Joan Maud Littlewood was an English theatre director who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and is best known for her work in developing the Theatre Workshop.
10 Facts About Joan Littlewood
2.
Joan Littlewood has been called "The Mother of Modern Theatre".
3.
Joan Littlewood conceived and developed the concept of the Fun Palace in collaboration with architect Cedric Price, an experimental model of a participatory social environment that, although never realized, has become an important influence in the architecture of the 20th and 21st centuries.
4.
Joan Littlewood was born in Stockwell, London, and was educated at La Retraite Convent School in Clapham Park.
5.
Joan Littlewood trained as an actress at RADA, but left after an unhappy start and moved to Manchester in 1934, where she met folksinger Jimmie Miller, who later became known as Ewan MacColl.
6.
In 1941, Joan Littlewood was banned from broadcasting on the BBC and her personnel file was marked by an MI5 officer as she was deemed a security risk.
7.
Joan Littlewood was under surveillance by MI5 from 1939 until the 1950s.
Related searches
Ewan MacColl 8.
Shortly afterwards, when Gerry Raffles joined the troupe, MacColl and Joan Littlewood divorced, though they still worked together for many years and Joan Littlewood was godmother to MacColl's two children.
9.
Joan Littlewood died in 2002 of natural causes at the age of 87 in the London flat of Peter Rankin.
10.
Joan Littlewood was played by Zoe Wanamaker in the 2017 BBC Television drama Babs, about the life of Barbara Windsor.