Half Moon Young People’s Theatre was established by the Inner London Education Authority during the mid-1970s as the specialist youth and schools arm of the Half Moon Repertory Theatre, producing youth theatre productions, specialist training programmes and participatory theatre-in-education for schools.
The parent organisation itself was founded in 1972 when active local theatre artists took over a disused synagogue. The company performed a series of productions, including Guys and Dolls, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui featuring Simon Callow, at 27 Alie Street, Whitechapel, E1. The company remained there until 1979, when the company moved to an old Methodist chapel based on the Mile End Road, Stepney, London. This was fully refurbished and extended in 1985 into a state of the art modern theatre. During this period, Half Moon Repertory Theatre was known for bold work such as Steven Berkoff’s, Sink the Belgrano!, the first female Hamlet with Frances de la Tour and performances by Daniel Day Lewis amongst others.
- See more at: https://www.halfmoon.org.uk/about-us/history/history-of-half-moon/#sthash.p6fSTHSW.dpuf