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18 open-air theatres to visit across the UKFrom Cornwall to Perthshire, the pandemic has brought a surge in popularity of alfresco venues and productions
yesterday
 It’s one of the great summer pleasures: grab a cushion, a blanket and a bottle of bubbly and head to an outdoor arena to share theatre under the open skies. Glorious when the weather is fine and even the rain can be a bonding experience with your fellow audience members. Open-air theatre is back and, as the pandemic continues, offers a particularly attractive way to watch shows safely. Here are some of the alfresco options on offer.
Minack Theatre, Porthcurno, Cornwall One of the most stunning venues in the UK, this clifftop theatre in south-west Cornwall boasts spectacular views (US first lady, Jill Biden, dropped in on her recent visit for the G7 summit). Drama plays out against the backdrop of the Atlantic, with the odd fishing boat and dolphin getting in on the action. The theatre has a rolling programme of comedy, music and drama.
minack.com
Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park, London © DavidJensen 2018Wander through rose gardens to reach this lovely open-air space, fringed by trees and shrubs which often get drafted into the drama. The theatre kicks off this year with Shakespeare’s tale of star-cross’d lovers, Romeo and Juliet, then moves on to the musical Carousel and two family shows.
openairtheatre.com
Shakespeare’s Globe, London © Tristram KentonThe beautiful replica Elizabethan playhouse beside the Thames has reopened for business, with Romeo and Juliet, staged by rising director Ola Ince, about to join a knockabout Midsummer Night’s Dream in the famous wooden “O”.
shakespearesglobe.com
Lydia & Manfred Gorvy Garden Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-AvonA new addition to the RSC family: a temporary outdoor theatre erected beside the Avon, where audiences can enjoy drama under the stars ahead of the return of indoor shows in the autumn. Shakespeare’s benevolent farce of mistaken identity, The Comedy of Errors, launches proceedings: listen out for the local swans providing noises off.
rsc.org.uk
Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Perthshire © Douglas McBrideAlready situated in an enviable location beside the River Tummel in Highland Perthshire, Pitlochry has this year made the most of it and added three new outdoor stages in its extensive gardens including a bandstand and a lovely little amphitheatre high among the tree tops. Here you can watch the stage premiere of David Greig’s Adventures with the Painted People.
pitlochryfestivaltheatre.com
Roman Theatre, St Albans The Roman Theatre of Verlanium was unique: built around 140AD, it was not an amphitheatre but a mini-colosseum, with walls and a raised stage. Today, only ruins remain. But you can still trace the shape of the original venue in the grass-and-brick mounds that encircle a central playing space. And every summer the nearby Maltings Theatre moves in with a season of Shakespeare and family shows. As the sun sets, it’s a beautiful, atmospheric place in which to watch drama.
maltingstheatre.co.uk
Thorington Theatre, Suffolk A new wooden amphitheatre created in a crater left by a second world war bomb and surrounded by peaceful Suffolk woodlands. A wide-ranging programme from comedy to opera to Shakespeare.
thoringtontheatre.co.uk
St Just Ordinalia, St Just, CornwallCornwall’s mystery plays revived in a historic open-air site with a huge cast of professionals and volunteers. Part of a wider celebration of Cornish culture and heritage.
stjustordinalia.com
The HandleBards’ Macbeth, various sites Takeaways have been all the rage under lockdown. The HandleBards pick up on this and, rather than enticing you to the theatre, bring the show to you. They cycle from venue to venue the length and breadth of the UK with an all-female Macbeth and a wooden stage with bicycle-powered mechanisms.
handlebards.com
The Willow Globe, Powys © Full Mongrel/Tchad BlakeA remarkable, miniature version of Shakespeare’s Globe woven in living willow — bare in the winter, green and lush in the summer — plays host to a rich programme of events, lending a particular magic to the forest scenes in many of Shakespeare’s plays. And there is a covered barn for refuge should it rain too much.
shakespearelink.org.uk
Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre, Chester © Ant Clausen Photography LtdA pop-up theatre — another sort of mini, instant Globe — in the park offers a summer programme ranging from Shakespeare (The Merry Wives of Windsor) to family fare (The Jungle Book) to Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice).
grosvenorparkopenairtheatre.co.uk
Cambridge Shakespeare Festival, CambridgePeriod costume and Elizabethan music grace the Shakespeare productions on view here in this annual drama jamboree staged in some of the private gardens of the colleges of the University of Cambridge.
cambridgeshakespeare.com
Homeground, Manchester © Drew ForsythHOME in Manchester has launched an outdoor space with a more urban feel this summer: a huge arena with two stages on a disused brownfield site near the original venue, hosting a wide-ranging, upbeat programme of summer work.
homemcr.org
Arcola Outside, LondonThe enterprising Arcola Theatre in east London has built a new outdoor space where it is running a summer festival under the title “Today I’m Wiser”, with a wide-ranging series of dramas and events exploring the issues that have emerged over the past year and the desire for change.
arcolatheatre.com
Greenwich + Docklands International Festival, London The annual outdoor festival is back in August, with events cascading across south London and Docklands, many responding to contemporary concerns such as Black Lives Matter, climate change and community resilience. Swiss artist Dan Acher’s installation evoking the Northern Lights, Borealis, will light up the sky to launch the festival.
festival.org
Liverpool Theatre Festival The success of last year’s festival in the grounds of St Luke’s, known locally as the “bombed out church”, has meant that the festival returns this year, with the addition of the “Little LTF” to showcase new and emerging work.
liverpooltheatrefestival.com
Iris Theatre Summer Festival, St Paul’s Church, LondonPerformances in the grounds of St Paul’s Church, Covent Garden — known as the Actors’ Church because of its West End location and long association with the theatre community — with the emphasis this summer on new and breakout work.
iristheatre.com |
