The Group Theatre (London) was an experimental theatre company founded in 1932 by Rupert Doone and Robert Medley. It evolved from a play-reading group in Cambridge that Doone had been involved with during his years studying with the Cambridge Festival Theatre. The Group Theatre was active from 1932 to 1939 and reformed as The Group Theatre Ltd. in the early 1950s. The Group performed plays written for it in the 1930s by W. H. Auden, both alone and in collaboration with

Christopher Isherwood Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood (26 August 1904 – 4 January 1986) was an Anglo-American novelist, playwright, screenwriter, autobiographer, and diarist. His best-known works include '' Goodbye to Berlin'' (1939), a semi-autobiographical ...

, Louis MacNeice, and

Stephen Spender Sir Stephen Harold Spender (28 February 1909 – 16 July 1995) was an English poet, novelist and essayist whose work concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry by t ...

. It also produced plays by

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biogr ...

and other contemporary writers, and Elizabethan and medieval English plays. Among the artists and musicians who worked with the Group were

Henry Moore Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi-abstract art, abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. As well as sculpture, Mo ...

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

, Brian Easdale and Rupert Shephard.

References

* * {{cite book , author = Robert Medley , title = Drawn from the Life: A Memoir , url = https://archive.org/details/drawnfromlifem00medl , url-access = registration , year = 1983 , publisher = Faber 1939 disestablishments in England 1932 establishments in England Theatre companies in London 1930s in London