Theatre Workshop: Joan Littlewood and the Making of Modern British Theatre is the first in-depth study of perhaps Britain's most influential twentieth-century theatre company. The book sets the company's aims and achievements in their social, political and theatrical contexts, and explores the elements which made its success so important.

Robert Leach has provided the definitive account in this first full-length study of Theatre Workshop and the methods of its director from 1945 to 1965, Joan Littlewood. His book provides the historical and political context needed by theatre studies students (both school and university), who frequently encounter Oh What a Lovely War as part of their courses.

Robert Leach has worked as a journalist, school teacher, University lecturer and theatre director. He has acted professionally in USA and directed in Moscow, has taught acting at the Cumbria Institute for the Arts and taught drama at the universities of Edinburgh and Birmingham.
He is a published playwright and has adapted work for the contemporary stage. His version of the Medieval mystery plays was performed in Carlisle Cathedral in 2007 and he was responsible for creating The Lichfield Mysteries, a triennial event and one of the biggest community arts events in Europe.
He has also published several theatre theory and history books, including Makers of Modern Theatre (Routledge, 2004) and Theatre Workshop: Joan Littlewood and the Making of Modern British Theatre (UEP, 2006) which was shortlisted for the Theatre Book of the Year in 2006. The Short, Astonishing History of the National Theatre of Scotland was published in New Theatre Quarterly in summer 2007.
Three collections of his poetry have been published by Dionysia Press, Edinburgh, and his work has appeared in various anthologies and magazines. His epic travelogue in verse and prose, The Journey to Mount Kailash, about a journey through India, was published in 2010 and he is a previous Chair of the Borders Writers Forum.

Contents: 1. Before Theatre Workshop: Politics and Performance, 1930-1945; Class against class; The world of the theatre; Workers' theatre; The challenge of fascism; Slow approach of war; 2. Theatre Workshop 1945-1953: Political Theatre; Days of hope; Days of disappointment; The plays of Ewan MacColl; Actor training; 3. Theatre Workshop 1953-1956; New Elizabethans; Stratford East; Matters financial; The Theatre Workshop actor; 4. Theatre Workshop 1956-1964: Popular Theatre; Never had it so good?; The royal smut hound; New plays; Joan Littlewood, director; Staging the plays; 5. After Theatre Workshop: Meanings and Legacy; The final years; Meanings; Legacies.