Editing Joan Littlewood (section)

==Career==
[[File:Joan Littlewood and Theatre Royal.jpg|thumb|Joan Littlewood and the [[Theatre Royal Stratford East|Theatre Royal]]]]

In 1941, Littlewood was banned from broadcasting on the [[BBC]] and [["Christmas tree" list|her personnel file was marked by an MI5 officer]] as she was deemed a security risk. The ban was lifted two years later, when [[MI5]] said she had broken off her association with the [[Communist Party]]. She was under surveillance by MI5 from 1939 until the 1950s.<ref>{{cite news | first=Richard |last=Norton-Taylor | title=MI5 Surveillance of Joan Littlewood During War Led to Two-Year BBC Ban | work=The Guardian | date=4 March 2008 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/mar/04/secondworldwar.past | access-date=2009-02-17}}</ref>

In 1945, after the end of [[World War II]], Littlewood, her husband the [[Communism|communist]] [[folk singer]] [[Ewan MacColl]], and other Theatre Union members formed [[Theatre Workshop]] and registered it while staying at Ormesby Hall. The following eight years were spent touring. Shortly afterwards, when Gerry Raffles joined the troupe, MacColl and Littlewood divorced, though they still worked together for many years and Littlewood was godmother to MacColl's two children. Littlewood and Raffles were life partners until his death in 1975.

In 1953, after an attempt to establish a permanent base in [[Glasgow]], Theatre Workshop took up residence at the [[Theatre Royal Stratford East|Theatre Royal]] in Stratford, east London, where it gained an international reputation,<ref name="Stevens">{{cite book |last= Stevens |first= Christopher |title= Born Brilliant: The Life of Kenneth Williams |publisher= John Murray |year= 2010 |isbn = 978-1-84854-195-5 |page=356 }}</ref> performing plays across Europe and in the Soviet Union. One of Littlewood's most famous productions was the British première of [[Bertolt Brecht]]'s ''[[Mother Courage and Her Children]]'' (1955), which she directed and also starred in. Her production of ''[[Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be]]'', a musical about the London underworld, became a hit and ran from 1959 to 1962, transferring to the West End.

The works for which she is now best remembered are probably [[Shelagh Delaney]]'s ''[[A Taste of Honey]]'' (1958),<ref>•	Harding, John, Sweetly Sings Delaney. (Greenwich Exchange 2014). www.greenex.co.uk</ref> which gained critical acclaim, and the satirical musical ''[[Oh, What a Lovely War!]]'' (1963), her stage adaptation of a work for radio by [[Charles Chilton]]. Both were made into films. She received a Tony Award nomination for [[Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical|Best Direction of a Musical]] for ''Oh, What a Lovely War!'', becoming the first woman nominated for the award. Theatre Workshop also championed the work of Irish playwright [[Brendan Behan]].