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Theatre in Eastern England: SuffolkSuffolk, the county of the "south folk" lies to the south of Norfolk, the county of the "north folk". They are adjacent to each other, but so very different. Somehow Suffolk seems much more pastoral, lacking the - to me, at any rate - slightly dangerous edge of the countryside of Norfolk, particularly much of the Norfolk coast. Aldeburgh has its Jubilee Hall, seating 236, but it is only available for hire: it does not present any shows itself. The Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds, is both a national touring and a producing house. A late Georgian (1819) grade I listed building, seating 352, it presents a wide and varied programme. In Haverill there is the Arts Centre, which presents a mixed programme in its 210-seater auditorium. But when we reach Hemel Hempstead, we find a town with three theatrical venues. First there is the Boxmoor Arts Centre for Young People which, as its name suggests, focuses on the young, providing workshops and performances in its 100-seater venue. The Dacorum Pavilion is a multi-purpose venue, but its theatre is mainly for children (1055 seats), whlst the Old Town Hall takes small-scale theatre and has a special interest in new writing and, yet again, children's theatre. Its theatre seats 120 and its Cellar 85. Moving to Ipswich, we see there are five theatrical venues. One, the Corn Exchange, which seats 893, is for hire only, whilst the Ipswich Regent, with its 1781 seats, is a national touring house with the usual mixed programme. The Northgate Arts Centre also has a mixed programme, but it is much smaller, at 250 seats. The Sir John Mills Theatre is also small - 126 seats - and is a studio venue, the home of the Eastern Angles Theatre Company. In March 1999 the Wolsey, a rep theatre, closed after suffering major financial problems. It was reopened, as the New Wolsey, in November last year, but without its rep company. Instead an Artistic Associate (Peter Rowe) was appointed, who would commission work and bring together the right cast and creative team to present it. It produced its first production in February of this year (now on tour), and will have a second production later this month. In between in-house productions, the New Wolsey functions as a receiving house. Suffolk's third national touring house is the Marina Theatre in Lowestoft, which has a capacity of 751. The only other professional theatre in the county is in Sudbury, where the Quay Theatre (an arts centre) presents a wide range of events in its 125-seater auditorium. Finally there is Newmarket, that Mecca of the horse-racing world, the place where the majority of Britain's top racehorse trainers are situated. There you will find the impressively named King's Theatre, which turns out to be a small (125 seats) amateur theatre.
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