Littlewood, Joan (1914–2002)

English actor, founder and director. Born Joan Maudie Littlewood, Oct 6, 1914, in Stockwell, South London; died Sept 20, 2002, in London; dau. of Kate Littlewood (not married); attended Royal Academy of Dramatic Art; m. Jimmie Miller (later known as Ewan MacColl), 1936 (div.); m. Gerry Raffles (died 1975); children: none.

Founder and director of the Theater Workshop, who pioneered original methods of theater training and developed production styles which have had a profound influence on postwar theater and theater practitioners both in Great Britain and throughout the world; left school prematurely on winning scholarship to RADA; left RADA without completing course and moved to Manchester (1934); joined Theater of Action (agitprop street theater) and met Ewan MacColl (writer); founded Theater Union (1936); worked as freelance writer and broadcaster, though banned from BBC for political outspokenness (1939–45); founded Theater Workshop with Gerry Raffles and others (1945); toured devised work and classical plays (mainly as "one-night stands") in England, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Czechoslovakia (1945–53); moved company to Theater Royal, Stratford-atte-Bowe, London, E.15 (1953); invited to Theater of Nations, Paris (1955), then annually, winning Best Production of the Year 3 times; with Mother Courage, offered 1st production of Bertolt Brecht in England (1955); ran workshops at Centre Culturel Hammamet, Tunisia (1965–67) and Image India, Calcutta (1968); created children's environments, bubble cities, learn and play areas around Theater Royal, E.15 (1968–75); left England to work in France (1975). Productions include Uranium 235 (1949), The Good Soldier Schweik (1954), Volpone (1955), The Quare Fellow (1956), A Taste of Honey (1958), The Hostage (1958), Fings Ain't What They Used T'Be (1959), Sparrers Can't Sing (1961), and film (1963), Oh What a Lovely War (1963) and Mrs. Wilson's Diary (1967).

See also autobiography Joan's Book (Methuen, 1994); and Women in World History.