Theatre Royal Stratford East

General information

Theatre Royal Stratford East is a prolific developer of new work, attracting artists and audiences often not represented in many other venues.

New Writing
Theatre Royal Stratford East has a strong tradition of developing new plays and musicals, and encouraging new voices for the stage. From Shelagh Delaney’s A Taste of Honey, Theatre Workshop and Joan Littlewood's Oh, What a Lovely War!, Five Guys Named Moe, Ken Hill’s The Invisible Man, Paul Sirett and Paul Joseph’s The Big Life, Tanika Gupta’s Gladiator Games, Perry Henzell’s The Harder They Come to recent productions of Martina Cole’s Two Women, adapted by Patrick Prior and Rikki Beadle Blair’s Shalom Baby.

Musical Theatre
An important aspect of its work is the development of new musical theatre. The Theatre’s vision is to break new ground with musicals that bring contemporary and urban music into the mainstream of British theatre. This has led to the production of a broad spectrum of acclaimed sell-out musicals with its work transferring nationally and internationally. These include Baiju Bawra, Da Boyz, The Big Life, The Harder They Come, The Blacks, Come Dancing, Takeaway, Clockwork Orange, Reasons to be Cheerful with Graeae Theatre Company and New Wolsey Theatre, Britain’s Got Bhangra with Rifco Arts & Warwick Arts Centre and the Olivier Award winning Pied Piper with Boy Blue Ents.

Young People's Work
We work with over 3,500 young people a year here at Theatre Royal Stratford East. We provide a range of opportunities for young people to get involved – all affordable, accessible and flexible. Each young person has a different journey with us. They may start with school work experience, join a performance project or become a volunteer; whatever suits their needs and ambitions.

This famous producing theatre, located in the heart of London’s East End on the edge of the new Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, prides itself on creating world class work that reflects the concerns, hopes and dreams of its community.

Through a continuous loop it inspires and is inspired by its vibrant, young and diverse audience.