ABSTRACT
The Belgrade set the pattern for other civic theatres which sprang up over the next dozen years like mushrooms, at Cheltenham in 1960; Barrow in 1961; Bromley, Croydon and Harrogate in 1962; Nottingham, Leicester and Newcastle in 1963; and so on. It was always public money which released the best in regional repertory theatres, though the work of Joan Littlewood and Theatre Workshop, with its permanent company, its repertoire moving between energetic revivals and more or less daring new plays, and its commitment to its local community, was inspirational. The only rep which could compare with Stoke for showing local people themselves was probably the Liverpool Everyman in the early 1970s under Alan Dossor, an admirer of Joan Littlewood who had worked with Peter Cheeseman. Most towns and cities have had repertory theatres, often long-lasting, in the fifty or sixty years since the Coventry Belgrade opened its doors, too many to mention.
