Regent's Park Open Air Theatre is an open-air theatre in Regent's Park in central London, established in 1932. Originally known for its Shakespearean productions, the theatre now features a wide variety of performances, including musicals, operas and plays simplified for children
The theatre
Open Air Theatre Bar, at night
Established in 1932, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre is one of the largest theatres in London, with 1,304 seats. It is situated in Queen Mary’s Gardens in Regent’s Park, one of London’s Royal Parks.[1] The theatre’s annual 18-week season is attended by more than 140,000 people each year. In 2017, the theatre was named London Theatre of the Year in The Stage Awards,[2] and received the Highly Commended Award for London Theatre of the Year in 2021.[3]
In 1932, the New Theatre (now the Noël Coward Theatre) was left without a show after the early closure of a play by Benito Mussolini. Producer Robert Atkins and theatre critic Sydney Carroll presented a ‘black and white’ production of Twelfth Night[10] which subsequently transferred to a makeshift theatre in Regent's Park, thus establishing Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre.[11]
The first full season, in 1933, included a revival of the previous year’s Twelfth Night and the first of the theatre's almost 50 productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.[12]
In 1939, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre and the Windmill Theatre were the only two theatres to remain open throughout World War II.[13]
In 1963, actors and directors David Conville and David William established the New Shakespeare Company as a non-profit distributing company[14] with distinguished actor and director Laurence Olivier as one of the key investors. Conville remained associated with the theatre for 50 years and, following his death in 2018, artist Lee Simmons was commissioned to design a sculpture for the theatre grounds.[15]
The theatre’s current fixed amphitheatre-style auditorium was constructed in 1974 and has had subsequent refurbishments.
The theatre’s first original musical, Bashville, was performed in 1983.[16] Notable productions in the theatre’s history include a gala performance in 2002 for the Queen's Golden Jubilee (attended by The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh).
In 2008, A Midsummer Night’s Dreamre-imagined for everyone aged six and over[17] was the first ‘re-imagined’ production at the venue especially created for children. This was followed by various subsequent ‘re-imagined’ titles including Macbeth (2010) Pericles (2011), and Oliver Twist (2017).
The New Shakespeare Company became Regents Park Theatre Ltd in 2010, in light of the move away from producing Shakespeare-only plays.[18] In 2015, the theatre launched a digital archive to enable audiences to explore all of the productions across its history.[19] The archive continues to be updated.
In 2020, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre was the first to open during the coronavirus pandemic with a socially distanced production of Jesus Christ Superstar: The Concert.[22]
Various Open Air Theatre productions have gone on to be presented beyond the theatre itself. The first overseas transfer was of the 1956 productions of Hamlet and Twelfth Night when the theatre was invited to perform at the Baalbek Festival in Lebanon. In 2011, Crazy For You transferred to the West End’s Novello Theatre[30] and, the following year, Sheader and director Liam Steel re-directed their 2010 production of Into The Woods[31] in Central Park, New York for The Public Theater.
Productions that have toured the UK following seasons at the Open Air Theatre include: The Pirates of Penzance, High Society, To Kill A Mockingbird[32] (also a month-long residency at the Barbican Centre[33]), Lord of the Flies,[34]Running Wild and Pride and Prejudice.[35]
The most widely seen production from Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre is the 2016 production of Jesus Christ Superstar. After a second sell-out season in 2017, the production played a limited engagement at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in 2018[36] before transferring to the Barbican in 2019.[37] The show then toured North America.[38]
