Philip Hedley, who has died aged 85, was a protégé of Joan Littlewood, the radical founder of Theater Workshop, who toured shows aimed at working-class audiences and led an extraordinary revolution in British theater when she took part in it in the 1950s. at the Theater Royal in Stratford, east London.
Hedley started as Joan Littlewood’s assistant in 1972, and after a break following her departure from the theater in 1974, he took over as artistic director of the Theater Royal Stratford East in 1979, a role he held for 25 years.
He recalled that Joan Littlewood had told him in her interview that he had built his life “on the rock of change”. “It was totally against everything that was established that people thought had developed safe rules to govern themselves,” she said. “If an actor had a great laugh at a line, he would change that line the next night.”
Hedley remained true to his vision, maintaining the theatre’s reputation for bringing both innovative productions and new audiences, despite constant arguments with the Arts Council over funding.
He founded his belief in creating work that would reflect and appeal to the local community, which had become much more culturally mixed in the 1980s and 1990s, so that by the end of his tenure white people in the theatre’s hometown of Newham were now a minority.
It promoted the work of black and Asian actors and writers and attracted more diverse audiences with its variety nights (described in the Evening Standard as “featuring geriatric jokes and brand new skits, outlandish acrobats and flamboyant, dashing and often extremely flamboyant drag queens”). rude”) and annual pantomimes (often featuring a black main character) and co-productions with leading black and Asian companies.
Musicals include Moti Roti Puttli Chunni (1993), a Bollywood remake; and Clarke Peters’ Five Guys Named Moe (1990), based on the music of American bandleader Louis Jordan and transferred to the West End and Broadway.
In 1999 Hedley founded the theatre’s acclaimed Musical Theater Workshop to promote local writers and composers. The workshop was instrumental in the production of Da Boyz (2003), a hip-hop adaptation of the 1938 Broadway hit The Boys from Syracuse by Ultz (born David Ultz); In this movie, all seats were removed from the stands so that young viewers could have more fun. dance.
US entertainment weekly Variety devoted its entire front page to the show, expressing its amazement that a small theater in London had managed to negotiate the rights to modernize the Rodgers and Hart original in a way that no American theater had been allowed to do.
Another huge success was the hit ska Windrush musical The Big Life (2004), written by Paul Sirett and Paul Joseph and billed as the first black British musical to play in the West End. It won the Hedley Arts Council’s first Eclipse award for tackling racism in theatre, and was its swan song.
Just as Joan Littlewood risked official disapproval with her satirical anti-war musical Oh, What a Lovely War!, Hedley staged the first English-language production of Federico García Lorca’s controversial play The Public in 1988, following a ban on the promotion of homosexuality. Section 28 of the Local Government Act has just come into force (though one player noted that the game was “so caught up in symbolism that no one had any idea what it was about”).
Moreover, Hedley was delighted when “questions were asked” about another stunt in the House of Commons in which Mrs Thatcher stripped and threw away a garment as she announced each new cut in public spending. Other productions tackled racial prejudice and violence, the poll tax (treated not as an opportunity for agitprop but as a springboard for farce), or simply life in east London.
He stopped at almost nothing to promote his theater. Charles Spencer, critic for The Telegraph, recalled that to drum up interest at one of his variety nights, he promised a dancing dog, even though he had no access to such a dog: “When photographers at national newspapers requested photo interviews, he borrowed an actress’s dog. So why wasn’t there dancing? he asked the photographers. The explanation came that he was sick with the flu and could not dance that day. But it would definitely be All Okay Overnight.
“As the show approached, Hedley realized that the non-existent dog had to die. The press was solemnly informed that the Terpsichord dog had been run over by an articulated truck on its way to the theatre. Reporters who attempted to interview the ‘owner’ about his tragic loss were told he was too distressed to come to the phone.
Michael Bertenshaw, an experienced mime dame in Theater Royal productions, many of which were directed by Hedley, recalled that his shows “all had the rough-and-ready quality you’d expect from a music hall”: “Other directors I’ve worked with got fed up if things weren’t going their way. But sometimes things with Philip are terrible.” It would go terribly wrong, and at the end of the run you’d look up and see him wiping his eyes and crying with laughter because everyone else had gotten into such a mess and somehow managed to get out of it.
“Some directors are quite autocratic; “Philip is the perfect person to celebrate what actors do, to bring the chaos together and put it on stage.”
But beneath Hedley’s theatrical style, publicity stunts and infectious high-pitched giggle, Charles Spencer detected a man of “almost puritanical idealism”. He was one of the most outspoken critics of business sponsorship of the arts, arguing that an over-reliance on sponsorship could lead to self-censorship by arts organizations out of concern for not offending their patrons.
Hedley himself recalled being approached by a management company in the West End. “Without knowing what was happening, they offered me double my salary and an office in Wardour Street with air conditioning and wall-to-wall carpeting. “If they thought these values were important to me, they were talking to the wrong person.”
Philip David Hedley was born into a working-class family in Manchester on 10 April 1938 and emigrated to Australia with his family in 1951. His love affair with theater began at the University of Sydney; here he studied English and education “on paper” but became increasingly involved in drama.
On his return to Britain, he went to the Theater Royal to see Ben Jonson’s play Every Man in His Humour, and heard two tea ladies chatting in the café beforehand. “The real Cockney accent was new to me at the time,” he recalled. “I postponed going to the theater because I wanted to hear their stories. When I entered the game it was the same as the two ladies; the same rhythm, sparkle and immediacy. “It was very impressive.”
He then went out into the foyer and asked the house manager what he could do to be a part of it: “That question changed the course of my life.”
Hedley was one of the first students to enroll in the E15 School of Acting, founded by members of Joan Littlewood’s company in 1961. But he soon realized he was more of a director than an actor and spent several years freelancing around the country and the world – “from West End musicals to a schoolyard in Khartoum” – before returning to see Joan Littlewood. She gave him a five-hour interview to become his assistant.
He remembered it as “challenging and challenging…wonderful and hellish.” He would attack people and eventually came after me. “He accused me of everything imaginable, from my ancestry to my testicles.”
When Joan Littlewood moved to France in 1974 following the death of her partner Gerry Raffles, a turbulent period followed with the arrival and departure of three artistic directors, Ken Hill, Maxwell Shaw and finally Clare Venables. When Hedley agreed to take over in 1979, the Arts Council was threatening to withdraw its support if the theater could not justify its continuation within two years.
Hedley quickly began to make his mark by casting the country’s first black principal in Jack and the Beanstalk. Other early successes included new plays such as Mustapha Matura’s Welcome Home Jacko, Barrie Keeffe’s Hush and Better Times, and Nell Dunn’s Steaming. He produced and directed more than 160 productions before retiring in 2004 and becoming Director Emeritus. He was replaced by Kerry Michael, the theatre’s assistant director and Hedley’s former assistant.
Hedley remained active, lecturing, lecturing, running workshops and serving on numerous Arts Council and other committees. She was appointed CBE in 2003.
Philip Hedley was not married.
Philip Hedley was born on April 10, 1938, died on January 5, 2024.