History
The Cambridge Arts Theatre opened on 3 February 1936 with a gala performance by the Vic-Wells Ballet, featuring among others Robert Helpmann, Margot Fonteyn and Frederick Ashton. The theatre was paid for by a share scheme supervised by its founder John Maynard Keynes, at a cost of £15,000. When only £2,300 was raised by subscription of the town, Dr Keynes underwrote the rest himself. Intending to represent both "town and gown", the Trust included the Provost of King's College, its English and Music professors, the mayor and the deputy mayor. Keynes' wife, the renowned dancer Lydia Lopokova was also key to the theatre's foundation.
Dadie Rylands went on to be the theatre's chairman from 1946 to 1982. The theatre hosted the world première of Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party in 1958. Other premières have included Secrets Every Smart Traveler Should Know and Someone Like You. In September 2008 it hosted the world premiere of a new stage adaptation of Tracey Chevalier's play Girl with a Pearl Earring, prior to a transfer to the West End. Artists to have appeared here include Ian McKellen (in a Marlowe Society production of Cymbeline), Derek Jacobi, and, more recently Susan Hampshire, Nigel Havers, Simon Callow, and Warren Mitchell.
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