The Playhouse in the heart of Stratford-upon-Avon. An exciting and playful multi-purpose venue at the heart of beautiful Stratford-upon-Avon offering a diverse range of cultural, arts and educational activities. The venue includes a large curved auditorium, Variety Stage and bar, cafe, meeting rooms, and a courtyard garden.
Offering a wide variety of performances from comedy clubs, classical concerts, literary events, Family shows exhibitions and pop-up stages- there’s plenty to suit all tastes! As well as providing a varied commercial arts programme throughout the year, the venue is also available for hire.
Saturday October 20th saw the official start of the Stratford Playhouse opening season which kicked off with a day-long party to which the whole town was invited.
Those present were also able to see the makeover that has taken place over the Summer. Gone are the intimidating sterile white walls and empty spaces and, in their place is a building now full of play, fun and quirky humour.
The lobby now has a colourful box office, a coffee cart which provides coffees from local merchant Monsoon, and an impressive mural depicting the entire history of 14 Rother Street.
The former foyer is now The Variety Bar which specialises in ales from local brewery, Purity and which is also a 95-seat studio space complete with its own stage.
On Saturday, visitors were treated to a variety of activities throughout the day. Young families could hear a storytime singalong, a Rock n’ Roll Disney game of Bingo, and a mini disco. There was moving and amusing poetry from Robin Bailey and Don Barber. There was music from the Sunnysiders ukulele group and from
The Stratford Playhouse Opening Film was also unveiled, featuring messages of support from Dame Judi Dench, Christopher Biggins, Sarah Douglas, Cannon and Ball, Andante, Jasper Carrott, Liza Pulman, Ray Cooney, Gyles Brandreth and a cheery rhyme from Roger McGough and it is now available on YouTube.
Finally, in the evening, Roy Wood took to the stage and filled the main auditorium with a whirlwind euphoric set of greatest hits.
Check out upcoming events here https://stratfordplay.co.uk/whats-on-now/
