History
The company was founded by Mary King, the current director of Playbox. The company began life in a hotel room in 1986. That year they invited English theatre director Michael Bogdanov to be their patron and he accepted. By 1988 the company were performing in two theatres in Warwick and Kenilworth and a year later they added Balsall Common to their schedule. In 1989 Stewart McGill, husband of Mary King, joined Playbox as a director. In 1991 and 1992, Stratford upon Avon, Rugby, and Leamington Spa added to the list. In 1993 the company produced its first work for national television. In 1994 Playbox reached out further to Coventry and have since moved into buildings in Bristol and York.
In 1999, Playbox's own theatre, The Dream Factory, opened in Warwick following a £2.7 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The theatre has a varying capacity as it is essentially a black box theatre but for safety the maximum is 250. There are 184 seats in the main auditorium, although these are flexible and can be altered for performances on a thrust stage, or in the round. It is available for hire and has a cafe serving meals and snacks.
To celebrate its 20th anniversary, it staged Nicholas Wright's His Dark Materials, being the first company after the Royal National Theatre to do so.
Read more about this topic: Playbox Theatre Company
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