I started the Playground as a space for artists to 'play'.

Previously I had been at The National Theatre and was hugely drawn to the NT Studio but found it somewhat of a closed door, at least to me. I vowed that if I ever had my own space I would have an open door policy as one can never tell who is in front of you and what unknown possibilities they may possess. So I started by gathering between 50-60 artists every year, across all disciplines, to offer them a safe space in which to create. Part of the idea was to see if cross-pollination could happen between say a dancer and a theatre director, a musician  and a stage designer etc. We had the wonderful Lind Kerr Scott lead many workshops along with the late great Marcello Magni. International directors were invited to The Playground such as Henryk Baranowski, Salius Varnas and Hideki Noda to show different ways of working. It was a very fertile period in the history of The Playground and many projects developed here went on to have a life in theatre. However, many did not, even though I felt the quality was deserving of a further life. 

Finally I decided to create the theatre for such development projects to have the chance for public performances in our space.  Since our opening as a Theatre in 2017 we have given life to many such projects.
 

A multi-award winner actor, Peter has performed leading roles at The National Theatre, The Almeida, The Arts Theatre, The Lyric Hammersmith, the Arcola and many others in London, as well as The Baltic house, St Petersburg, The Pompidou Centre Paris, The Khan Theatre Jerusalem, The Public Theatre in NYC and played Macbeth at the Theatre Slaski, Poland. He has also worked in film, TV and with internationally acclaimed choreographers.

His Odd Man Out short film garnered 3 best actor awards at international festivals, and the stage version has won him various top prizes at international festivals including in St Petersburg, Jerusalem and Wroclaw in Poland. His second film One Man will premier in late 2023

As founder of The Playground Theatre Peter aspires to the same eclecticism, opening the doors to all types of projects, and aiming to guide artists into ever freer experimentation.