Rose and Crown Company

The Rose and Crown Company is a live theater company funded by various left wing political parties, with The Socialist Party and The Workers Party providing most of the funding. The Rose and Crown Company currently specializes in public open air theater, however does perform in traditional theaters for special events. The Company's current headquarters is Mughal House, Aix-la-Marr with Regional offices in Saxon House, Gondom-on-Sand and Fleetwood Arts and Culture Center (Former Galilee Steelworks), Fleetwood. The Company is currently headed by former Occitanian Ambassador to Canada Dame Elizabeth Williams.

Since 1991 The Rose And Crown has been free of charge for all public events, with fundraising events being an exception.

## History

The Rose and Crown Company started its life as a cultural enrichment program of The Occitanian Independent Labour Party in 1897, with the aim of enriching the lives of the working class in Occitania. It was also hoped that the entertainment provided would convince many to vote for The Independent Labour Party, who heavily publicized their patronage of the company. As the labour movement was view by many with suspicion at the time the name "Rose and Crown" was chosen to show support for both the Monarchy and the labour movement. As The Independent Labour Party lost support in the 1920's The Socialist Party and The Workers Party began to fund the company, and by 1949 had become the primary benefactors.

During the 50's and 60's there was much internal debate as to what kind of productions the company would produce, with many artistic directors wanting more avant-garde works as opposed to the more traditional plays supported by the Company's managers. The success of the 1961 production of the Avant-Garde play "Waiting For Godot/ En Attendant Godot" was a major turning point in the company, and in 1963 the Company agreed to a "50/50" rule of production, half the plays would be 'traditional' and the other half would be experimental or avant-garde.

A period of decline started in the mid 70's for the company, partly due to decreasing funding and declining attendance the company cut back many of its productions, this decline continued into the 80's and only stopped in 1991 when the company received official government support that included being granted its new headquarters, Mughal House. In recent times The Rose and Crown has become a world renown example of successful public arts funding, with its productions often receiving critical acclaim and high attendance.

## Original Production History

Note, this list does not include any play not produced by the company

* 1991 - *Rome, Naples and More.*
* 1992 - *For I Alone*
* 1993 - *The Death of General Wolfe*
* 1994 - *River*
* 1995 - *O,God of Comedy!*
* 1996 - *The Bears Of Burgundy*
* 1997 - *Riflemen of The Royal Army*
* 1998 - *No Space*
* 1999 - *Brazzaville, Congo*
* 2000 *- Inigo*
* 2001 - *The Sad Life of a True Coat Salesmen*
* 2002 - *Scream and Yell*
* 2003 - *Tsaritsyn*
* 2004 - *Act Not Think*
* 2005 - *Doors*
* 2006 - *How and Why The Tiger Tank Failed (Rommell's Bath)*
* 2007 - *Posters and Pain*
* 2008 - *Who Loves The Night*
* 2009 - *Poet on The Marr*
* 2010 - *The English Road*
* 2011 - *A Bit too Hard*
* 2012 - *The D'Oyly Carte Journals*
* 2013 *- Divergences of Darkness*
* 2014 - *Remind Me Not*
* 2015 - *The* *Wish of Price*
* 2016 - *The Death of Harry Collinson at the Hands of Albert Dryden*
* 2017 - *One Hundred Evenings in a Dead City*