Everyman Theatre, Liverpool September 1977. During the 1970s and the 1980s works of Liverpool playwrights, including Willy Russell and Alan Bleasdale, received debuts in the theatre: these included "Shirley Valentine" and "John, Paul, George, Ringo … and Bert". In addition to plays, the theatre has produced musicals, concerts, and an annual rock-n-roll panto each Christmas. During its time the theatre has been involved with the careers of Julie Walters, Bernard Hill, Jonathan Pryce, Alan Scarfe, Pete Postlethwaite, Antony Sher, Bill Nighy, Barbara Dickson, Matthew Kelly, and Cathy Tyson. The theatre is managed together with Liverpool Playhouse by Liverpool and Merseyside Theatres Trust. Since
James Shirley Shirley went to Ireland, under the patronage apparently of the Earl of Kildare. Three or four of his plays were produced by his friend John Ogilby in Dublin in the Werburgh Street Theatre, the first ever built in Ireland and at the time of Shirley's visit only one year old. During his Dublin stay, Shirley wrote "The Doubtful Heir", "The Royal Master", "The Constant Maid", and "St. Patrick for Ireland". In his absence from London, Queen Henrietta's Men sold off a dozen of his plays to the stationers, who published them in the late 1630s. Shirley, when he returned to