Peter Barrie Cheeseman,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(27 January 1932,

Cowplain Cowplain is a village north of Waterlooville, Hampshire, England. With a population of 9,353 at the 2011 census, it makes up above 7% of Havant borough's population. It grew along the old London to Portsmouth road (the A3) on which the village ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

– 27 April 2010,

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...

) was a British theatre director who is credited with having pioneered "

theatre in the round A theatre in the round, arena theatre or central staging is a space for theatre in which the audience surrounds the stage. Theatre-in-the-round was common in ancient theatre, particularly that of Greece and Rome, but was not widely explored aga ...

Early life

His father's work as a Naval Communications Officer took him and his young family to many locations around England, and Peter was educated at ten schools (of which the last was

Quarry Bank High School Calderstones School is an English comprehensive school located opposite Calderstones Park on Harthill Road in the Liverpool suburb of Allerton. The school was founded in 1921 as Quarry Bank High School for Boys and its first intake of 225 pu ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

) before attending

Sheffield University , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

(1952) where he graduated in 1955 with a degree in English, Latin and Modern History.''The Times'' obituary for Peter Cheeseman, 3 May 2010. Cheesman started his theatre work while he was in the RAF, and did some directing at university (including an "ambitious" production of ''

King Lear ''King Lear'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his power and land between two of his daughters. He becomes destitute and insane an ...

'').

Career

After involvement with the left-wing Unity Theatre in Liverpool and work at

Derby Playhouse Derby Playhouse was a theatre production company based in Derby, England and the former name of the theatre which it owned and operated from its opening in 1975 until 2008, when the company ceased operating after a period in administration. The th ...

Cheeseman joined

Stephen Joseph Stephen Joseph (13 June 1921 – 4 October 1967)Colin Chambers (ed.) ''The Continuum Companion to Twentieth Century Theatre,'' London: Continuum, 2002, p.410 was an English stage director and pioneer of "theatre in the round." Life Stephen J ...

's peripatetic Studio Theatre (in the round) which was then based in Scarborough. In 1962, Joseph and Cheeseman gained the use of a former cinema in

Hartshill Hartshill is a large village and civil parish in North Warwickshire, England, 2.5 miles (4 km) north-west of the town of Nuneaton. The parish borders the district of Nuneaton and Bedworth at the south, the North Warwickshire district parishes ...

, and converted it into the Victoria Theatre, a square playing space where the audience viewed the performance from all four sides. Cheeseman became the sole artistic director for the following 36 years. In that time he produced new plays from such writers as

Peter Terson Peter Terson (born Peter Patterson; 16 February 1932 – 8 April 2021) was a British playwright whose plays have been produced for stage, television and radio. Most of his theatre work was first produced at the Victoria Theatre in Stoke-on-Tren ...

and

Alan Ayckbourn Sir Alan Ayckbourn (born 12 April 1939) is a prolific British playwright and director. He has written and produced as of 2021, more than eighty full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of ...

, using young acting talent such as

Ben Kingsley Sir Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji; 31 December 1943) is an English actor. He has received various accolades throughout his career spanning five decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Grammy Award, and two ...

.New Vic press release about Young Vic Award
He was responsible for over 140 productions, old and new. A speciality was plays with a local resonance, such as ''The Knotty'', about the

North Staffordshire Railway The North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) was a British railway company formed in 1845 to promote a number of lines in the Staffordshire Potteries and surrounding areas in Staffordshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire and Shropshire. The company was based i ...

, and ''The Fight for

Shelton Bar Shelton Bar (Shelton Iron, Steel & Coal Company) was a major steelworks in the city of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. In its heyday, Shelton Bar employed 10,000 in the steelworks, had five coal mines, a complete railway system, and a b ...

'', about the closure of a local steelworks. Cheeseman masterminded the move in 1986 to a new purpose-built building, specifically designed for theatre in the round, the

New Vic Theatre The New Vic Theatre is a purpose-built theatre in the round in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire. The theatre opened in 1986, replacing a converted cinema, the Victoria Theatre in Hartshill, Stoke-on-Trent. History In the early 1960s, Stephen ...

in nearby

Newcastle-under-Lyme Newcastle-under-Lyme ( RP: , ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. The 2011 census population of the town was 75,082, whilst the wider borough had a population of 1 ...

. He finally retired in 1998, and in that year was appointed a

. In retirement he remained active, spending eight years as Chair of the

National Council for Drama Training The National Council for Drama Training (NCDT) was a partnership of employers in the theatre, broadcast and media industry, employee representatives and training providers from 1976 to 2012. History The National Council for Drama Training (NCDT ...

. In 2009 he was recipient of the ''Young Vic Award'' for a lifetime's encouragement and inspiration to a younger generation of theatre artists.

Mike Leigh Mike Leigh (born 20 February 1943) is an English film and theatre director, screenwriter and playwright. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and further at the Camberwell School of Art, the Central School of Art and Design ...

, who was involved with the Victoria Theatre in the 1960s, said

"Working with Peter was a special and creative time. Great friendships were made. There was something special about what Peter made people do and made people be. The kind of spirit in which we worked, to be political and truthful, was down to Peter. He is a genius, a vagabond, a facilitator. What he has achieved is colossal and he is regarded with great respect and love."

Death and legacy

Peter Cheeseman died on 27 April 2010 of

inanition Starvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy intake, below the level needed to maintain an organism's life. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage and eventually, deat ...

and

vascular dementia Vascular dementia (VaD) is dementia caused by problems in the supply of blood to the brain, typically a series of minor strokes, leading to worsening cognitive abilities, the decline occurring piecemeal. The term refers to a syndrome consisting ...

,Death certificate. Stoke-on-Trent District Ref. QBDY 950951 (entry no.282) after a long battle with

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

Staffordshire University , mottoeng = Dare to know , type = Public , endowment = £70 million (2015) , administrative_staff = 1,375 , chancellor = Francis Fitzherbert, 15th Baron Stafford , vice_chancellor = Professor Martin Jones , ...

inaugurated the annua
Peter Cheeseman Lectures
His work is now regarded as a suitable topic for academic study.Peter Cheeseman's work at the old and new Victoria theatres: MPhil thesis
/ref>

References

External links

''The Guardian'' obituary
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cheeseman, Peter 1932 births 2010 deaths Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Neurological disease deaths in the United Kingdom Deaths from dementia in the United Kingdom Deaths from vascular dementia Deaths from Parkinson's disease English theatre directors People associated with Staffordshire University People from Stoke-on-Trent Alumni of the University of Sheffield