Playground Entertainment

Last updated
The Playground, LLC
Playground+Logo+Swing+Square.jpg
Trade namePlayground Entertainment
Company type Private
Industry Entertainment
Founded2012; 13 years ago
Founder Sir Colin Callender CBE
Headquarters New York and London
Joint managing directorsScott Huff
David Stern

The Playground, LLC, commonly referred to as Playground Entertainment, is an independent television, film, and theater production company based in New York and London. It was founded in 2012 by Sir Colin Callender, former President of HBO Films.

Contents

Since its inception, Playground Entertainment has developed a reputation for producing sophisticated television and theater for British and American audiences. The company's projects have collectively won nine BAFTA Television Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, 14 Olivier Awards, 18 Tony Awards, been nominated for 16 Emmy Awards, and received a Peabody Award.

Notable Playground productions include Wolf Hall (2015), Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (2016), All Creatures Great and Small (2020), and Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light (2024).

Television Productions (2013–Present)

Playground Entertainment has produced over 120 hours of television. Notable past productions include Dracula (2013) for NBC; Emmy-nominated The White Queen (2013) and its followups The White Princess (2017) and The Spanish Princess (2019) [1] for Starz; BAFTA and Golden Globe-winning Dancing on The Edge (2013) [2] [3] for BBC and Starz; Golden Globe-nominated anthology series The Missing (2014–2016) for BBC and Starz; [4] and Golden Globe and BAFTA-winning Wolf Hall (2014), [5] [6] a six-part miniseries based on Hilary Mantel's Booker Prize-winning novels Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, [7] [8] for BBC and Masterpiece.

More recent television productions include The Dresser (2015), a television adaptation of Ronald Harwood’s classic play starring Ian McKellen and Anthony Hopkins for BBC and Starz; [9] Little Women (2017), for BBC and Starz; Kenneth Lonergan’s BAFTA-nominated adaptation of Howards End (2017), for the BBC and Starz; Richard Eyre’s Emmy-nominated adaptation of King Lear (2018) starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson for BBC and Amazon Prime Video; Chimerica (2019) starring Alessandro Nivola and F. Murray Abraham for Channel 4; and Dangerous Liaisons (2022) for Starz. [10]

Playground current television productions include James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small (2020), returning for its fifth season on Channel 5 and PBS; [11] Peter Kosminsky's The Undeclared War (2022) for Channel 4 and Peacock; The Hardacres (2024), based on C. L. Skelton celebrated book series, for Channel 5; and Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light (2024), the much-anticipated sequel based on Hilary Mantel’s novels.

Upcoming television productions include Maigret , based on the Jules Maigret novels by Georges Simenon, for Masterpiece on PBS; [12] Chris O'Dowd's Small Town, Big Story for Sky; [13] and Lynley , based on the Inspector Lynley novels by Elizabeth George, for BBC and BritBox.

Theater Productions (2013–Present)

Playground Entertainment debuted on stage with Lucky Guy (2013), written by Nora Ephron and starring Tom Hanks in his Broadway debut. [14] The play, which follows the story of Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Mike McAlary, won two Tony awards (out of six nominations). [15] In 2014, Playground produced Harvey Fierstein’s Casa Valentina, which was nominated for four Tony Awards including Best Play, and Hedwig and the Angry Inch starring Neil Patrick Harris, which won four Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical. Playground was also involved in the production of Kenneth Branagh’s New York stage debut in Macbeth at the Park Avenue Armory, and a co-producer of Jez Butterworth's The River starring Hugh Jackman. [16]

More recent projects include the Broadway and West End productions of Dear Evan Hansen (2015–2020). The play won six Tony Awards on Broadway, including Best Musical, and three Olivier Awards on the West End. Other productions include the West End revival of Dreamgirls (2016), which won two Olivier awards; Duncan Macmillan’s 1984 (2016), based on the novel by George Orwell; and West End revival of The Glass Menagerie (2017), nominated for 7 Olivier Awards.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (2016–Present)

Alongside Sonia Friedman Productions and Harry Potter Theatrical Productions, Playground is a producer of global mega-hit Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (2016), an expansion of the Harry Potter franchise. The play opened on July 30, 2016 in London's Palace Theatre. [17] Harry Potter and the Cursed Child won nine Olivier Awards, the biggest single win ever for one production in the history of the awards. [18] Harry Potter and the Cursed Child opened on Broadway on April 22, 2018 in the newly-renovated Lyric Theatre. The play was nominated for ten Tony Awards, winning six, including Best Play. [19]

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has seen major success beyond Broadway and the West End. The play opened in Melbourne’s Princess Theatre in early 2019 and was nominated for seven Helpmann Awards, winning one. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child also runs in San Francisco’s Curran Theatre (2019–2020), in Hamburg’s Mehr! Theatre (2020–present), in Toronto's CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre (2022–2023), and in Tokyo's TBS Akasaka Act Theatre (2023–present). In fall 2024, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child began its US National Tour, starting in Chicago's James M. Nederlander Theatre. Continuing through February 1, 2025, the show will make appearances at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles and the National Theatre in Washington, D.C.. [20]

List of Productions

Television

Theater

References

  1. ↑ "The Spanish Princess in pre-production". The Knowledge. Retrieved 2018-05-23.
  2. ↑ "Jacqueline Bisset wins Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress - UPI.com". UPI. Retrieved 2025-01-29.
  3. ↑ "Bafta Television Craft Awards: Downton Abbey and Peaky Blinders triumph". The Telegraph. 2014-04-28. Retrieved 2025-01-29.
  4. ↑ "STARZ And BBC Co-Produce The New Original Limited Drama Series "The Missing" From Writers Harry And Jack Williams". Starz. 3 June 2014. Retrieved 2015-07-22.
  5. ↑ Midgley, Neil. "Golden Globes 2016: Kate Winslet, 'Wolf Hall' And Sam Smith Win For Britain". Forbes. Retrieved 2025-01-29.
  6. ↑ Reporters, Telegraph (2016-05-08). "Wolf Hall's Mark Rylance wins TV Bafta for Leading Actor". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 2025-01-29.
  7. ↑ Lowry, Brian (2015-04-01). "TV Review: 'Wolf Hall'". Variety. Retrieved 2025-01-29.
  8. ↑ "Wolf Hall moves in to The Bottle Yard Studios". Thebottleyard.com. Retrieved 2015-07-22.
  9. ↑ Wagmeister, Elizabeth (9 January 2015). "Anthony Hopkins & Ian McKellen Set for Starz Telepic 'The Dresser'". Variety . Retrieved 2015-07-22.
  10. ↑ Mirjalili, Fatemeh (2022-10-10). "Dangerous Liaisons TV Series: Release Date, Cast & More For The Starz Take On The Classic Story". SlashFilm. Retrieved 2025-01-29.
  11. ↑ Wiseman, Andreas (2019-06-27). "'All Creatures Great And Small': Viacom's C5 Teams With 'Howards End' Producer Playground & PBS's Masterpiece For UK Series Reboot". Deadline. Retrieved 2020-06-18.
  12. ↑ "New Adaptation of Maigret Coming to MASTERPIECE". Masterpiece. Retrieved 2025-01-29.
  13. ↑ "Official trailer revealed for Chris O'Dowd's Small Town, Big Story, a very dramatic comedy starring Christina Hendricks and Paddy Considine". www.skygroup.sky. Retrieved 2025-01-29.
  14. ↑ Stasio, Marilyn (2013-04-02). "Legit Review: 'Lucky Guy'". Variety. Retrieved 2025-01-30.
  15. ↑ Carlson, Erin (2013-04-30). "Tonys: Tom Hanks Gets Nomination for 'Lucky Guy'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2025-01-30.
  16. ↑ Cox, Gordon (19 December 2014). "Hugh Jackman Rides 'The River' to Broadway Recoupment". Variety . Retrieved 2015-07-22.
  17. ↑ Jaafar, Ali (26 June 2015). "'Harry Potter And The Cursed Child' To Open In London's West End Summer 2016". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved 2015-07-22.
  18. ↑ Tartaglione, Nancy (2017-04-09). "Olivier Awards: 'Harry Potter And The Cursed Child' Wins Record 9 – Full List". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 2018-05-23.
  19. ↑ Wiegand, Chris (2018-05-01). "British theatre stars storm the nominations for 2018 Tony awards". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2025-01-31.
  20. ↑ "National Tour of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Launches in Chicago September 10". Playbill. Archived from the original on 2024-12-15. Retrieved 2025-01-31.
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