Places
Explore the history of the three Half Moon Theatres on Alie Street, Mile End Road and White Horse Road.
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Productions
Browse the many productions that have taken place at Half Moon Theatre since 1972.
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Participation
Whether you’re an educator, a young person or a creative; there have always been lots of opportunities to participate at Half Moon.
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Timeline
Explore Half Moon’s history alongside key productions, participation projects and contextual events.
Explore the TimelineCelebrating the rich heritage of Half Moon Theatre
From its inception in 1972 Half Moon Theatre has played a key role in the development of the theatre sector, as well as in the involvement in the arts of the broader East End community, and still thrives today as the UK’s leading professional small-scale young people’s venue and touring company. Explore our online archive and discover the various Stages of Half Moon through photographs, programmes, news stories, documents, videos and filmed interviews with over 100 people.
A special thank you to the Heritage Lottery Fund Young Roots programme who enabled us to work with young people to research the history of Half Moon.
The Mother (1973)
Alie Street
The Third and Final Round (1984)
Mile End Road
People are People (2016)
White Horse Road
Dust (2020 - 2021)
White Horse Road
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ParticipationView all participation >
Youth Theatre
Since the first Half Moon show created and performed by young people in 1975, Youth Theatre has been central to the ethos of creating opportunities for local young people to make their own theatre in a professional environment.
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Projects
Throughout its history, Half Moon has developed a strong reputation for working with young people in local schools and community settings to offer creative approaches to learning and a chance to tackle difficult subjects sensitively through drama.
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Artist Development
Half Moon has always invested in the development of artists, from technical training courses to participatory facilitation programmes and artform development that pushes boundaries in performance created for young audiences.
Read MorePlaces
Explore the history of the three Half Moon Theatres on Alie Street, Mile End Road and White Horse Road through photographs, filmed interviews, documents, news stories and plans.
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PeopleView people >
Guy Sprung
Co-founder 1972 - 1975
Michael Irving
Co-founder 1972 - 1974
Maurice Colbourne
Co-founder 1972 - 1974
Pam Brighton
Artistic director 1975 - 1977
Rob Walker
Artistic director 1977 - 1983
Stuart Mungall
Artistic director 1983 - 1983
Chris Bond
Artistic director 1984 - 1989
Steve Harris
Associate director 1984 - 1989
Deborah Bestwick
YPT Director 1987 - 1993
John Turner
Artistic Director 1989 - 1990
David Belshaw
Theatre Team Director 1993 - 1996
Chris Elwell
Director 1997 - 2025
Louise Allen
Executive Director and Joint CEO 2025 - Present
Bradley Travis
Artistic Director and Joint CEO 2025 - Present
Stages of Half Moon Festival
We celebrated the launch of Stages of Half Moon with a festival of events, including performances from our four oldest Youth Theatre groups and an exhibition of posters and photograph. Take a look at this short video to find out more.
Thank you
We couldn't have done this project without the help and support of a whole range of people. Thank you to everyone who contributed in some way.
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Explore our timeline
Take a look at the Half Moon timeline and discover the history of Half Moon Theatre alongside key productions, participatory projects and contextual events.
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