The Liverpool Everyman theatre has long had the reputation of being one of the most innovative and exciting in the country. In the early 1960s, at a time when the city of Liverpool was buzzing with the Beatles, it began a crusade to bring theatre to the people. Housed in what was once an old chapel, the theatre has been in need for refurbishment for some years and is now about the begin a makeover that will equip it for the next 50 years.
The £28 million redevelopment of the theatre is scheduled to begin shortly so that the new Everyman will be ready for opening in 2013. But not everything is going to plan. Recent cutbacks have seen £2.4 million Northwest Regional Development Agency funds suddenly snatched away as cutbacks take effect, but the Everyman management team remain hopeful of raising funds elsewhere. The new theatre will have a new stage, as well as rehearsal and teaching rooms, and a revamped eating area with street cafe.
The beauty of the Everyman has always been in its informality and the new design promises not to lose that uniqueness. When it was opened it was different. It was theatre in the round – although it’s not quite the round, more like the three-quarters. More important has been its ability to attract a wide range of theatregoers. It has never been a theatre to be “seen at”, but a theatre for genuine enjoyment. There is nothing bourgeois about the Everyman. It is slightly scruffy, unassuming and very bohemian. Jeans, T-shirts and hoodies are the order of the day rather than smart suits and brogues.
Originally it was in direct competition with the city’s Playhouse, at that time a typical regional rep company with a decent reputation for the standard repertoire. The Everyman decided on a different approach. It would be rough and ready and would buy into the new wave of culture sweeping the city. Peter James was the company’s first director and he was not afraid to reinterpret some of the traditional works and put on some of the less performed plays from the likes of Eugene O’Neil, Joe Orton and Samuel Beckett. James set the tone, and the standards of the theatre have continued to meet that template.
The building was constructed in 1837 as a church and closed some 20 years later when it was converted into a concert hall. Then, in 1912, it became the Hope Hall Cinema. It remained as such until it closed in 1959 and then a few years later opened as a theatre.
In the 1970s, it discovered a 26-year-old local writer Willy Russell and put on his play John, Paul, George, Ringo… and Bert. This played to packed houses and transferred to London’s West End. The theatre also became a meeting place for young people. Its cellar bar, which was not unlike the Cavern down the road, was a good drinking place and a venue of the Liverpool poets.
Adrian Henry, Brian Patten, Roger McGough and Adrian Mitchell took up residence, giving regular poetry readings that proved enormously popular and inspired a new generation of Liverpool writers. Their poetry was accessible, relevant, insightful and often amusing. The audience was invited to read their own poetry or their favourite poems.
During the 1960s, the Liverpool music scene, and the Everyman with its innovative productions and poetry evenings, helped turn Liverpool into something of a cultural Mecca. In time, it would spawn other writers such as Alan Bleasdale. Today the bar area is one of Liverpool’s best-known eating-places.
It wasn’t just the writers. The Everyman attracted a host of young ambitious actors such as Julie Walters, Bernard Hill, Jonathan Pryce, Pete Postlethwaite, Antony Sher, Bill Nighy, Barbara Dickson, Matthew Kelly, Cathy Tyson and David Morrissey. Ken Campbell was a director in the early 1980s. A succession of productions began at the Everyman, quickly transferred to London and won an array of awards.
The Everyman and Playhouse are now joined at the hip and this season the Playhouse showcased Kim Cattrall in Janet Suzman’s acclaimed production of Cleopatra. Currently at the Playhouse is a Steven Berkoff’s adaptation of Oedipus. The Everyman, meanwhile, is presenting Dead Heavy Fantastic by yet another promising Liverpool writer, Robert Farquhar. In May before the builders move in David Morrissey and Jemma Redgrave will star in Macbeth. Liverpool’s Year of Culture has left a legacy that promises to bring vibrant theatre to the city for a few more generations.
