Established in 1948, we have been creating world-class theatre for more than 70 years. Nottingham Playhouse started life as a repertory theatre and we moved to our current building in 1963.

Peter Moro, by Alistair Fair The Nottingham Playhouse is widely regarded as one of the best British theatre buildings of its date. Designed by Peter Moro, the co-architect of the Festival Hall (1951), the Playhouse opened in 1963, replacing the cramped theatre that had housed the city’s Repertory Company since 1948.

This is Nottingham in 1963, although the description could easily be for today. The BBC film discovered in the archives, precedes the opening of the new Nottingham Playhouse on 11 December 1963. It's narrated by the theatre's new artistic director John Neville.

In his 1978 book on Nottingham Playhouse, John Bailey wrote: “With all its faults, it had been an oasis in a drab desert. For some there was left a void which would not be filled for many years.” It took the Second World War to revive the dream of a full-time repertory theatre in Nottingham.