Red Ladder Theatre Company is a national touring theatre company, funded by the
Arts Council England and
Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...
City Council. It is based at the Yorkshire Dance Centre, Leeds.
The company was founded in London in 1968, during the Vietnam War, as a radical socialist theatre known as ''agitprop''. The company moved to Leeds in the 1970s and is still based in the city. During the 1980s, the company changed its co-operative structure to a hierarchy and became a company that specialised in targeted work for youth audiences.
Red Ladder also hosted the Asian Theatre School, later Freedom Studios, preparing productions including the play ''Silent Cry'' by Madani Younis
presented at the
Theatre Royal, York (2004).
In 2011, it ran a play called ''Promised Land'', an adaptation of
Anthony Clavane's book about Leeds United.
Today the company:
* tours nationally
* produces performance for the Annual Emerge Festival and
Garforth Arts Festival
The Garforth Arts Festival is an annual arts festival that takes place in Garforth, Leeds, England. The events take place over a two-week period in June and July, ending with a full-day ‘Playground Party’ on the final Saturday. The festival fea ...
* Runs the Red Grit, Actor Training programme
Red Ladder's Arts Council funding will cease from April 2015. In response to a fundraising campaign to save the company, author David Peace has donated the theatre rights to his novel ''
The Damned Utd
''The Damned Utd'' is a biographical novel by British author David Peace, published in 2006. Depicting events in the life of English football personality Brian Clough, it is set during Clough's brief and unsuccessful 44-day spell as manager of ...
''.
References
External links
*
Red Ladder Theatre Company*http://www.redladder.co.uk/bm/red_ladder_blog/index.shtml
*http://www.redladder.co.uk/bm/news/index.shtml
{{Authority control
Theatre companies in Leeds
Touring theatre