Almeida theatre manager is found dead

Jinny McCallister, the manager of the Almeida theatre in London who was known to hundreds of theatre-goers, has been found dead. She is believed to have committed suicide.

Jinny McCallister, the manager of the Almeida theatre in London who was known to hundreds of theatre-goers, has been found dead. She is believed to have committed suicide.

Ms McCallister, 45, had been responsible for looking after the front-of-house and welcoming audiences at the small but influential venue since January 2002. She was also a writer whose comedy, About Face - a contemporary romance - was performed in the Café Royal at last year's Edinburgh Festival.

Michael Attenborough, the artistic director of the theatre, which is based in Islington, said: "Her irresistibly warm personality radiated itself throughout the theatre.

"Passionate, charming and beautiful, she lived life to the full and those of us who knew and loved her are immeasurably saddened by her sudden, premature death." John Park, the editor of the fringereport.com website which covers the theatre in London, said she was "a lovely person - charming, funny, intellectual and popular... Her death will come as both a shock and a sadness to her many friends and to the many theatre-goers she knew at the Almeida".

It is understood that Ms McCallister was not married and had no children. She died at the end of last week.