Stratford East Pioneer Littlewood Dies, Aged 87Date: 23 September 2002
Joan Littlewood, considered by many to be one of the most ground-breaking theatre directors of the 20th century, died this weekend. Aged 87, Littlewood passed away in her sleep at the home of her assistant.
Littlewood is credited with spearheading the working class revolution in British theatre in the 1950s and 1960s. Though she had been working on stage since before the Second World War with a number of smaller socialist companies, her widespread fame did not come until 1953 when she installed her touring Theatre Workshop at the permanent base of the Theatre Royal Stratford East in London.
There, living as a commune and presenting a mixed programme of past classic and contemporary plays, the company developed a unique approach of devising pieces which involved both artistes and audiences in drama as a living event. Productions include 'kitchen sink' dramas such as Brendan Behan's Quare Fellow (1957), Shelagh Delaney's A Taste of Honey (1958), Frank Norman and Lionel Bart's musical Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'be (1959), and John Wells and Richard Ingrams' Mrs Wilson's Diary (1967).
Undoubtedly, the Workshop's most famous production was 1963's Oh What a Lovely War, a documentary-style satire documenting the trench horrors of the "war to end all wars" through darkly humorous renditions of period songs, including "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" and "Keep the Home Fires Burning".
Oh What a Lovely War won the Grande Prix du Festival at the International Festival of Theatre in Paris and subsequently transferred to the West End, where it ran for a year, and on to Broadway. Now considered a modern classic, the musical was this summer revived at the Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park, directed by Ian Talbot.
Littlewood continued at Stratford East until the sudden death of her partner and theatre manager Gerry Raffles in 1975 at the age of 51. Since the mid-1970s, the director spent most of her time living and working in Paris.
It was Littlewood's wish that her body be cremated at a private ceremony in London, after which her ashes should be taken to the French town of Vienne and reunited with those of Raffles. In addition, the Theatre Royal is now planning to hold a memorial event for Littlewood, which will be timed to coincide with celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the Theatre Workshop's arrival at the venue in February 1953.
- by Terri Paddock
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