Venue: Hull Truck Theatre
Address: 50 Ferensway, Hull, HU2 8LB, England
Town: Kingston upon Hull, GB

Hull Truck Theatre is a theatre in Kingston upon Hull, England, which presents drama productions, and also tours. In March 2022, the theatre's original premises on Coltman Street, Hull, was recognised by a blue plaque to coincide with the theatre's 50-year anniversary. The Hull Truck Theatre Company was founded in 1971 by actor musician Mike Bradwell when he could not find work. He placed an advertisement in Time Out magazine which read, "Half-formed theatre company seeks other half". Its first production, Children of the Lost Planet played to meagre audiences, as did the next, Last of the Great Love Goddesses. The company began to devise plays for children. Initially touring out of its Coltman Street base in Hull, where company members lived and rehearsed, Hull Truck started to receive acclaim for its children's work. It was at the same time devising shows that were being performed in working men's clubs and as late-night cabaret. Bradwell, who insisted that all the actors play musical instruments, described the approach as "provocative and challenging, but above all, entertaining.” Music was at the heart of their work, along with an underlying sense of anarchy. In 1974 the company devised The Knowledge and, although over half the audience walked out at the play's premiere at the Forum Theatre in Manchester, the critical praise of The Guardian reviewer Robin Thornber led to the Bush Theatre taking an interest and staging the production. In April 1983 the Hull Truck Company made the Spring Street Theatre its home. Originally converted from St Stephen's church hall (the church itself had been bombed in the Second World War), this tiny 150-seat theatre space was known as The Hull Arts Centre where Hull playwright Alan Plater co-founded the Humberside Theatre in 1970. The theatre had closed in 1981. From 1983 it was known as the Hull Truck Theatre. John Godber became artistic director in 1984 although at first he was unaware of how much the Hull Truck Theatre was strug