Nottingham Playhouse

Nottingham Playhouse. This theatre, run by a Trust since 1948, was originally a converted cinema seating 467. The new Playhouse, one of the first modern regional theatres, opened in 1963, funded by private contributions and Nottingham City Council. Its cylindrical auditorium gives a feeling of intimacy and seats 500 in the stalls and 250 in the circle. It has a large and well-equipped stage on which elaborate productions can be mounted. Frank Dunlop (1961–4), John Neville (1965–8), and Richard Eyre (1973–8) were among its Artistic Directors. Outstanding presentations included Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Shaw's Widowers' Houses, Hamlet with Alan Bates, and King Lear with Michael Hordern, all of which were seen in London. Notable among numerous premières were Peter Barnes's The Ruling Class (1968) and his Lulu (1970), adapted from Wedekind, Christopher Fry's A Yard of Sun (also 1970), Howard Brenton and David Hare's Brassneck (1973), and Brenton's The Churchill Play (1974). Trevor Griffiths's Comedians (1975; London, 1976), set in an evening class for training comics, also had its première there. In the 1980s it staged a highly acclaimed production of Tolkien's The Hobbit. A Theatre in Education scheme is run by the Roundabout Company.