The Stage

King’s Head founder Crawford dies

Published Thursday 14 July 2005 at 16:15 by Jeremy Austin

Founder and artistic director of the King’s Head Theatre in north London Dan Crawford has died aged 62, after a long battle with cancer.

The eccentric, maverick personality is thought of by many as the father of the capital city’s fringe theatre scene. The Islington venue became the first pub theatre when it was set up in 1970. It became an important first step in the careers of many of today’s finest performers - John Sessions, Hugh Grant, Victoria Wood and various members of the Monty Python team all performed there early on in their careers.

Under Crawford’s guiding hand, the venue has won numerous awards and has transferred more than 30 productions to the West End, eight national tours and six Broadway transfers - meaning more than one in ten shows transfers.

At the turn of the decade he fought tirelessly to save the theatre he had spent most of his life building up after its regular funding was withdrawn. In an interview with The Stage in May he revealed it needed to generate £3,000 a week to continue to operate.

Crawford died on July 13. A message on the venue’s website reads: “He was as well-known and well-loved throughout the industry as the people whose careers he has developed. The colourful, eccentric, energetic theatrical maverick whose personality was as big as the theatre itself will be sadly missed by the many whose life he touched.”

• The first preview performance of Lloyd Evans and Toby Young’s new play Who’s the Daddy? about the David Blunkett affair on Thursday, July 14, the day after Crawford’s death, was dedicated to the artistic director. A spokesperson for the show said: “He really did enjoy this piece so we feel, in his honour, it was better to go ahead.”