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4 unusual facts about Joan Littlewood


Élisabeth de Rothschild

Philippe de Rothschild's late-in-life memoirs (Milady Vine, written in collaboration with his friend and companion, the British director Joan Littlewood) described his marriage to Lili as one of great passion but also enormous tempestuousness and despair.

Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be

Norman initially wrote the piece as a play (with no music), but after Joan Littlewood read it, she asked Bart to write the music and lyrics.

Joan Littlewood

Littlewood and her company lived and slept in the Theatre Royal while it was restored.

Was Clara Schumann a Fag Hag?

Rather than be determined by conventional career moves, he was energised by his collaborations with the Great Originals described within the two volumes of his autobiography, such as those with Joan Littlewood, Tony Richardson, Peter Sellars, Franco Zeffirelli, Daniel Barenboim, Peter Brook and Terence Donovan, whose spirit and energy infused his every day.


Arden of Faversham

In 1955 the play was performed by Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop at the Paris International Festival of Theatre as the English entry.

Donald Albery

Though always commercially minded, his spirit of adventure endured with the first London production of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot and sponsorship of Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop.

Drama Centre London

The school's work also draws on the English tradition, particularly that of Joan Littlewood and Theatre Workshop.

James McNeish

He worked in the Theatre Workshop in London with Joan Littlewood, and was influenced by her spirit of socially committed drama.

Liz Harris

In July 1968, she also performed at St. Martin's Theatre with Charles Chilton, Joan Littlewood and Ted Allen in a London Theatre Workshop stage production of Oh, What a Lovely War!.

Queenie Watts

She appeared in many British films, including the Joan Littlewood production Sparrers Can't Sing (1963) as herself in scenes set in the Iron Bridge Tavern, Millwall, which she ran in real life and in which she starred in the TV series Stars and Garters (1963).

Robin Chapman

Chapman began his career as an actor at Cambridge (he played Hamlet in the ADC’s centenary production and was president of the Marlowe Society) before holding a spear at Stratford-Upon-Avon, working in repertory and then joining Joan Littlewood’s revolutionary Theatre Workshop where he turned to writing.

Theatre games

The theatre games tradition is a method of training actors that was developed in the 20th century by practitioners such as Joan Littlewood, Viola Spolin, Clive Barker, Keith Johnstone, Jerzy Grotowski and Augusto Boal.


see also

Oh What a Lovely War

Oh, What a Lovely War! - a stage musical created in 1963 by Joan Littlewood and her Theatre Workshop