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 Theatre Royal was built in the Barnwell suburb of Cambridge, England, in 1816. It closed later that century but reopened as the Cambridge Festival Theatre from 1926 until 1935. The building, in which part of the interior of the theatre surv ...

. 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 Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in ...

, both alone and in collaboration with Christopher Isherwood, 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 th ...

. It also produced plays by T. S. Eliot and other contemporary writers, and Elizabethan and medieval English plays. Among the artists and musicians who worked with the Group were Henry Moore,

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 Rupert Norman Shephard (12 February 1909 – 16 March 1992) was an English painter, illustrator and art teacher. Early life Shephard was born in Islington, the son of an engineer and a charity worker, who were both Quakers and keen amateu ...

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