Blanche Marvin obit

Theatre world pays tribute to Blanche Marvin, who has died aged 100

Marvin was a beloved part of the theatre world for decades 

She was not on the list.

Theatre titan Blanche Marvin has died aged 101.

Born in New York in 1925, Marvin began her career as a dancer and actor. She appeared in the 1946 Broadway production of Lute Song. During this period, she maintained a friendship with playwright Tennessee Williams.

Marvin has stated in previous interviews that Williams used her first name for the character Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire and even went as far as to utilise a phrase she spoke to him regarding the kindness of strangers. She worked in theatre in Italy and Germany before moving to London with her husband, producer Mark Marvin. After his death in 1958, she remained in the United Kingdom to work as a producer, agent, and writer. She wrote the book and lyrics for Four Plays for Children.

In 1991, Marvin established the Empty Space Peter Brook Awards. She funded these awards to recognise the work of fringe theatres and studio spaces. The awards ran annually until 2017 and were reintroduced in 2023 in association with the Critics’ Circle. Marvin founded the website London Theatreviews, where right through until 2026 she published reviews of London stage productions.

Theatre critics have paid tribute to her, with Dominic Cavendish saying she was “an extraordinary woman and a force for good in British theatre with her Peter Brook Empty Space awards”, while Alun Hood said she was “a true person of the theatre and an inspiration to critics and theatre bloggers.”

Writer Mark Shenton also wrote a post honouring Marvin’s contribution to the theatre world, describing her as “incredible” adding “[she] died yesterday just five days short of her 101st birthday. So we’ll be joining her only in spirit this year, of which there is an abundance. I felt her presence in my life all the time. I was a long-time judge of her Peter Brook/Empty Space Awards, which continue now as a category of the Critics’ Circle Theatre awards. But her legacy lives on in all the people she nurtured and encouraged, which includes me.”

In 2010, she was made MBE for services to theatre and was included in the 2014 100 Leading Ladies exhibition at Somerset House.