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Theatre in Southern England: HampshireHampshire has the greatest concentration of theatre venues in the Southern Arts region: from Aldershot to Winchester there are theatres ranging from the very small (Selbourne's Village Hall at 75) to the very large (Southampton's Mayflower at 2293). Aldershot, in fact, has two venues: the multi-purpose Princes Hall (560 to 682 depending on the configuration), which presents a wide range of different kinds of arts and entertainment, and the West End Centre, a 198-seater arts centre which takes small-scale tours. The Cricklade Theatre, Andover's arts centre (270 seats), takes both professional touring productions and shows by local amateurs. It describes its programme as being a partnership between professional arts, education and community work. Basingstoke has four venues. The Anvil (1400 seats) is a concert hall which also presents some opera and ballet, and the Central Studio, an arts centre which is part of St Mary's Sixth Form College, presents a mixed programme with a particular emphasis on family entertainment. Basingstoke's Fairfield Arts Centre is small (seating between 80 and 100) and likes the innovative. Its aim, it says, is to "encourage the innovative, assist the developmental, and fuse the boundaries between art forms." It takes small-scale touring productions, music, dance, new writing and comedy. Finally Basingstoke has its own producing theatre, the Haymarket. In addition to its own productions, from June to August it takes incoming professional productions and amateur shows. One of the smallest venues in the county is Bordon's Phoenix Theatre (85), which presents a mix of professional and amateur shows. Fareham's Ashcroft Arts Centre has two auditoria: the theatre seats 120 whilst the bar/studio, surprisingly, is larger, seating 150. Its season is divided into two: in the autumn there is professional touring, music and children's events, whilst spring and summer offers a mix of professional and amateur shows, music and cabaret. The larger Ferneham Hall (752) is a multi-purpose venue offering a very mixed programme. Fleet's Harlington Centre, a civic venue, seats 400 and offers both community and professional shows, and is also available for hire, whilst in Havant its 135-seater Arts Centre take small-scale touring productions. The Forest Arts Centre in New Milton (140) offers a "balanced programme" of performances and workshops. Petersfield is the home of Bedales School, one of the major public schools, and the Bedale Olivier Theatre (330) is part of the school. As well as being used by the school, the theatre is host to touring shows and local amateur productions. Portsmouth, of course, is one of the major cities of the country and a "home" to the Royal Navy. It is surprising, therefore, that there are only two theater venues in the city: the New Theatre Royal, a national touring house of only 320 seats, and the Portsmouth Guildhall (2017), which takes "all types of entertainment". Southsea is close enough to Portsmouth to be considered a part of the city, and it has a further two venues. The Kings Theatre is a national touring house which seats 1450, whilst the Portsmouth Arts Centre (90 seats) takes a "broadband approach". It has fifteen weeks of amateur productions each year and fifty professional performances. As we've already said, Selbourne's Village Hall is the smallest venue in the county, with only 75 seats, but it is not, as one would expect, a village amateur company's home, but a theatre whose aim is to "bring unusual, fringe-type theatre to the sticks"! It is only open from September to April. The largest theatre in the county is Southampton's Mayflower Theatre, taking large-scale national tours in its 2293-seater auditorium. Small-scale touring in Southampton is catered for by the 125-seater Gantry, an arts centre. The city also has its producing theatre, the Nuffield. Seating 481, it does three to four week rep between September and May, together with the occasional tour and hire to amateur groups. The city's Guildhall, which seats 1749 (118 in the Lecture Theatre), is for hire only. Finally there is Winchester, with three venues: the Guildhall, a civic centre (600, plus 120 plus 180), is available for hire only; the Theatre Royal is a 407-seater national touring house; and the Tower Arts Centre (118 seats, and situated in an old water tower) takes both amateur and professional productions.
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