Details: Inner Circle, Regents Park, NW1 4NR
Tube: Baker Street
Performances: Mon-Sat 8.00 pm, Matinees Thu and Sat 2.30 pm
2008 Productions:
Romeo and Juliet
Twelfth Night
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Gigi
In short: Enchanted forests galore in these outdoor productions of Shakespeare.
In full: Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre has lined up a great outdoor season of plays, which began this 2 June with the classic Romeo and Juliet. The star-crossed lovers will be captivating London audiences until the beginning of August.
Also up this season is Twelfth Night, the first play ever staged at the Open Air Theatre. It’s a case of mistaken identity for the production’s Viola, who believes her twin brother died in a shipwreck and later goes undercover as a boy to woo Lady Olivia. Other highlights include the Open Air Theatre classic A Midsummer Night’s Dream, ‘reimagined for everyone aged 6 and over’, and Gigi, with a performance by BAFTA winner Linda Thorson.
With 1,240 seats and an enchanting atmosphere not to be beaten, this Regents Park venue entertains about 130,000 theatregoers a year. The theatre has hosted performers like Vivien Leigh and Jeremy Irons in its 76-year history, and this season – with new artistic director Timothy Sheader, is set to be another summer favourite in the capital
Other Critics
– ‘Where else can one indulge, before the play, in summer pudding or Pimm’s? Where else be clasped, by gathering twilight, into a fond complicity with actors and with author?’ Rhoda Koenig, The Independent
– ‘The final unravellings of the plot are handled deftly and with a light comic touch. Although [Twelfth Night] may not be a classic production, it is an intelligent one’ Lyn Gardner, The Guardian
