Open Air Theatre

The Open Air Theatre is, as befits a building in such a setting, architecturally reticent, with raked graded seats occupying just over a quadrant of a circle, in two bands, the lower of nine rows, the upper of ten. Two entrances and the bars, café, etc are accommodated under the top rake. The whole complex is set among and largely concealed by trees, which also form a dense background to the stage, a feature exploited by designers and directors over the years.

Ben Greet’s Woodland Players performed in Regent’s Park as early as 1900 but the history of the theatre proper begins with Sydney Carroll’s four performances of Robert Atkins’s Twelfth Night in 1932. The theatre was formally opened in June 1933. After the reconstruction of the stage and improvements to the dressing rooms, David Conville took over in 1962. A major reconstruction took place in 1972-75, when present permanent seating took the place of the former deck chairs. Major improvements and the addition of a 100 seat studio were proposed in 1997.