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A Theatre by the LakeDateline: 24th October, 2004I love theatres. I'm not just talking about productions but the theatres themselves, whether beautiful plush Victorian or Edwardian buildings with their beautiful decoration, like the Empire in my home town Sunderland, or modern edifices, like the National Theatre, which, for all its brutalist sixties exterior, is wonderful inside. Whether they are huge, like the 2,205-seater Theatre Royal Drury Lane, or tiny, like the Southwark Playhouse, which seats a mere 90. I remember my first experience of a modern theatre, when I went to the Mermaid in Puddle Dock during the early sixties. Till then my experience of theatres was limited to buildings like the Empire and Newcastle's Theatre Royal. The excitement I felt on just walking into the Mermaid was incredible, and the revelation of what can be done with a non-proscenium arch stage changed my perception of theatre completely. There's even a frisson associated with walking ito spaces which are not normally theatrical but which are converted to theatre use temporarily, such as most of the venues at the Edinburgh Fringe. I have my favourites, of course: top of the list has to be the Sunderland Empire, simply because it was the first theatre I ever really knew, but there are many others. Traverse 1 in Edinburgh comes close to the top (not Traverse 2, though: so uncomfortable!), the Customs House in South Shields (because it is my theatre, as I am a Trustee), the Olivier (for its sheer technical brilliance), Drury Lane (of course: who could fail to be inspired by such history!), and many others. But now I have a new one to add in the top part of my list: the Theatre by the Lake in Keswick. The town itself could almost be my second home: I did my teaching practice there in 1966 and have been a frequent visitor ever since, although not as often in the past ten years as I would like. I also experienced the joys of the old "Blue Box", the Century Theatre, that sat on the back of a few trucks and which had been a mobile theatre until it "retired" to Keswick in the sixties. Now it's back where it originated, in Leicestershire, where it is a community theatre in Coalville.
I've passed the Theatre by the Lake a number of times but, until last week when I went to review Tramping Like Mad, had never been inside (Shame!). It has to have the most beautiful site of any theatre in the country. It's opposite Crow Park and a just a few seconds' walk from Derwentwater, either down the road to the boat landing or, slightly longer, straight through the park gate opposite. The illustration shows its position perfectly - please excuse the intrusive bit in the top left: I don't have the skill to get rid of it! That's the theatre, just below the word "Keswick". It has two auditoria: a main house seating around 390 and a 80-seater studio. The studio is unusually high, because of the very steep seating rake, so that there is a good distance from the stage floor to the lighting grid, making the lighting much more flexible than in other studios of a comparable size. The main house has a 16m pros arch stage, with a 9m opening and a 2m forestage, and its seating, too, is steeply raked. It runs a rep season from late May to the beginning of November, thus coinciding with the busiest tourist months, with three plays in the main house and three in the studio. For the rest of the year it is a receiving house, with music, dance, lectures and some touring professional and some amateur performances. During the main season shows start unusually late - 8 pm in the Main House and 8.15 in the Studio - to allow for visitors to get down from a day on the Fells, and have a bath and a meal before going to the theatre. In fact, according to associate director Stefan Escreet, audiences tend to be split almost 50/50 between local people and tourists, and this, of course, has an effect on the rep season programming. Main House productions tend to be middle-of-the-road with a wide appeal and an emphasis on entertainment (this year they were Sailor Beware!, Arms and the Man and Strangers on a Train), whilst Studio performances are rather more adventurous, appealing to, perhaps, a smaller audience. This year's Studio programme featured Tramping Like Mad (joint winner of the New Cumbrian Play Competition: the other will be presented next year), Joe Penhall's Blue/Orange, and Ibsen's Ghosts. With a theatre of this quality, alongside some of the most beautiful scenery in Britain (or anywhere else for that matter), all Keswick needs to be the perfect holiday destination is for the rain to fall only at night! Articles Indices:
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