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Joan Littlewood

Joan Littlewood
Joan Littlewood.jpg
Cover of Joan's Book: The autobiography of Joan Littlewood
Born Maudie Joan Littlewood
(1914-10-06)6 October 1914
, London, England
Died 20 September 2002(2002-09-20) (aged 87)
London, England
Occupation Theatre director
Years active 1930-1975
Spouse(s) Ewan MacColl
(m. 1934; div. 1950)
Partner(s) Gerry Raffles
Philippe de Rothschild

Joan Maud Littlewood (6 October 1914 – 20 September 2002) was an English theatre director, best known for her work in developing the Theatre Workshop. She has been called "The Mother of Modern Theatre". Her production of "Oh, What a Lovely War!" in 1963 was one of her most influential pieces.

Littlewood and her company lived and slept in the Theatre Royal while it was restored. Productions of The Alchemist and Richard II, the latter starring Harry H. Corbett in the title role, established the reputation of the company.

She also conceived and developed the concept of the Fun Palace in collaboration with architect Cedric Price, an experimental model of a participatory social environment that, although never realized, has become an important influence in the architecture of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Littlewood was born at , London, and trained as an actress at RADA, but left after an unhappy start and moved to Manchester in 1934, where she met folksinger Jimmie Miller, who would later become known as Ewan MacColl. After joining his troupe, Theatre of Action, Littlewood and Miller were soon married. After a brief move to London, they returned to Manchester and set up the Theatre Union in 1936.

In 1941, Littlewood was banned from broadcasting on the BBC. The ban was lifted two years later, when MI5 said she had broken off her association with the Communist Party. She was under surveillance by MI5 from 1939 until the 1950s.

In 1945, after the end of World War II, Littlewood, her husband the communist folk singer Ewan MacColl, and other Theatre Union members formed Theatre Workshop and registered it while staying at Ormesby Hall. The following eight years were spent touring. Shortly afterwards, when Gerry Raffles joined the troupe, MacColl and Littlewood divorced, though they still worked together for many years and Littlewood was godmother to MacColl's two children. Littlewood and Raffles were life partners until his death in 1975.


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