Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre

Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre
GPOAT
Address Grosvenor Park
Chester
United Kingdom
Coordinates 53°11′23.9″N 2°52′55.7″W / 53.189972°N 2.882139°W / 53.189972; -2.882139
Operator Storyhouse
Type Open air
Capacity 500
Current use Summer repertory
Website
Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre

Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre, located in Chester, UK, is a purpose-built venue with an eight-week annual summer repertory season. Founded in 2010 by local arts producer Storyhouse, it is the only full-time, site-specific professional open-air theatre company outside London. The company produces all its work in-house under its Artistic Director, Alex Clifton.[1]

The theatre

The open-air theatre was designed by the company is built each summer in Grosvenor Park, a public park in Chester. Performances are staged 'in the round', with the audience seated on all sides of a central stage. In 2011 the theatre switched from a traditional built stage to a more Shakespearean 'thrust' stage, made from woodchip. Covered seating to around 40% of terraces was introduced in 2012. In 2015, the original horseshoe shape was replaced by full 'in the round' seating.

Productions

As at 2016, the theatre stages three productions per season, often two Shakespeare plays and an additional, specially commissioned work. This has included work by Helen Eastman, Jessica Swale and most prominently Glyn Maxwell.[2]

Directors have included Nikolai Foster (director of the West Yorkshire Playhouse),[3] Robin Norton-Hale[4] and Alex Clifton who has been the theatre's Artistic Director since 2010.[5]

Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre also invites a company of 16- to 24-year-olds to stage an original one-act play which is written, produced and performed by members of the company.[6]

Other projects undertaken by Storyhouse include the Chester Music Festival, the Chester Literature Festival, outdoor cinema season Moonlight Flicks and the young person’s literature festival WayWord.[7] The company is opening a new £37m combined arts centre, theatre and library, under the Storyhouse brand, in Spring 2017.

List of Theatre Productions

2017

2016[10]

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

Reviews

Alfred Hickling, writing in The Guardian in 2013, states In four years, Chester's Grosvenor Park theatre has grown from a spartan bank of seating into a perfect wooden O with audience cover, an expanded repertoire and upgraded picnic facilities.[18] The Stage describes the 2013 production of Cyrano de Bergerac as what good alfresco summer theatre is all about.[19]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.grosvenorparkopenairtheatre.co.uk/company-information/
  2. ↑ Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre: Past Productions (accessed 10 April 2014)
  3. ↑ Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre: As You Like It (accessed 10 April 2014)
  4. ↑ Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre: Masters are you Mad? (accessed 10 April 2014)
  5. ↑ http://www.keddiescott.com/creative/alex-clifton/
  6. ↑ Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre: Young Theatre Company (accessed 10 April 2014)
  7. ↑ http://www.grosvenorparkopenairtheatre.co.uk/company-information/
  8. ↑ 'Young Company: The Joy Show' Archived Event on the Storyhouse website
  9. ↑ Green, Michael (11 August 2017). "Storyhouse Young Company to unveil new show at Grosvenor Park". The Chester Chronicle. Trinity Mirror Merseyside. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  10. ↑ Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre website
  11. ↑ Green, Michael (10 August 2016). "Chester Grosvenor Park Young Company unveils its 2016 production". The Chester Chronicle. Trinity Mirror Merseyside. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  12. ↑ ""What the walls saw" review". The Chester Blog. 17 August 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  13. ↑ What The Walls Saw archived event on the Chester Performs website
  14. ↑ Green, Michael (28 August 2014). "Young stars shine bright in beautifully written tragedy". The Chester Chronicle. Trinity Mirror Merseyside. p. 41. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  15. ↑ Green, Michael (19 August 2013). "Review: Some Paradise by Grosvenor Park Young Theatre". The Chester Chronicle. Trinity Mirror Merseyside. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  16. ↑ "Young actors prepare for Chester outdoor production". The Standard. NWN Media Ltd. 16 July 2012. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  17. ↑ Henwood, Jo (11 August 2011). "Chester Performs' As You Find It youth project hailed a success". The Chester Chronicle. Trinity Mirror Merseyside. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  18. ↑ The Guardian: A Midsummer Night's Dream – review (accessed 10 April 2014)
  19. ↑ Foss, Roger. "Cyrano de Bergerac". The Stage. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
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