Oxford Playhouse

Oxford Playhouse, in Beaumont Street, the last theatre to be built in Britain before the Second World War. It replaced an earlier and very inconvenient theatre in the Woodstock Road, known as the Red Barn and formerly a Big Game Museum. It was adapted by J. B. Fagan, who from 1923 to 1928 intermittently gave seasons there of good British and Continental plays, including Chekhov and Ibsen, his company including at various times, in the early stages of their careers, Tyrone Guthrie, Flora Robson, and John Gielgud. The venture did not receive the support it deserved, and after Fagan left the theatre stood empty for two years until it was reopened in 1930 with a company which produced mainly comedies by, among others, Ben Travers, Noël Coward, and Oscar Wilde. In 1938, after a public appeal for funds, the present Playhouse was built, opening with Fagan's comedy And So to Bed. It flourished during the war years, but afterwards audiences dwindled and it was not firmly established until 1956, after being closed for some months, with the support of the Arts Council and financial assistance from Richard Burton. It reopened with Giraudoux's Electra produced by the Meadow Players, the company remaining in occupation for 17 years and establishing a high reputation, many West End actors appearing with it as guest stars. In 1961 the university bought the remaining lease of the theatre, and two years later it was redecorated and enlarged, the seating capacity being increased to 700. Richard Burton and his then wife Elizabeth Taylor appeared there in 1966 with the Oxford University Dramatic Society in a production of Marlowe's Dr Faustus to raise money for an extension, later known as the Burton—Taylor Theatre. In all these enterprises a leading part was played by the Oxford don Nevill Coghill, who until his retirement was chairman of the theatre's governing body. Because of financial difficulties the Meadow Players ceased operations in 1973, and were succeeded a year later by Anvil Productions (the Oxford Playhouse Company), which presented an enterprising programme, including several world premières and new translations of foreign plays. The theatre was also used by touring companies and by the main university dramatic societies. Though the company was highly praised and toured widely, its theatre was closed by the university in 1987, the latter withdrawing its annual subsidy. The company, however, renamed the Oxford Stage Company, continued to tour. The theatre reopened in 1991 as a touring venue.