You do not have permission to edit this page, for the following reasons:

This IP address has been blocked from editing Wikipedia.
This does not affect your ability to read Wikipedia pages.
Most people who see this message have done nothing wrong. Some kinds of blocks restrict editing from specific service providers or telecom companies in response to recent abuse or vandalism, and can sometimes affect other users who are unrelated to that abuse. Review the information below for assistance if you do not believe that you have done anything wrong.

The IP address or range 54.163.0.0/16 has been blocked (disabled) by ‪Blablubbs‬ for the following reason(s):

The IP address that you are currently using has been blocked because it is believed to be a web host provider or colocation provider. To prevent abuse, web hosts and colocation providers may be blocked from editing Wikipedia.
You will not be able to edit Wikipedia using a web host or colocation provider because it hides your IP address, much like a proxy or VPN.
We recommend that you attempt to use another connection to edit. For example, if you use a proxy or VPN to connect to the internet, turn it off when editing Wikipedia. If you edit using a mobile connection, try using a Wi-Fi connection, and vice versa. If you are using a corporate internet connection, switch to a different Wi-Fi network. If you have a Wikipedia account, please log in.
If you do not have any other way to edit Wikipedia, you will need to request an IP block exemption.

How to appeal if you are confident that your connection does not use a colocation provider's IP address:
If you are confident that you are not using a web host, you may appeal this block by adding the following text on your talk page: ((unblock|reason=Caught by a colocation web host block but this host or IP is not a web host. My IP address is _______. Place any further information here. ~~~~)). You must fill in the blank with your IP address for this block to be investigated. Your IP address can be determined here. Alternatively, if you wish to keep your IP address private you can use the unblock ticket request system. There are several reasons you might be editing using the IP address of a web host or colocation provider (such as if you are using VPN software or a business network); please use this method of appeal only if you think your IP address is in fact not a web host or colocation provider.

Administrators: The IP block exemption user right should only be applied to allow users to edit using web host in exceptional circumstances, and requests should usually be directed to the functionaries team via email. If you intend to give the IPBE user right, a CheckUser needs to take a look at the account. This can be requested most easily at SPI Quick Checkuser Requests. Unblocking an IP or IP range with this template is highly discouraged without at least contacting the blocking administrator.

This block will expire on 17:28, 10 March 2024.

Even when blocked, you will usually still be able to edit your user talk page, as well as email administrators and other editors.

For information on how to proceed, please read the FAQ for blocked users and the guideline on block appeals. The guide to appealing blocks may also be helpful.

Other useful links: Blocking policy · Help:I have been blocked
Your IP address is in a range that has been blocked on all Wikimedia Foundation wikis. The block was made by ‪Jon Kolbert‬. The reason given is Open proxy/Webhost: See the help page if you are affected .
- Start of block: 18:27, 12 November 2023
- Expiry of block: 18:27, 12 November 2028
Your current IP address is 54.163.179.242. The blocked range is 54.163.0.0/16. Please include all above details in any queries you make. If you believe you were blocked by mistake, you can find additional information and instructions in the No open proxies global policy. Otherwise, to discuss the block please post a request for review on Meta-Wiki. You could also send an email to the stewards VRT queue at stewards@wikimedia.org including all above details.

You can view and copy the source of this page:

((More citations needed|date=January 2022))((EngvarB|date=October 2013))
((Use dmy dates|date=October 2013))
((coord|52|37|52.50|N|1|8|6.50|W|type:landmark|display=title))
((Infobox Venue
| name             = Sue Townsend Theatre
| image            = File:Phoenix Arts Centre Leicester.jpg
<!--  Commented out because image was deleted: [[Image:Phoenix Theatre Front.jpg|350px|]] -->
| image_caption    = The building in 2009
| location         = [[Leicester]], [[England]]
| type             = Contemporary music.
| genre            =
| broke_ground     = 1962
| built            =
| opened           = ((Start date and age|1963|df=yes))
| renovated        = 1988
| expanded         = 1988
| | | owner            =
| former_names     = Phoenix Theatre <br />Phoenix Arts <br/> Upper Brown Street Theatre
| seating_capacity = 266
| website          = [http://www.leicestercollege.ac.uk/suetownsendtheatre/ Sue Townsend Theatre]
))

'''Sue Townsend Theatre''' (formerly the '''Phoenix Theatre''', '''Phoenix Arts Centre''' and the '''Upper Brown Street Theatre''') is a theatre in the [[Leicester City Centre|city]] of [[Leicester]], England. The centre hosts live shows and films of the [[arthouse]] and [[world cinema]] genres. Julian Wright is credited for his work to preserve the theatre from demolition in the 1980s and in the 2000s. In 2010, after a new [[Phoenix Square]] opened on the other side of the city centre, the space became the Upper Brown Street Theatre, a music training and performance venue. It has since been renamed the Sue Townsend Theatre, to honour the late Leicester author and playwright, [[Sue Townsend]].

== History ==

In 1963, [[Leicester City Council]] (LCC), identifying a gap in cultural provision for live performances, built a 262-seat theatre in Leicester, The Phoenix Theatre, intended as a temporary solution until a more permanent theatre could be built.

The theatre's roster of directors includes Clive Perry, [[Michael Bogdanov]], Chris Martin, Ian Giles, Sue Pomeroy, Graham Watkins, Paul Wetherby and Adrian Bean, and actors such as [[Nigel Bennett]], Roberta Kerr, [[Heather Sears]], Perry Cree, [[Anthony Hopkins]] and [[Greta Scacchi|Greta Scacci]]. The theatre was intended to serve the Leicester community by presenting both "in house" productions and touring companies, including dance and small-scale theatre productions for Leicestershire. Notable in the touring work were productions about the [[Romani people|travelling community]] and about [[substance abuse]]. 

The early 1980s were the theatre's most active period, when it employed some 80 people. The company included a main acting troupe, a touring company called "Flying Phoenix", and a touring dance company, "Phoenix Dance". It developed new writers, notably Sue Townsend, and premiered many productions that went on to national acclaim, such as ''The Hobbit'' and ''[[The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾|The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole]]''. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the theatre hosted annual revues performed by the Leicester University Revue & Theatre Society (R.A.T.S.), featuring cult comedy performers such as Nick "Tubby" Griffiths.

In 1973, a permanent theatre, the [[Haymarket Theatre (Leicester)|Haymarket Theatre]], was built. Support for the Phoenix Theatre continued to keep it operational. It was renamed the Phoenix Arts Centre and functioned alongside the Haymarket until 1987, when financial issues forced the LCC to reconsider its support. A decision to close the centre was averted in 1988 by support from Leicester Polytechnic (now [[De Montfort University]]) and the LCC, and while the Phoenix was no longer a producing theatre, it continued as a venue for contemporary art, film and live performances.

The Phoenix faced closure in the summer of 2009, to be replaced by a new building, [[Phoenix Square]], in the Cultural Quarter of the city. However, local musician Julian Wright campaigned successfully to stop LCC from selling. In June 2009, the Council asked for bids from arts groups for a five-year lease. Under the lease terms, films and professional theatre productions would not be permitted, so as not to compete with Phoenix Square and Leicester's new Curve Theatre respectively. The winning bid, announced on 12 November, was made by a group comprising [[Leicester College]] and four local music promoters. Social enterprise organisation Leicester Stride, a major element in one of the other bids, was invited to play a part in the centre's future.

On 6 March 2010, the ''[[Leicester Mercury]]'' announced that the centre was renamed the Upper Brown Street campus of Leicester College. Leicester property developer Norman Gill gave £25,000 towards refurbishment through the Norman Gill Charitable Trust. The theatre re-opened in 2010. As well as performances from Leicester College and students in Performing Arts and Music and Sound courses, the Upper Brown Street venue hosts shows and acts from external performers.

In 2011, Upper Brown Street presented its first full-scale musical production, ''[[Hairspray (musical)|Hairspray]]''. The production was created by Leicester College students. Prior to this, first year students performed [[Stephen Sondheim]]'s ''[[A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum]]''.

In 2015, the theatre was re-branded as the Sue Townsend Theatre, which coincided with the opening of Curve's production of ''The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole''. To honour the late playwright, students produced a version of ''Womberang''.<ref>((Cite web|title=Arts centre renamed to honour Sue Townsend|url=https://leicestercollege.ac.uk/about/news-and-events/news/arts-centre-renamed-honour-sue-townsend/|access-date=2022-01-14|website=Leicester College))</ref>

== Productions, events and shows ==
'''''Phoenix Theatre, 1963-1973'''''
*Opening production, 1963, ''The Matchmaker'' by Thornton Wilder, directed by Clive Perry.
*''[[Waiting for Godot]]'' written by Samuel Beckett, starring Kenneth Colley.
*''[[Caucasian Chalk Circle]]'' 
*''Richard III'', starring Bill Wallis

'''''Phoenix Arts Centre, 1973-2010'''''
*''The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui'' by Bertold Brecht (1976?)
*''Lucy in the Sky'', performed in a circus tent in the theatre car park, (1977). The theatre troupe took circus training lessons and performed circus routines as part of the play. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn4NUa41RpE
*''[[What the Butler Saw (play)|What the Butler Saw]]'' (1977), written by [[Joe Orton]], directed by [[Antonia Bird]].<ref>((Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-antonia-bird-television-director-flair-gritty-realism-8911532.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220525/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-antonia-bird-television-director-flair-gritty-realism-8911532.html |archive-date=25 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title = Obituary: Antonia Bird, Television director with a flair for gritty|website = [[Independent.co.uk]]|date = 30 October 2013))</ref>
*''No More Sitting on the Old School Bench'' (1979), written by [[Alan Bleasdale]]
*''Killer on the Dance Floor'' (1980), written by [[Sue Townsend and Rod Thompson]]
*''Little Brother, Little Sister'' (1981), written by [[David Campton]]
*''The Ghost of Daniel Lambert'' (1981), written by [[Sue Townsend]]
*''Captain Christmas and the Evil Adults'' (1982), written by [[Sue Townsend]]
*''Mother Goose'' and ''Dancing Dan'' by Paul Wetherby (1983);
*''The Hobbit'' (1984), by [[J.R.R. Tolkien]], adapted by Rony Robinson and Graham Watkins. Original score by Stephanie Nunn.
*''[[The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾]]'' (1984), written by [[Sue Townsend]]
*''The [[Joe Orton]] Project'', (2007)

'''''Upper Brown Street Theatre, 2010-2015'''''
* A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (2010)
* Hairspray: The Musical (2011)
* Lord of The Flies (2011)
* The Misanthrope (2011)
* My Fair Lady (2011)
* Ten Voices – Musical Cabaret (2011)
* Musical Stages (2012)
* Beauty and the Beast: The Musical (2012)

'''''Sue Townsend Theatre, 2015-'''''
* Womberang (2015)
* Curtain Call (2016)
* The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (2017)
== Phoenix broadsheets ==
From the late 1970s, local [[letterpress]] printer Toni Savage, of The New Broom Press, took to distributing 8"×5" [[broadside (printing)|broadsheet]]s through the theatre, and other channels.<ref>((Cite web
  |title=Toni Savage of Leicester 
  |website=Liberal England
  |date=17 February 2014
  |url=http://liberalengland.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/toni-savage-of-leicester.html
))</ref> These were distributed freely rather than sold, and published a vast range of writers, local, obscure and sometimes well-known. Over 400 were printed into the 1990s.<ref>((Cite web
  |title=Broadsheets
  |website=Little Stour Books
  |date=
  |url=http://www.littlestourbooks.com/catalogue.php?category=BROADSHEETS%0D
))</ref> These broadsheets were later catalogued, released as a limited edition of 200 copies by a small press craft printer.<ref>((Cite book
  |title=A Paper Snowstorm. Toni Savage & The Leicester Broadsheets 
  |first1=Rigby  |last1=Graham
  |first2=Derek  |last2=Deadman
  |year=2005
  |publisher=Incline Press  |location=Oldham
))</ref>

==References==
((Reflist))

==External links==
*[https://www.phoenix.org.uk/about-phoenix/history/ Phoenix history]
*[http://www.leicestercollege.ac.uk/suetownsendtheatre/ Sue Townsend Theatre - Leicester College]

[[Category:Theatres in Leicester]]

Pages transcluded onto the current version of this page (help):

Sue Townsend Theatre (edit)
Template:Ambox (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Both (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Br separated entries (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Cite book (view source) (protected)
Template:Cite web (view source) (protected)
Template:Coord (view source) (protected)
Template:DMCA (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Dated maintenance category (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Dated maintenance category (articles) (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:EngvarB (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:FULLROOTPAGENAME (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Find sources mainspace (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:If empty (view source) (protected)
Template:Infobox (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Infobox Venue (view source) (semi-protected)
Template:Infobox venue (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Main other (view source) (protected)
Template:More citations needed (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Ns has subpages (view source) (protected)
Template:Reflist (view source) (protected)
Template:Reflist/styles.css (view source) (protected)
Template:Start date and age (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Template other (view source) (protected)
Template:Use dmy dates (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Years or months ago (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Yesno (view source) (protected)
Module:Arguments (view source) (protected)
Module:Category handler (view source) (protected)
Module:Category handler/blacklist (view source) (protected)
Module:Category handler/config (view source) (protected)
Module:Category handler/data (view source) (protected)
Module:Category handler/shared (view source) (protected)
Module:Check for unknown parameters (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1 (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/COinS (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Date validation (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Identifiers (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Utilities (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Whitelist (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css (view source) (protected)
Module:Coordinates (view source) (protected)
Module:Coordinates/styles.css (view source) (protected)
Module:Find sources (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Find sources/config (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Find sources/links (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Find sources/templates/Find sources mainspace (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:If empty (view source) (protected)
Module:Infobox (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Infobox/styles.css (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:InfoboxImage (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Infobox mapframe (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Mapframe (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Math (view source) (protected)
Module:Message box (view source) (protected)
Module:Message box/ambox.css (view source) (protected)
Module:Message box/configuration (view source) (protected)
Module:Namespace detect/config (view source) (protected)
Module:Namespace detect/data (view source) (protected)
Module:Ns has subpages (view source) (protected)
Module:Separated entries (view source) (protected)
Module:TableTools (view source) (protected)
Module:Unsubst (view source) (protected)
Module:Yesno (view source) (protected)

Return to Sue Townsend Theatre.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sue_Townsend_Theatre"