Caryl Jenner born Pamela Penelope Ripman (19 May 1917 – 29 January 1973) was a British theatre director and manager. She is known for her work in creating theatre for children.

Life

Jenner was born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

where her name was Pamela Penelope Ripman. Her parents were Constance Brockwill Grier and Walter Ripman. Her father wrote school textbooks on French and German and he worked as a school inspector. She was educated at

Norland Place School Norland Place School is a co-educational independent preparatory school for boys and girls 4–11 in Holland Park, London. The school was founded in 1876 by Emily Lord. History Founded in 1876 by Emily Lord, Norland Place School originally ...

and then at

St Paul's Girls' School St Paul's Girls' School is an independent day school for girls, aged 11 to 18, located in Brook Green, Hammersmith, in West London, England. History St Paul's Girls' School was founded by the Worshipful Company of Mercers in 1904, using part o ...

in Hammersmith before more specialised training at the

Royal Central School of Speech and Drama The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama was founded by Elsie Fogerty in 1906, as The Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students. It became a ...

emerging with a diploma in 1935. Her first work was at the Gate Theatre in London and she then moved on to work in other theatres around London. The Amersham Playhouse had been created by John Penrose and Sally Latimer in 1936. Penrose soon left and Latimer continued to be joined by Jenner in 1938. The two of them would run the theatre until 1949 creating over 200 productions. During the war there was eleven performances per week. In March 1949 the theatre's governors decided that it was no longer financially viable. In November 1949 Caryl Jenner created the Mobile Theatre Ltd to allow a small company to take theatre to children. They supplemented their income by performing to adults in the evenings. In 1960 her business had five touring companies of actors and four of these were devoted to children's theatre. In 1962, the name changed again, to the Unicorn Theatre Club. In 1967, the company gave up touring having received an annual grant from the Arts Council, took up the lease at the

Arts Theatre The Arts Theatre is a theatre in Great Newport Street, in Westminster, Central London. History It opened on 20 April 1927 as a members-only club for the performance of unlicensed plays, thus avoiding theatre censorship by the Lord Chamber ...

in London.

Death and legacy

Jenner died on 29 January 1973 at the age of 55 in

Middlesex Hospital Middlesex Hospital was a teaching hospital located in the Fitzrovia area of London, England. First opened as the Middlesex Infirmary in 1745 on Windmill Street, it was moved in 1757 to Mortimer Street where it remained until it was finally clos ...

from lung cancer. Jenner had campaigned for a purpose built children's theatre on the South Bank in London. The children's theatre continued at the Arts Theatre until the purpose built

Unicorn Theatre The Unicorn Theatre is a children's theatre in the London Borough of Southwark, in England. It is a custom-built, RIBA Award–winning building on Tooley Street, which opened in 2005. The theatre was designed by Keith Williams, built by Arup ...

for children was completed in 2005. The theatre had cost £13m pounds and decades of work and Jenner's contribution was identified as key to its creation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenner, Caryl 1917 births 1973 deaths People from London British theatre directors