The Everyman Theatre stands at the north end of Hope Street, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It was founded in 1964, in Hope Hall (once a chapel, then a cinema), in an area of Liverpool noted for its bohemian environment and political edge, and quickly built a reputation for ground-breaking work. The Everyman was completely rebuilt between 2011 and 2014.
The building was constructed as Hope Hall, a dissenters' chapel built in 1837. In 1841 it became a church dedicated to Saint John the Evangelist. This became a public concert hall in 1853. In 1912 the hall was turned into Hope Hall Cinema, which continued serving this purpose until it closed in 1963. Prior to its closure the hall had become a meeting place for local artists, poets, folk musicians, and sculptors, including Arthur Dooley, Roger McGough, and Adrian Henri, forming what became known as the Liverpool Scene. This group decided that the building would be suitable for use as a theatre and in September 1964 the Everyman Theatre was opened by Martin Jenkins, Peter James and Terry Hands.
In 1975 the theatre closed and was rebuilt, its work being continued as a touring company until it re-opened in September 1977. During the 1970s and the 1980s works of Liverpool playwrights, including Willy Russell and Alan Bleasdale, received debuts in the theatre: these included Shirley Valentine and John, Paul, George, Ringo … and Bert. In addition to plays, the theatre has produced musicals, concerts, and an annual rock-n-roll panto each Christmas. During its time the theatre has been involved with the careers of Julie Walters, Bernard Hill, Jonathan Pryce, Alan Scarfe, Pete Postlethwaite, Antony Sher, Bill Nighy, Barbara Dickson, Matthew Kelly, and Cathy Tyson.
The theatre is managed together with Liverpool Playhouse by Liverpool and Merseyside Theatres Trust. Since 2004 The two theatres have worked to an integrated programme run by their artistic director and their executive director. Together they are registered as a charity known as Liverpool and Merseyside Theatres Trust Limited.
In July 2011 the theatre closed to be completely rebuilt. The last major production was Macbeth, starring David Morrissey and Julia Ford, which closed on 11 June. This was followed by performances from Roger McGough and Brian Patten, and by the local pop band Deaf School. The final closure event took place on 2 July. From 28 July contents of the theatre, including seats and benches from the theatre, and pillars from the original Hope Hall, were available for purchase by auction.
The Everyman reopened in February 2014. In October 2014, the Stirling Prize was awarded to Haworth Tompkins by the Royal Institute of British Architects for the best British building of the year.
In 1970 Paddy Byrne and Dave Scott established a restaurant in the basement of the theatre known as the Liverpool Everyman Bistro, which became a popular dining venue in the city. There are plans to create a similar restaurant to be associated with the new theatre.
^ "New Everyman theatre..." LiverpoolEcho.co.uk. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
^ a b Pye 2011, p. 33.
Alan Dossor (19 September 1941 – 7 August 2016) was a British theatre director.He was artistic director of the Everyman Theatre Liverpool from 1970 to 1975. He was considered by British theatre/entertainment newspaper The Stage to have been "a major influence on some of our greatest actors and writers" - in a period described by British national newspaper The Guardian as "a golden five-year period in British regional theatre".His production of John, Paul, George, Ringo ... and Bert by Willy Russell transferred to the West End in 1974. He directed plays in the West End, at West Yorkshire Playhouse, Hampstead Theatre, the Royal Court Theatre, the Young Vic and the Lyric Hammersmith. He had an extensive career directing television drama since 1977.
Dossor directed theatre and television plays by contemporary playwrights like Alan Bleasdale, Chris Bond, Stephen Lowe, John McGrath, Adrian Mitchell and Willy Russell, Mike Stott, C.P.Taylor and Charles Wood; as well as classic plays by Bertolt Brecht and Shakespeare.
William Francis Nighy (; born 12 December 1949) is an English actor. He worked in theatre and television before his first cinema role in 1981, and made his name in television with The Men's Room in 1991, in which he played the womaniser Professor Mark Carleton.
The County Sessions House stands at the bottom of Islington in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, to the east of the Walker Art Gallery. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building.
Elizabeth Estensen (born 10 August 1949 in Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham) is an English actress, mainly known for work in the popular television dramas The Liver Birds and Emmerdale. Her surname comes from her Norwegian grandfather.
The German Church (German: Deutsche Kirche) in Liverpool is in Bedford Street South/ Canning Street and is part of the German speaking churches of North England.
The North of England German Protestant churches are members of the "Synod of German-speaking Lutheran, Reformed and United Congregations in Great Britain" and come under the care of the overseas department of the EKD (Evangelical Church in Germany).
Services in German are held twice a month on the first (4:00 pm) and third Sundays (11:00 am).
Regular Groups include a Faith discussion group, Wirral Circle and a Toddler Play Group.
Gillian Louise Kearney (born 9 May 1972 in Liverpool) is an English actress best known for her early role as Debbie McGrath in Channel 4's Liverpool-based soap opera Brookside and the spin-off mini-series Damon and Debbie, and for playing Jessica Harrison in the long-running BBC television medical drama series Casualty, as well as Emma Barton in the ITV Yorkshire-based soap opera Emmerdale. The role of Emma Barton gained her a lot of recognition due to her being involved in Emmerdale’s most high profile storylines during her three year stint.
Julian Dawes (born 1942) is an English composer. He is a member of the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters.
He began his musical training in Birmingham, continuing at the Royal College of Music in London. He has worked extensively as an accompanist and teacher, holding posts at Drama Centre London, Birmingham University, the Arts Educational Schools in London, and The Oxford School of Drama. He has directed the music for numerous theatre productions, and was for five years Musical Director of The Cherub Company London.
As a composer theatre credits include scores for productions for the Royal Court Theatre, Riverside Studios, Arts Theatre, The Lyric Theatre Hammersmith, Battersea Arts Centre, New End Theatre, Watermill Theatre in Newbury, Bristol Old Vic, The European Festival Antwerp, and the Edinburgh Festival. His scores for Brecht’s Caucasian Chalk Circle and Edward ll are both recognised scores for these plays held by the Brecht Estate in Berlin and have provided the music for many productions. His musical The Braddocks Time was a commission from the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool, where it was followed by a tour of the north of England. The Sacrifice, a music drama based on a Japanese No play was initially premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, and in a revised version by The Acting Company at the New End Theatre.
In the concert hall he has written a Mandolin Concerto, a commission from the International Music Competition for professional Mandolin players in Schweinfurt, Germany. He has written a large number of sonatas and suites for a variety of combinations of instruments, as well as thirteen song-cycles including ‘Songs of Ashes’, a setting of fifteen poems by the Polish poet, Jerzy Ficowski, about the Holocaust. This work has been broadcast in Israel three times. His output also includes a wide range of other vocal, choral and chamber music. His cantata ‘The Death of Moses’ for Narrator, Chorus and Chamber Ensemble, and his Oratorio ‘Ruth’, for Soloists Chorus and Chamber Ensemble were both first performed in London to high acclaim, as was also a recital featuring his chamber music at the Wigmore Hall. In early 2012 a Sonata Album of his music was released on the Classics Omnibus Label and received critical acclaim. He has recently completed a new commission from the Alyth Choral Society for a setting of Shirat Hayam (The Song Of The Sea), the biblical song sung by Moses and the Children of Israel as they fled from the Egyptians across the Red Sea (The sea of Reeds) which was premiered in December 2013.
Katherine Fahy is an Irish stage and film actress from Birmingham. She studied drama at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, and then joined its Young Vic Theatre Company. Later on she joined the Everyman Theatre Liverpool Company, where she met actor Jonathan Pryce. She made her theatre directorial debut on January 2010 with Wet Weather Cover, a play written by Oliver Cotton.In 2017, she was in 'A Lie of the Mind' at Southwark Playhouse with Gethin Anthony and Robert Lonsdale.She and Pryce, whom she married in 2015, have three children: Patrick (born 1983), Gabriel (born 1986), and Phoebe (born 1990).
Liverpool Coach Station (also known as Norton Street Coach Station) was a major coach station in Liverpool, England which offered services to 122 destinations throughout the United Kingdom provided by National Express. It opened in November 1994 and was closed on 14 January 2016.
The Merseyside Maritime Museum is a museum based in the city of Liverpool, Merseyside, England, UK. It is part of National Museums Liverpool and an Anchor Point of ERIH, The European Route of Industrial Heritage. Opened in 1980 and expanded in 1986, the museum occupies warehouse block D at the Albert Dock, along with the Piermaster's House, Canning Half Tide Dock and Canning Graving Docks.The city’s seafaring heritage is brought to life within the historic Albert Dock. The museum’s collections reflect the international importance of Liverpool as a gateway to the world, including its role in the transatlantic slave trade and emigration, the merchant navy and the RMS Titanic. The UK Border Agency National Museum, 'Seized! The Border and Customs uncovered' is located in the basement gallery of the building.
Michael Colgan is a Keady, County Armagh, Northern Ireland-born actor and novelist.
Colgan's birthname is Michael Hughes. He adopted his stage name as there was already an actor named Michael Hughes registered with the Actors' Equity Association.
Colgan was educated at Saint Patrick's Grammar School, Armagh and Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he read English. He studied at l'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris and now lives in London.
A notable early performance in Saint Patrick's Grammar School, Armagh was the role of Harpagon in Molière's L'Avare, which was performed entirely in French. After theatre school in Paris he went back to Ireland to work with his younger brother, film director Enda Hughes, in 1996 in the feature film The Eliminator.
Colgan starred in the 2002 feature film This Is Not a Love Song directed by Bille Eltringham. He also spent a year working in the Abbey Theatre in Dublin and has appeared in several television productions, including Rebel Heart and Sunday (2002) for the BBC.Colgan has worked at the Royal Shakespeare Company and in productions at the Royal Exchange, the Abbey Theatre, the Lyric Players' Theatre, Belfast, the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool, the Young Vic and the Tricycle Theatre.
In 2009 he was appearing at the Young Vic in Rupert Goold's critically acclaimed production of King Lear starring Pete Postlethwaite.In 2013, Colgan played Richard Webb in the drama series What Remains. In 2014 he appeared in the first episode of the Channel 5 detective drama Suspects (TV series).
In 2016, Colgan published his first novel, The Countenance Divine, under his real name Michael Hughes. His second novel, Country, was published in August 2018.
Michael Wynne is an Olivier Award winning playwright and screenwriter.
Municipal Buildings is a Grade II* listed building on Dale Street, Liverpool, England.
Ray Ashcroft (born 28 June 1952 in Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire) is an English actor.
He is best known for playing DS Geoff Daly in The Bill from 1996 to 2000. He played Ringo Starr in the biopic TV film Birth of the Beatles (1979) and he has also appeared in many television productions including Coronation Street, Emmerdale' for two years', Heartbeat, Survivors, Dalziel and Pascoe, Hetty Wainthropp Investigates, September Song, Paul Merton Show, The Royal, All Creatures Great and Small, Prime Suspect, Eastenders, The Chief, Chandler & Co, Hollyoaks, Doctors, The Squad, Childrens Ward, Criminal, Truckers.
Currently working with Strawberry Blonde Curls, a leading company in Theatre of Sanctuary.