{"product_id":"liverpool-playhouse-a-theatre-and-its-city-9781846317477","title":"Liverpool Playhouse: A Theatre and Its City","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom its outset, the Liverpool Playhouse has been inextricably linked to the history of the city in which it was built. The impetus to create it came from the burgeoning civic pride engendered by the city’s growing wealth and its status as ‘second city of empire’; but its opening in 1911 was delayed by the transport strikes which hit the city. Over the following century, the history of the theatre, with all its ups and its downs, has reflected the history of Liverpool – and at times the city itself has appeared on stage as a key character.  While often perceived as Liverpool’s ‘safe’ theatre, the Playhouse – from its inception as only the third repertory theatre in the country (following Manchester and Glasgow) to the dazzlingly creative period of the ‘Gang of Four’ (Bleasdale, Bond, Morrison and Russell) in the early 1980s, and up to the present day – has broken new ground and issued new challenges. Home over the years to many well known actors, including Michael Redgrave, Rachel Kempson, Robert Donat, Anthony Hopkins, Patrick Stewart, Rita Tushingham, Patricia Routledge and Richard Briers, the Playhouse remains one of the most vibrant British theatres.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo this is both a book that can be dipped into for interesting quotations and anecdotes and to look at photos of actors when they were much younger and a story that can be read through, but it can also be valuable as a resource for more serious students of regional theatre, showing how it has responded to a changing social and political climate over the last century. * The British Theatre Guide *\u003cbr\u003eLiverpool Playhouse: A Theatre \u0026amp; Its City remains a fine and important work that should be enjoyed by experts and enthusiasts alike. * Theatre Research International, Volume 37\/3 *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIntroduction\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe start of the experiment\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrom trial to theatre\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBasil Dean, 1911-1913\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLaurence Hanray, 1913-14\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWorld War One and the Commonwealth\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWilliam Armstrong, 1922-1944\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMaud Carpenter War and the Old Vic\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJohn Fernald, 1946-1949\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGerald Cross, 1949-1951\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWillard Stoker, 1951-1962\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBernard Hepton, 1962-63\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRonald Settle and Joan Ovens\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDavid Scase, 1963-1967\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eKay Gardner, 1967-1969\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAntony Tuckey, 1969-1975\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eStudio 1\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLeslie Lawton, 1975-1979\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWilliam Gaunt, 1979-1981\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGang of Four, 1981-1984\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eStudio 2\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJules Wright, 1985-1986\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003elan Kellgren, 1986-1991\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e'It's too good to lose'\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBill Kenwright, 1991-1996\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eStudio 3\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRichard Williams, 1996-1998\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJo Beddoe, 1999-2003\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGemma Bodinetz and Deborah Aydon, 2003-\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBibliography\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIndex\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Liverpool University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51360207929687,"sku":"9781846317477","price":39.72,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781846317477.jpg?v=1754126983","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/liverpool-playhouse-a-theatre-and-its-city-9781846317477","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}