Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'be, Theatre Royal Stratford East, London
Theatre Royal Stratford East, London: Originally staged by Joan Littlewood's legendary Theatre Workshop in 1959, Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'be, with a book by ex-con Frank Norman and songs by Lionel Bart, proved a critical and commercial success. Its affectionate portrayal of cockney villains and prostitutes with its use of rhyming slang, thieves' cant and polari, caught the imagination of the Br…