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Background
The unity name is one of the last reminders of a national theatre movement that once played an important role in the theatrical and political life of the country.
Post-War
After the war the Unity Theatre movement was largely amateur and sought to serve the broad labour movement. Unity Theatres aimed to make theatre accessible to 'the great mass of the people' both through production, acting, writing and as audience and to use theatre as a political instrument to bring 'new strength to the progressive struggle'.
The Origins of Liverpool's
Unity
Merseyside Left Theatre was formed in the 1930s and became Merseyside Unity Theatre in 1944. From the start the company was radical and experimental, however, unlike many Unity Theatres, the Merseyside group staged classics alongside contemporary left wing theatre.
The Unity Theatre Movement towards the
1980s
The Unity Theatres movement grew as a direct response to the theatre censorship being exercised as directed by the Lord Chamberlain. The Unity Theatre movement, along with many theatre clubs, started to disappear with the abolition of licensing in the 1960s as mainstream theatres met the demand for radical theatre. Merseyside Unity Theatre survived into the early 1980s.
The End of Merseyside Unity
Theatre
One of the last initiatives of Merseyside Unity Theatre was the development of the current Unity Theatre on Hope Place. The building was acquired on a lease from the Council and work was undertaken to convert the former synagogue from a photographic studio to a theatre.
The beginning of Unity
Theatre
Merseyside Unity Theatre ended in the mid 1980s. The theatre was already well established under Hope Place Community Association management and it continued to expand as a base for professional touring theatre (becoming unitytheatre). Linking both organisations was Graham Frood who joined Merseyside Left Theatre in the 1930s. Graham continued his involvement with unity until his death in 2003.
Unity Theatre in the 1990s &
2000s
In 1994 unitytheatre received funding from the Arts Council of England for development: A Foundation for Sport and the Arts award of £20,000 and £1.6m from the Arts Council of England Lottery panel and the Government Office of Merseyside for major refurbishment commencing in May 1997. The refurbishment was completed in August 1998 with a major re-launch in September of that year.
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2005 saw unity celebrating 25 years and did so in lots of ways with exciting new initiatives marking the occasion.
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2010 saw unity's 30th birthday at Hope Place which was celebrated with an international co-production of David Yip's Gold Mountain with French Canadian company Les Deux Mondes.
unitytheatre today is one of the best loved theatres in Liverpool and recently won the Best Performing Venue award at the Mersey Partnership Tourism Awards. |
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