Nancy Ruthven was a member of the Council of Management of Westminster Productions and an Associate Director of the Westminster Theatre. She had been particularly involved in the theatre's eduction programme. A Day of London Theatre, and led a Theatre in Education group to India in 1988. Nancy Ruthven was also central in planning the new First Floor Theatre at the Westminster.
Ruthven began her career as a dancer with the Ballet Rambert. She later toured with several international productions produced by Moral Re-Armament, which took her to Broadway, to Hollywood and to many cities in Asia, Africa and Australia.
As a playwright Ruthven wrote a score of plays and musicals, several of which found their way on to the stage of the Westminster Theatre. Best known of her plays was the musical Love All about the tennis star H. W. Austin and his actress wife Phyllis Konstam. A recent play concerning Aids won the CEVMA Award in the Netherlands. The Widening Gyre, about Britain's relationship with Northern Ireland, was given during the first season of First Floor Theatre at the Westminster in 1989, directed by Adrian Reynolds.
Her dynamic and effervescent personality, a unique blend of aristocratic birth and theatrical temperament, endeared her to her many friends inside and outside the theatrical profession. Nancy Ruthven never married. She was 62 when she died in a car accident.
