Salisbury Playhouse

51°04′01″N 1°47′53″W / 51.067°N 1.798°W / 51.067; -1.798

Salisbury Playhouse is a theatre in the English city of Salisbury, Wiltshire. Built in 1976, it comprises the 517-seat Main House and the 149-seat Salberg Studio,^[1] a rehearsal room, a daytime café, and a community and education space. It is part of Arts Council England's National Portfolio of Organisations, and also receives regular funding from Wiltshire Council and Salisbury City Council.

Overview

Plays in the Main House are often own or co-produced works, of which there are between eight and ten a year. The Playhouse also houses touring productions and a variety of events as part of the Salisbury International Arts Festival.

The Studio programme is the focus for the theatre's work for and with young people, which includes toured-in work, work from its Youth Theatre called Stage '65, and workshop productions.

The Playhouse's Tesco Community & Education Space and Rehearsal Room opened in July 2007.

In 2018, the charity^[2] which runs the theatre amalgamated with Salisbury Arts Centre and Salisbury International Arts Festival and was renamed Wiltshire Creative.^[3]

Personnel

The artistic director is Gareth Machin, who was appointed in October 2011, and the executive director is Sebastian Warrack, appointed in October 2012.

As of 2015^[update], the Board of Trustees are Tim Crarer (chairman), Doric Bossom, Sarah Butcher, Andy Bridewell, Tom Clay, Nick Frankfort, Rosemary Macdonald, Niall Murphy, John Perry, Rupert Sebag-Montefiore and Susan Shaw.^[4]

Productions

2008

The Herbal Bed by Peter Whelan
People at Sea by J.B. Priestly
Taming the Tempest devised and directed by Mark Powell
Touched by Stephen Lowe
What the Butler Saw by Joe Orton
Oliver! A Stage ’65 Youth Theatre Production
Drowning on Dry Land by Alan Ayckbourn
A Taste of Honey by Shelagh Delaney
A Number by Caryl Churchill
A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr, adapted by Philip Wilson. Premiere
Let’s Face The Music and Dance a celebration of Irving Berlin
Dick Whittington and his Cat by Mark Clements
Our Country’s Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker (Stage ’65 Youth Theatre)

2009

Estelle Bright by Sarah Tullamore and Frederic Baptiste
The Winslow Boy by Terence Rattigan
The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard
Restoration by Rose Tremain, adapted by Matthew Francis. World premiere
Faith Healer by Brian Friel
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
The Wizard of Oz A Stage ’65 Youth Theatre Production
The Lady in the Van by Alan Bennett
Blackbird by David Harrower
Romeo and Juliet: Unzipped, devised and directed by Mark Powell
After Miss Julie, a version of Strindberg's Miss Julie by Patrick Marber
Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring
Cinderella by Mark Clements, with original songs by Paul Herbert
The Way You Look Tonight, a celebration of Jerome Kern

2010

With a Song in My Heart a celebration of Rodgers and Hart
Aladdin by Mark Clements, with original songs by Paul Herbert
The Picture by Philip Massinger
Death and the Maiden by Ariel Dorfman
A Voyage Round My Father by John Mortimer
Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie
Les liaisons dangereuses by Christopher Hampton
Toro! Toro! by Michael Morpurgo, adapted by Simon Reade (world premiere)
Low Pay? Don't Pay by Dario Fo, translated by Joseph Farrell
The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, co produced with Shared Experience
Private Lives by Noël Coward
The Little Mermaid and Other Tales, devised by Stage ’65 Youth Theatre, based on original stories by Hans Christian Andersen