The Birmingham Youth Theatre was founded in 1972 in Birmingham, England by local teachers Derek Nicholls and Ray Speakman, and was based at the Midlands Arts Centre and Birmingham Repertory Theatre. From 1984 it was also run by teacher and director Malcolm Cleland, who also ran the Central Junior Television Workshop in Birmingham.
The company was funded by Birmingham City Council and West Midlands Arts for the purpose of giving 16 to 23 year olds from the wider local community access to drama and the theatre arts. Many successful actors and actresses began their careers in the youth theatre, most notably Andrew Tiernan and Adrian Lester. Other successes include Tony Armatrading, television presenter Lorna Laidlaw, Clive Wedderburn, a former cast member of the ITV soap opera The Bill, plus Nicolas Tennant and Joe Dixon, who have both performed with the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company and the writer Roy Mitchell, creator, scripwriter and producer of the BBC series New Tricks [1]. As of 2009, Derek Nicholls is now the Chief Executive of Qdos Entertainment plc's HQ Theatres division[2] in Bromley.
Due to problems with funding, the company ceased to exist in 1987.
References
1. http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/newtricks/ 2. http://www.qdosentertainment.com/New-CEO-Derek-Nicholls-starts-at-HQ-Theatres.php
References
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0593697/
- ^ http://www.qdosentertainment.com/New-CEO-Derek-Nicholls-starts-at-HQ-Theatres.php
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