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 which subsequently transferred to a makeshift theatre in Regent's Park, thus establishing Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. 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. In 1939, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre and the
Windmill Theatre were the only two theatres to remain open throughout World War II. In 1963, actors and directors
David Conville and
David William established the New Shakespeare Company as a non-profit distributing company 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. 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. 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 Dream re-imagined for everyone aged six and over 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. In 2015, the theatre launched a digital archive to enable audiences to explore all of the productions across its history. The archive continues to be updated. In 2018, the venue co-produced its first opera with
English National Opera,
The Turn of the Screw. This partnership led to the 2019 production of
Humperdinck’s
Hansel and Gretel which included an ensemble of children from the Pimlico Musical Foundation. 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. == Awards ==