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The Prospect Theatre Company was an English company founded, as Prospect Productions, in 1961. Based at the Arts Theatre, Cambridge from 1964 until 1969, the company, with Toby Robertson as artistic director and Richard Cottrell as associate director, toured both nationally and internationally with a mainly classical repertoire, providing notable appearances of such actors as Ian McKellen and Timothy West. The company became closely associated with the Edinburgh Festival after its first appearance there in 1967. Separating from the Arts Theatre in 1969, the company, renamed The Prospect Theatre Company, survived without a permanent base for the next eight years under the direction of Toby Robertson, mounting productions in which Derek Jacobi and Dorothy Tutin made significant appearances. Eventually the company found a new home at London's Old Vic in 1977: two years later it became the Old Vic Theatre Company. Though noted for its exemplary ensemble playing, the company lost its Arts Council of Great Britain funding in 1980 after Timothy West's first season as Robertson's successor, leading to Prospect's inevitable demise. ==Early years, Cambridge and Edinburgh== Iain Mackintosh, Richard Cottrell and Elizabeth Sweeting formed Prospect Productions in 1961 to present a summer season of plays at the Oxford Playhouse. A successful first season led to a further season in 1962. The following year, when the Playhouse closed for renovations, Prospect became a touring company associated with the Century Theatre. Toby Robertson directed the last play of the season, Vanbrugh's ''The Provoked Wife'', with Eileen Atkins and Trevor Martin. The production opened the newly restored Georgian Theatre Royal in Richmond, North Yorkshire, then transferred to the Vaudeville Theatre, London. The success of the Oxford seasons prompted the idea that Prospect should present productions beyond the summer season each year. In 1964, with support from the Arts Council of Great Britain and Dr. George Rylands, Prospect became a touring company based at the Arts Theatre, Cambridge, with Toby Robertson as artistic director, Richard Cottrell as associate director, and Iain Mackintosh as administrator. Between 1964 and 1966 Prospect staged 15 productions, presenting well-known plays as well as several rarely performed Classics including Vanbrugh's ''The Confederacy'', with Robert Eddison and Hy Hazell, to celebrate the third centenary of Vanbrugh's birth, and Etherege's ''The Man of Mode'', and a number of new plays. Timothy West joined the Company in 1966 to play Prospero. Later that year Prospect had its first invitation to the Edinburgh Festival.〔 Prospect's first Edinburgh Festival appearance in 1967 was with Chekhov's ''The Cherry Orchard'', Lila Kedrova playing Madam Ranyevskaya in Cottrell's production. The production transferred to London, where Kedrova won the ''Evening Standard'' Best Actress of the Year Award. 1968 saw the production of Prospect's first "musical" - Gay's ''Beggar's Opera'', which was also the first Prospect show to be televised, and in 1969 the Company appeared for the first time at the Assembly Hall.〔 At the 1969 Edinburgh festival Ian McKellen made his breakthrough performances with the company as Richard II (directed by Cottrell) and Marlowe's Edward II (directed by Robertson), the latter in the play's first professional revival for 300 years and causing a storm of protest over the enactment of the homosexual Edward's lurid death. Timothy West appeared as McKellen's sparring partner in both those productions,〔 which subsequently toured Britain and Europe before being staged at the Mermaid Theatre in London and breaking box-office records at the Piccadilly Theatre. Between 1967 and 1977 Prospect was invited to appear at eight Edinburgh International Festivals, and largely as a result of its close association with the Edinburgh Festival, Prospect was asked to tour abroad for the British Council, visiting the Middle East, Russia, Hong Kong, and Australia.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Prospect Theatre Company」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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