Oscar Lewenstein

Silvion Oscar Lewenstein (18 January 1917 – 23 February 1997) was a British theatre and film producer, who helped create some of the leading British theatre and film productions of the 1950s and 1960s.

Born in Hackney, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants who had fled antisemitism, Lewenstein spent most of his childhood in Hove, Sussex. His father's formerly successful plywood business went into a decline during his teens, the family returned to London, and the younger Lewenstein left school.

A former member of the Young Communist League, now active in the Communist Party itself, he became involved in the Unity Theatre movement via his friendship with Ted Willis. After a period working for the Unity Theatre just after the war, he briefly took up the same role at the Embassy Theatre in Swiss Cottage, and later at the Royal Court Theatre from 1952 until 1954. Lewenstein co-founded the English Stage Company in 1954 with director George Devine and dramatist Ronald Duncan.

In the West End he produced Bertolt Brecht's The Threepenny Opera in 1956 and in 1964. He was also responsible for three of Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop productions, including Brendan Behan's The Hostage and Shelagh Delaney's A Taste of Honey transferring to the West End at around the same time, to the detriment of Littlewood's company.

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