(1914-2002)
Theatre Royal, Gerry Raffles Square, London E15 1BN
Born and raised in London, Joan had seen early stage performances and was left disappointed by the seemingly privileged world of theatre. Moving to Manchester, she met Jimmie Miller (later named Ewan MacColl) and they set up a hub of playwriting that included hard hitting themes often not covered on a public level. In 1941, she was banned from the BBC for her alleged extreme communist views and for fear of broadcasting her dangerous ideas to the nation. MI5 observed her for almost two decades.
Lauded as the founder of modern young people’s theatre, Joan arrived at the Theatre Royal with her Workshop Company in 1953, getting children from the streets in Stratford involved in drama. She continued staging productions with social issues at the heart, notably Shelagh Delaney’s, ‘A Taste of Honey’ in 1958 and 1963’s, ‘Oh What a Lovely War!’
The bronze statue, called ‘The Mother of Modern Theatre’ is based on an iconic 1970’s photograph of Joan sitting on rubble in almost exactly this location where the Theatre was threatened with demolition.
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