen. There is also a studio theatre, the Playhouse Upstairs, seating 100, which presents mainly new work.