Joan Maud Littlewood (6 October 1914 - 20 September 2002) was a theatrical director, famous for her work in developing the left-wing Theatre Workshop. October 6 is the 279th day of the year (280th in Leap years). ... 1914 (MCMXIV) is a common year starting on Thursday. ... September 20 is the 263rd day of the year (264th in leap years). ... For the Cusco album, see 2002 (album). ... Theatre Workshop is a theatre group most notable for their devised pieces that included Oh, what a lovely war, and their leader, Joan Littlewood. ...

She had trained as an actress at RADA, and moved to Manchester in 1934 where she met Jimmie Miller (Ewan MacColl) and joined 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. Rada is the term for council or assembly borrowed by Polish from Middle High German Rat (council) and later passed into Czech, Ukrainian, and Belarusian languages. ... This article is about the city in England. ... Ewan MacColl (25 January 1915 - 22 October 1989) was an English folk singer, songwriter, socialist, actor, poet, playwright, and record producer. ...

In 1945, after the end of World War II, Littlewood, Miller (now known as Ewan MacColl) and other Theatre Union members formed Theatre Workshop. In 1953 Theatre Workshop took up residence in Stratford in east London. Ewan MacColl (25 January 1915 - 22 October 1989) was an English folk singer, songwriter, socialist, actor, poet, playwright, and record producer. ... Theatre Workshop is a theatre group most notable for their devised pieces that included Oh, what a lovely war, and their leader, Joan Littlewood. ... Theatre Workshop is a theatre group most notable for their devised pieces that included Oh, what a lovely war, and their leader, Joan Littlewood. ... Stratford, historically Stratford Langthorne, is a place in the London Borough of Newham in East London. ...

She and MacColl were married for about fifteen years, but divorced in 1950. Her partner, from her split with MacColl until his death in 1975, was Gerry Raffles, a founder member of Theatre Workshop. Late in life, in Paris, she was a companion of Baron Philippe de Rothschild and wrote his memoirs, "Milady Vine." The Eiffel Tower has become a symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... Baron Philippe de Rothschild (April 13, 1902 - January 20, 1988) was a member of the Rothschild family who became a Grand Prix race-car driver, a scriptwriter, a theatrical producer, a poet, and the most successful wine grower in the world. ...

The company gained international fame, and performed in France and the USSR. One of Littlewood's most famous productions was the British première of Bertolt Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children (1955), which she directed and in which she also played the lead. The work for which she is now best-remembered is probably the satirical musical, Oh! What a Lovely War (1963), which gained great critical acclaim and was subsequently filmed. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Mother Courage and Her Children (German: Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder) was a play written in 1939 by the German dramatist and poet Bertolt Brecht (1898 - 1956). ... Oh! What A Lovely War began life in 1963 as a stage musical by Joan Littlewood and her London Theatre Workshop based on a book by the historian Alan Clark. ...

She died of natural causes at the age of 87 in Paris, where she had long lived in self-imposed exile from the UK, since the death of Gerry Raffles. The Eiffel Tower has become a symbol of Paris throughout the world. ...

Bibliography

• Joan's Book: Joan Littlewood's Peculiar History As She Tells It ISBN 0413773183
• Agit-Prop to Theatre Workshop, Political Playscripts, 1930-1950, edited by Howard Goorney and Ewan MacColl. 1986. ISBN 0719022118
• Journeyman, an Autobiography, by Ewan MacColl. 1990. ISBN 0283060360

External links

• History of Theatre Workshop at Stratford East
• A tribute to Joan Littlewood by Jackie Fletcher