Theatre pioneer 'leaves new play'

Joan Littlewood (right) with a young Barbara Windsor

Joan Littlewood, the visionary theatre director, had finished a new play just before her death on Friday, according to a press report.

She completed an adaptation of a novel by French author Georges Courteline in the days before she died, The Guardian newspaper said.

Littlewood was a radical and outspoken figure who set up the Theatre Workshop and put the Theatre Royal Stratford East on the international map.

She died in her sleep in London on Friday, aged 87.

The new work, called The Songbirds, is set in France at the turn of the century, the newspaper said.

'Unexpected'

"She found a very charming French story which she wanted to work on and adapted it," her friend and assistant Peter Rankin said.

"It's complete with songs and very charming it is too.

"You don't expect a French froufrou turn-of-the-century play from her, but she did like things that were froufrou. She had interests people didn't expect."

Littlewood had continued writing after moving to France following the death of her partner Gerry Raffles in 1975.

The Theatre Royal Stratford East would welcome the chance to stage the production, its artistic director told the newspaper.

"I have seen an earlier draft of it and I look forward to seeing how she has completed it, because obviously we would love to do it," Philip Hedley was quoted as saying.

Anti-establishment

Born in 1914, Littlewood was one of the most controversial and influential theatre directors and drama teachers of the 20th Century.

She dismissed the establishment's concept of acting early on in her career, choosing instead to go her own way.

Many famous actors have sung her praises - citing her influence on their creativity.

These include Richard Harris, Sheila Hancock, Barbara Windsor and the late Sir Nigel Hawthorne, who she directed in her most famous production Oh What A Lovely War.

Georges Courteline chronicled the lives of the French middle and lower-middle classes in the late 19th Century, and is credited with being the greatest humorist in modern French literature.