Venue name: the Half Moon Theatre
Location: Started in an old synagogue in Alie St, E1, taking its name from the neighbouring Half Moon Passage, it moved in 1979 to an old Welsh Methodist Chapel near Stepney Green station on the Mile End Rd. Around 1982 it began to build a new theatre to the rear of the chapel, but the finances were precarious at a time of cuts to arts funding and the company went into administration in 1990. The Half Moon Young People’s Theatre that had grown up alongside the main company initially based at Oxford House in Bethnal Green moved into its own base behind the Mile End Road site in 1985. When the company went into receivership the Half Moon YPT managed to retain its independence and financial security and found a new base at the old Limehouse Town Hall in White Horse Rd: see Half Moon Theatre
Established: 1972
Founders, executives and directors: Maurice Colbourne (1939-1989), Michael Irving, Guy Sprung
Current status: The Young People’s Theatre is still operating in White Horse Rd with an active programme of work and in 2015 created the project Stages of the Half Moon to record the company’s history.