Just as 1956 saw the beginnings of the theatrical renaissance in London (however false a dawn that may have proved), so it was a significant year in the provinces. Not an annus mirabilis: countrywide revolutions take longer than capital revelations. But it marked the start of a change in receptivity, a change in policy, a change in the stratification of audiences, that may well have more far-reaching effects than Osborne's coup de théâtre at the Royal Court.

What was the magic of this particular year? Quite simply, it saw the construction of the first new playhouse to be built in Britain, outside London, since the Second World War: the first civic theatre. The Belgrade, Coventry, was conceived as part of the massive redevelopment scheme enforced by German bombing, which culminated in the new Cathedral and the functional, streamlined railway station.