__NOTOC__ The Little Theatre is a

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

venue based in Leicester,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

which is operated by the Leicester Drama Society (LDS). The Theatre has a main auditorium which seats 349, along with an additional studio space. The theatre facilities include a bar, two rehearsal spaces, library and costume hire. The Little Theatre hosts around 200 productions a year, has an annual turnover of £580,000 and receives 50,000 visitors a year.This is Leicestershire - 3 August 2009 - Little Theatre is a big attraction
/ref> The theatre is equipped for audio description. Productions at The Little Theatre are primarily plays from the resident

amateur theatre Amateur theatre, also known as amateur dramatics, is theatre performed by amateur actors and singers. Amateur theatre groups may stage plays, revues, musicals, light opera, pantomime or variety shows, and do so for the social activity as well as f ...

company LDS and its members. LDS produce around 200 productions a year, with each season consisting of 12 plays and 1 pantomime. LDS productions usually consist of 6 evening performances and 1 matinee performance. LDS also hire the venue to professional acts, other community groups and events. Acts have included

Prunella Scales Prunella Margaret Rumney West Scales (''née'' Illingworth; born 22 June 1932) is an English former actress, best known for playing Sybil Fawlty, wife of Basil Fawlty (John Cleese), in the BBC comedy '' Fawlty Towers'', her nomination for a ...

William Roache William Patrick Roache (born 25 April 1932) is an English actor. He is best known for playing Ken Barlow in the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' since it was first broadcast on 9 December 1960. He is listed in the ''Guinness World Records ...

, Topping and Butch and

Charles Dance Walter Charles Dance (born 10 October 1946) is an English actor. He is known for playing strict, authoritarian characters and villains. His most notable film roles include Sardo Numspa in '' The Golden Child'' (1986), Dr. Jonathan Clemens in '' ...

. A youth theatre group also operates for ages 8–12, and 13–18. Leicester born playwright Joe Orton and actor Richard Attenborough are both former alumni from the society.

History

Leicester Drama Society was formed in 1922 and occupied the upper floor of the old Rechabite Chapel on Dover Street, Leicester. The society purchased the building for £14,000 in 1932, renaming the building The Little Theatre. In 1955 parts of the theatre had to be rebuilt due to a fire. In 2011 the theatre celebrated its 1,000th production with the

Thornton Wilder Thornton Niven Wilder (April 17, 1897 – December 7, 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes — for the novel '' The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' and for the plays ''Our Town'' and '' The Skin of Our Teeth'' — ...

play ''

Our Town ''Our Town'' is a 1938 metatheatrical three-act play by American playwright Thornton Wilder which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play tells the story of the fictional American small town of Grover's Corners between 1901 and 1913 thro ...

''. In 2012 the theatre won Best Venue in Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival Awards. In 2012 it was announced that The Little Theatre would be expanding. The expansion would result in 2 new rehearsal rooms, new studio, new workshop, new box office and foyer as well as providing better disabled access. The build requires the theatre to raise £2 million. The project was due to start in 2015, but suffered with funding issues. In 2018, Mayor

Peter Soulsby Sir Peter Alfred Soulsby (born 27 December 1948) is a British Labour Party politician serving as Mayor of Leicester since 2011. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicester South from 2005 until he resigned his seat in April 2011, in ...

offered the Little Theatre £280,000 if they could raise £3 million on their own. The project is due for completion is 2022, in keeping with the Centenary of the theatre.

References

{{Authority control Theatres in Leicester Culture in Leicestershire

History

See also

References