The British Theatre Playhouse is a professional theatre production company incorporated in Singapore in 2004 but is internationally focused with a strong British connection, working very closely with established British playwrights, directors, choreographers, set and costume designers from the UK. The company has produced a series of highly successful British productions in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Sri Lanka.
At BTP, we pride ourselves on high standards equivalent to London’s West End and offer UK casts comprising prominent stage, television and film actors. Every one of BTP shows has featured stars from London’s West End.
When we produced our first show, Alan Ayckbourn's "How The Other Half Loves", in a dinner-theatre setting at Singapore's Shangri-La Hotel from April 27th - 30th, 2004, the production was a sell-out.
In October 2004, we produced Oscar Wilde's "The Importance Of Being Earnest" at the Jubilee Hall Theatre at Raffles Hotel Singapore.
The producers were honoured to have the presence of The President of Singapore, His Excellency, Mr S.R. Nathan and the First Lady as well as Minister Mentor, Mr Lee Kuan Yew and Mrs Lee and Senior Minister, Mr Goh Chok Tong and Mrs Goh in the audience.
The great success of the show led to the transfer of the production to the Greenwich Theatre, London, in April 2005.
In May 2005, we next presented Ray Cooney's hit farce "Funny Money" at the Shangri-la Hotel Singapore and then at the new Hilton Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, where it was sold-out.
In April 2006, BTP turned to the playwright who was known by all as 'The Master', Nöel Coward, with a production of his most famous play, "Private Lives". This celebrated the 76th anniversary of the original West End production on September 24th 1930.
Following Singapore, the production went on tour to Kuala Lumpur (Hilton Kuala Lumpur), Penang (Eastern & Oriental Hotel) and to Bangkok (The Oriental, Bangkok) with great success.
"Private Lives" was nominated by the public for "Best Leisure Event" 2006 Tourism Award by the Singapore Tourism Board.
"A Bedfull of Foreigners" by Dave Freeman was our next production, followed by Alan Ayckbourn’s "Relatively Speaking", which toured to Kuala Lumpur and Colombo, Sri Lanka.
However, in recent times, the appeal of musical shows in the region has been clear to us and we have diversified to include musical plays and musicals such as Jim Cartwright’s "The Rise and Fall of Little Voice"; Alan Plater’s "Blonde Bombshells of 1943" and, for May 2011, a new musical which made its world premiere debut in Singapore, "Buddy vs The Killer", devised by British actor-musicians Billy Geraghty and Kevin Oliver Jones and featuring the songs of Buddy Holly and Jerry Lee Lewis. The success of the musical led to the transfer of the production to the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre and Futurist Theatre in the UK.
In April 2012, we will be producing Ray Cooney’s Olivier Award winning farce "Out Of Order" and, at year-end, Sir Peter Shaffer’s masterpiece "Amadeus".