About
Co-founded by Howard Panter and Rosemary Squire in 1992, the Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG) is currently the largest theatre group in the West End and separately the second largest in the UK regions, with a total of 23 venues. ATG is also one of the country’s foremost theatre producers and has been behind some of the most successful and innovative productions in Britain and internationally.
Board Members
- Life President: Sir Eddie Kulukundis OBE
- Deputy Chairman: Peter Beckwith OBE
- Joint Chief Executive & Creative Director: Howard Panter
- Joint Chief Executive: Rosemary Squire OBE
- Bill Benjamin
- Lynda Beresford Jones
- Simon Berrill
- Dennis Cassidy
- Lee Bartlett
- Rupert Gavin
- Nick Humby
- Laurence Isaacson CBE
- Simon Oliver
- Roger Orf
- Mike Pashley
- John Simpson
- Christina Smith
- James Tanner
Ambassador Theatre Group Theatres
- Ambassadors Cinemas, Woking
- Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham,
- Apollo Victoria Theatre, London
- Bristol Hippodrome, Bristol
- Churchill Theatre, Bromley
- Comedy Theatre, London
- Donmar Warehouse, London
- Duke of York's Theatre, London
- Edinburgh Playhouse, Edinburgh
- Fortune Theatre, London
- Grimsby Auditorium, Grimsby
- King's Theatre, Glasgow
- Leas Cliff Hall, Folkestone
- Liverpool Empire, Liverpool
- Lyceum Theatre, London
- Manchester Opera House, Manchester
- Manchester Palace Theatre, Manchester
- Milton Keynes Theatre, Milton Keynes
- New Victoria Theatre, Woking
- Oxford Apollo Theatre, Oxford
- Oxford Old Fire Station Theatre, Oxford
- Phoenix Theatre, London
- Piccadilly Theatre, London
- Playhouse Theatre, London
- Regent Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent
- Rhoda McGaw Theatre, Woking
- Richmond Theatre, Richmond
- Savoy Theatre, London
- Sunderland Empire, Sunderland
- Southport Theatre, Southport
- Spa Pavillion, Felixstowe
- The Theatre Royal, Brighton
- The Theatre Royal, Glasgow
- Trafalgar Studios 1, London
- Trafalgar Studios 2, London
- Victoria Hall, Stoke on Trent
- New Wimbledon Theatre, Wimbledon
- Wimbledon Studio, Wimbledon
- York Grand Opera House, York
- ATG also provides ticketing services for The Old Vic, London.
Ambassador Theatre Group Productions
Current and recent ATG co-productions in London and internationally include the hugely successful and critically acclaimed award-winning musical West Side Story (West End season and UK Tour); Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard; Simon Gray’s The Last Cigarette directed by Sir Richard Eyre; Riflemind by Andrew Upton (in association with Sydney Theatre Company); the hit comedy Fat Pig by Neil LaBute; Harold Pinter’s The Lover/The Collection; Elling starring John Simm; The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess directed by Trevor Nunn; Guys and Dolls starring Ewan McGregor; Sondheim’s Tony Award winning Company on Broadway; The New Statesman starring Rik Mayall (UK tour and West End season); The Rocky Horror Show (UK tour and West End season); Sondheims Sweeney Todd in London and on Broadway; Matthew Bourne’s Highland Fling (in London and on UK tour); Matthew Bourne’s Nutcracker! (three London seasons, as well as UK and worldwide tours); Stephen Poliakoff’s Sweet Panic; Shared Experience’s After Mrs Rochester; Edward Hall’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Richard Eyre’s and the Royal National Theatre’s multi-award winner Vincent in Brixton (in the West End, on Broadway and on UK tour); a co-production of Noises Off with the Royal National Theatre in London and on Broadway; Christopher Hampton’s new version of Three Sisters starring Kristin Scott Thomas; Gershwin’s My One and Only; The Mystery of Charles Dickens starring Simon Callow in the West End and on Broadway; a co-production of Doctor Faustus at The Young Vic starring Jude Law; Shockheaded Peter in the West End and the first major West End revival and Broadway production of Peter Nichols’ classic A Day in the Death of Joe EggFar Away starring Eddie Izzard; Caryl Churchill's Far Away, directed by Stephen Daldry, plus the Royal Court Theatre production of Mouth to Mouth in the West End. Other ATG successes include the co-production of The Weir in London and on Broadway (winner of the 1999 Olivier Award for Best New Play); Smokey Joe’s Café in the West End and the Olivier award-winning Slava’s SnowshowCarmen Jones in the West End and North America plus the multi award-winning West End musical.
Ambassador Theatre Group International
ATG has opened a New York office and is mounting additional productions in the USA and Australia. ATG’s current productions in Australia include a new production of The Rocky Horror Show in Melbourne, as well as the Sydney debut of Guys and Dolls. Furthermore, a tour of ATG’s co-production of West Side Story begins in Australia in December 2010. ATG on Broadway recently included a co- production of Guys and Dolls, and Exit the King starring Tony Award-winner Geoffrey Rush and Susan Sarandon.
Sonia Friedman Productions
ATG has a wholly owned subsidiary company Sonia Friedman Productions (SFP), led by producer Sonia Friedman, whose current and recent co-productions include Othello starring Lenny Henry; Prick Up Your Ears starring Matt Lucas; Katori Hall's The Mountaintop starring David Harewood; Arcadia starring Neil Pearson and Samantha Bond; La Cage aux Folles starring Roger Allam and Philip Quast; A View From a Bridge starring Ken Stott, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Hayley Atwell; Harold Pinter’s No Man’s Land starring Michael Gambon, David Bradley, David Walliams and Nick Dunning; David Eldridge’s Under the Blue Sky starring Catherine Tate, Francesca Annis and Chris O’Dowd; the award-winning That Face by Polly Stenham and the highly acclaimed Dealer’s Choice by Patrick Marber, all in the West End. Sonia Friedman Productions recently enjoyed international success with the Tony Award-winning The Norman Conquests, Boeing-Boeing and The Seagull on Broadway. SFP’s production of Legally Blonde is set to open in the West End in December 2009. Previous SFP productions in the West End include Tom Stoppard’s Rock ’n’ Roll (also on Broadway); In Celebration starring Orlando Bloom; The Dumb Waiter starring Lee Evans; Faith Healer starring Ralph Fiennes (Broadway); Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical The Woman in White (also on Broadway); the revival of Michael Frayn’s Donkeys’ Years; Bent with Alan Cumming; On The Third Day, the winning play from the C4 series The Play’s The Thing; Endgame with Michael Gambon and Lee Evans; Sexual Perversity in Chicago with Matthew Perry and Minnie Driver; Franco Zeffirelli’s Absolutely! (Perhaps) with Joan Plowright; Ragtime; Macbeth with Sean Bean; Up for Grabs with Madonna; and On an Average Day with Woody Harrelson and Kyle McLachlan.
First Family Entertainment
ATG has also formed a joint major national pantomime and family entertainment company with Live Nation, First Family Entertainment. Now in its fifth year, the company is producing twelve high quality pantomimes for the Christmas 2009/2010 season.
ScreenStage
ATG also has a series of creative alliances, based in theatre, but with the potential to form a bridge between media. These unique initiatives include a film co-production company with Trademark Films, makers of Shakespeare in Love, and a TV company ScreenStage, with ITV plc, which has made five TV films to date. ScreenStage also co-produced The Play’s the Thing for Channel 4.
External links
