In 1964, as the Beatles embarked on their first world tour and the Metropolitan Cathedral was still under construction, Martin Jenkins, Peter James and Terry Hands opened the Everyman. They had no mission statement, no business plan, no carefully prepared marketing material. What they had was enthusiasm, energy and the conviction that Liverpool needed a new, innovative theatre. These founders were strikingly young - Peter James was just 24 while Terry Hands and Martin Jenkins were 25. The company they recruited for the first season shared this youthful spirit, with an average age of just 25.

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At its best over the last 60 years, the Everyman has embodied their energy and their spirit of experimentation. Inevitably, it has been different things at different times from the golden years of Alan Dossor in the 1970s through the madcap year of Ken Campbell who spent the entire year’s budget on one production, to the moment where, in 2000, it joined up with its big sister the Playhouse to become two theatres with one beating heart. It has been characterised as scruffy, naughty, the home of brave new writing, brown velvet democracy in action (so called because of the old cinema seats that the audience endured for many years). It has lurched from one financial crisis to another. At the end of the first season, it had to launch an appeal to find £1000 in a week so they could pay the actors. In 1993, it went into liquidation and closed for a while with real fears that it would never re-open only to be rescued by the purchase of the building by Paddy and Dave who ran the basement bistro. It has faced these crises head-on and always found a way to keep making work. It has also had times when it has failed, producing shows that didn’t find ways to speak to the people in the city. It has, inevitably, had many faces over 60 years (and has been rebuilt twice) but at its heart it has always aimed to be a beacon of artistic innovation, dedicated to nurturing new talent and opportunities. As it celebrates its 60th year it is poised on the cusp of another new start as Nathan Powell takes up the role of Creative Director in August.