Arts & Culture
May 2014Regent's Park Open Air Theatre
This open-air theatre in London's Regent's Park (May-September) is a magical setting for a programme of Shakespeare's theatre (always incorporating a Shakesepeare play), as well as a classic musical.
The only permanent professional outdoor theatre in Britain, it has a sharply raked auditorium, seating 1,240, giving excellent sightlines. The theatre has been located in Regent's Park since 1932, and its annual festival is attended by over 130,000 people each year. A host of famous actors have appeared here: Vivien Leigh, Jack Hawkins, Anna Neagle, Edward Fox, Jeremy Irons, Zoe Wanamaker and Ralph Fiennes, to name a few.
It's just 10 minutes from the hustle and bustle of Baker Street, but feels a world away on tranquil summer evenings. There's a lawn for picnics, or spectators can pre-book tea and cake or an evening supper. There's a bar serving Pimm's, and as the sun goes down and the fairy lights glimmer in the trees there can be few better places to enjoy the magic of Shakespeare.
Hello Dolly!, which closed the season in 2013, has been hailed as the highest grossing production in the history of the Regent's Park Theatre. In 2013, the programme opens with To Kill a Mockingbird, continues with Pride and Prejudice and The Winter's Tale and concludes with The Sound of Music.
