Peter Rowe

Peter is a director and writer, with a particular interest in music theatre, often working with an ensemble of actor-musicians. He was Artistic Director of the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich between 2000 and 2022. 

After training at the Thorndike Theatre, Peter became the Artistic Director for the Southampton-based Solent People’s Theatre and then Artistic Director for the London Bubble Theatre Company touring London in a big top tent. He has held two other Artistic Directorships, at the Gateway Theatre, Chester and the Liverpool Everyman, while freelance work has included productions for regional theatres and touring companies up and down the country. He has directed Boyband and Return to the Forbidden Planet in the West End and on national tours, together with his own musical, Leader of the Pack.

Peter’s work as a writer includes nine record-breaking 'rock n roll pantomimes' which are currently being produced annually at the New Wolsey Theatre, Theatre Clwyd, Stafford Gatehouse Theatre, and Leeds City Varieties. His musical Leader of the Pack, about the writer of the great girl group songs of the sixties Ellie Greenwich, has played at The Belgrade, Coventry, The New Wolsey and on two national tours. He has also written the books for Songs From a Hotel Bedroom, a setting of Kurt Weill songs produced at Watford Palace Theatre and the Linbury Studio at the Royal Opera House, and 20th Century Boy, a musical inspired by the life of Marc Bolan and incorporating the songs of T.Rex, which has played a major national tour. His original play, Midsummer Songs, with music by Ben Goddard, written for a company of actor-musicians, completed a successful run at the New Wolsey in September 2014.  In 2022 he directed Harry Hill and Steve Brown's rock opera Tony! at the Park Theatre. 

As Artistic Director of the New Wolsey Theatre, his productions included Sweeney Todd, Perfect Days, Double Indemnity, A Family Affair, A Mad World My Masters, Leader of the Pack, The Good Companions, Neville’s Island, Stephen Sondheim’s Company, Sugar, The Price, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Vincent in Brixton, Blues in the Night, The Glass Menagerie, Laurel and Hardy, Little Shop of Horrors, A Chorus of Disapproval, Chimps, a new musical adaptation of It’s a Wonderful Life, Noises Off, Up on the Roof, Guys and Dolls, Bedroom Farce, Mods And Rox, And Then The Dark, the UK National Tour of the Madness musical Our House, Miss Nightingale, a major revival of The Threepenny Opera, with co-director Jenny Sealey, Midsummer Songs, Feed The Beast, a new play by Steve Thompson, Sweet Charity and the Jason Robert Brown musical The Last Five Years.